Tester Information: Name: Jason Boyle Age: 27 Gender: Male Height: 5' 6"/ 1.68 m Weight: 170 lb/ 77 kg Shoulder Girth: 47"/119 cm Email address: c4jc@hotmail.com City, State, Country: Waldorf, Maryland, U.S. Date reviewed: February 7, 2005

Backpacking Background:
I have been camping and backpacking for about 16 years. My introduction to the outdoors started with the BSA and has continued as an adult. I have hiked mostly in the Southeastern and Northeastern United States. I currently live near Washington D.C. and have made the mid-Atlantic mountains my playground. My shelter type varies by season; in the summer, I use a hammock or stay in lean-to type shelters, and as it gets colder I carry a lightweight two-person tent that I generally use just for me. The rest of my gear is lightweight, but I will carry most anything as long as I have a use for it. As it pertains to sleeping bags, I don't sleep overly warm or cold, I am more in the middle.

Product Information:
Manufacturer: GoLite
Model: Feather bag
Size: There are three lengths available and three widths per length available

	Trim	Regular	Wide
Long 6'6" (198 cm)	less than 51"/130 cm	51"-56"/130 - 142 cm	>56"/142 cm
Medium 6'0" (183 cm)	less than 49"/124 cm	49"-54"/124 - 132 cm	>54"/137 cm
Short 5'6 (168 cm)	less than 47"/119 cm	47"-52"/119 - 132 cm	>52"/132 cm

Year of Manufacture: 2004
URL:www.golite.com
Listed weight: I own the Medium, Regular bag - 1 lb 14 oz (850 g)
Measured weight: 1 lb 12 oz (790 g) just a little under!
**Disclaimer: the closest my scale will measure is in whole ounces**
Claimed Temperature rating 20 F/ -7 C
MSRP: 299 US dollars
Color: Only available in Sea (Blue)

Website Excerpts:
"Lite as a feather and ready for adventure, the Feather sleeping bag is a an ultra-lite connoisseur's dream! Utilizing premium 800 fill goose down as well as an ultra-lite, breathable, and water repellent shell fabric made of the luxurious 22 denier Pertex Quantum nylon with a Shield DWR coating, the Feather is available in SmartFit™ bag sizing and comes with a 5 piece ergonomic hood and FootVent for ventilation. The Feather is guaranteed to keep you warm and comfortable during your next overnight"

Features from the GoLite website:
20°F/-07°C comfortable temperature rating
5 in loft
Ultra-lite 24 in/60 cm #5 coil sternum zipper (on all size bags)
Dual draft tubes protect zipper
6 in/15 cm baffles
22 denier polyester lining
5-piece ergonomic hood with 360° face-seal gasket
FootVent
SilLite stow sack and cotton storage sack included

Summary:

I have used this bag for over 25 nights during the past 6 months and it has performed admirably as a three-season bag. I have had no significant problems with the down fill or the Quantum shell. My only complaint with the bag is the three quarter zip. The zipper always gets stuck in the draft tube when zipping or unzipping the bag and makes a late night bathroom run very annoying when I am "trapped" in my sleeping bag.

Field Information:

I have used this sleeping bag since May of 2004. I have used the bag on various trips this summer and fall in the mountains of Virginia to include in my Hennessy Hammock on an 8-day trip the Dolly Sods where nighttime temperatures were in the 40-50 F (5-10 C) range, with sunshine and rain. A 6-day trip on the Appalachian Trail in Central Virginia with nighttime temperatures in the 30s F (-1 - 4 C), and a November weekend trip with temperatures in 18-20 F (-7/-8 C) range.

Review:

I finally had the funds to buy a new sleeping bag and I searched with the following three criteria: weight, price, and quality of the manufacturer. After searching far and wide I settled on the GoLite Feather.

To me the GoLite Feather sleeping bag looks like any other sleeping bag, just with a shorter zipper, but I noticed a huge difference the first time I slept in it. I had never used a down bag before and I couldn't believe the loft and softness. OK, that's enough mushiness, to the facts.

I have used the bag for 25 plus nights on all types of surfaces: my hammock, Appalachian Trail shelters, and tent floors. It has performed well in most situations. During normal summer and early spring/fall I have found that the bag works great in relation to the temperature. I have only had one cold night in the bag and that was in November and the temperature at the stated "end" of the comfort range. Cold is probably not the right term, because my whole body was not cold, but my feet were. The only other area where the bag doesn't perform optimally is in a hammock.

I don't use a sleeping pad in my hammock, so the bag rests directly against the hammock shell. When I first get in the bag, I can feel the coolness of the air seep through the hammock skin and the compressed down of the sleeping bag. After a few minutes though I generally fall asleep and the cool night air does not keep me from sleeping well or cause me to wake up cold.

The sleeping bag is very compressible. I normally use my Granite Gear Air Compressor sack to compress it down to the size of a child-sized basketball, smaller than any of my other sleeping bags. Even more amazing to me is how much if fluffs up after being compressed in a sack. I give it a few good shakes after I remove it from the stuff sack and it looks like it doubles in size.

The foot vent is a really nice feature. The bottom of the bag has two pieces of overlapping down filled fabric that with a twist of my feet I find I am able to easily slip them out outside of the bag. I like being able to cool my toes on nights when I am feeling a little too warm in the bag. I thought that the vent may have the downside of letting in drafts or cold air, but I have not found this to be the case. The one time I had cold feet, I believe it was due to using the bag below the stated temperature range.

The hood fits well and is easily adjustable. There is a bungee cord that runs through a cord lock that tightens or loosens the hood around the wearer's head. I usually get in the sleeping bag with the hood loose and the reach up and cinch down the hood with one hand.

The bag has proven to be durable. The outer shell shows no signs of wear or dirt marks and the stitching is still tight. I have seen a few down feathers floating about, but I don't think it is anything unusual. The DWR (Durable Water Repellent) finish seems to work fine. Drops of water bead up on the surface. I have not soaked the bag and don't intend too.

I have not washed the bag yet, but there are care instructions on the tag. Golite recommends washing in a front load washer on the gentle cycle with cold water. Then tumbling dry with no heat. From my experience when drying my other down equipment, it is good to put in some clean unused tennis balls into dryer to help the down spread back out.

After being used on all of my trips over the past 6 months the bag still has the same loft it had when I first bought it. I keep it stored in a big laundry style bag that GoLite provided when at home.

I do have one complaint about the bag: THE ZIPPER. The quarter length zipper is a great idea, cuts weight blah, blah, blah. However the draft tube that covers the zipper is constantly getting stuck. Whether unzipping or zipping up it doesn't matter. I am concerned when this happens that I might tear a hole in the draft tube when I am unsticking the zipper. This is a big pain in the rear, especially if I am trying to use the bathroom late at night without waking tent or shelter partners.

The bag also tends to be a little warm for me on midsummer nights. When this happened I would sleep with the bag unzipped and my feet outside of the vent.

Improvements:

I only have one improvement for the sleeping bag: change the zipper! I think that hook and loop fasteners would work just as well as the zipper at keeping the bag closed.

Read more reviews of GoLite gear
Read more gear reviews by Jason Boyle

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > GoLite Feather Sleeping Bag > Owner Review by Jason Boyle