I have been camping for 17 years, 12 of them have been spent hiking in the backcountry. My hikes are almost exclusively in Florida and generally range between one and three nights. My all-time favorite hike was a 10 day expedition in the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. I consider myself a lightweight but comfortably equipped hiker, with a pack averaging between 25 and 30 lb (11 and 14 kg).

Kelty

INITIAL REPORT

Product Information and Specifications

Image Courtesy of Kelty

Manufacturer: Kelty
Model: Galactic 35
Year of Manufacture: 2009
Country of Manufacture: China
Manufacturer's Website: http://www.kelty.com
MSRP: US $149.95
Listed Weight: 2 lb 8 oz (1.13 kg)
Measured Weight: 2 lb 8.6 oz (1.15 kg)
Listed Temperature Rating: 35 F (2 C)
Shell Fabric: PR349T polyester, diamond cross-dye ripstop
Lining Material: P300T polyester taffeta
Insulation Material: 600-fill-power duck down
Color: Onyx/Silver
Size Reviewed: Regular

Kelty Galactic Features

Product Information Retrieved from Manufacturer's Website

Initial Impressions

When I think of the stereotypical hiking sleeping bag I think of a tightly mummy cut and hooded bag. With a much wider rectangular cut and no hood the Galactic certainly challenges that stereotype. Right off the bat, though, I can see a lot of promise here.

Right out of the box I was pleased with what I saw. I had a fair idea of what I was going to be looking at from study of Kelty's website, although the level of details on the site disappointed me which left a lot of room for hands-on discovery. When I first unpacked the bag from the retail display box it arrived in I was pleased with the weight. Considering the fill, cut, and temperature rating I felt that the weight was reasonable. Visually it is just what I expected with subtle colors and design. Gear color generally isn't that important to me, but I was happy that the bag isn't a flamboyant or bold color.

I gave the bag a thorough once-over to check the workmanship. Surprisingly, I didn't find any escaped duck down fill feathers at all. All of the structural stitching is well done and complete with no loose threads or obvious missing stitches. The zippers are all functional and undamaged. The fabric is in excellent shape with no pulls, runs, or tears. It looks brand spankin' new. One thing that immediately caught my eye was a misspelling in the stitching of the name of the bag. Apparently I'm testing the "Calactic". It gave me a good chuckle, but obviously it's nothing for me to worry about since it is far from a functional issue.

What's the Calactic?

One of the things that I liked the most upon initial inspection was that the zipper goes all the way down the one side then across the bottom, meaning that I can unzip the bag completely and lay it flat like a quilt. This is a feature that really, really excites me about the bag. When I opt for my hammock instead of my tent, it is considerably easier to drape a quilt or blanket over myself than to squirm my way into a mummy bag. Also, when the weather is warmer, I'm hoping I can vent excess heat more easily using the bag as a quilt. If nothing else, I like that the design provides me options.

After I was down gawking at the features and straightforward design I decided to take the Galactic for a test drive. I puffed up my inflatable pad, laid out the bag, and crawled in through the top with the bag fully zipped. Even with the bag all buttoned up, worming my way in was pretty easy. I unzipped the bag and exited then re-entered the bag the "conventional way" with just as much ease. Even on the first run I didn't have any issues with the zipper snagging while opening or closing.

The first thing I thought to myself once inside was appreciation for the generous space the rectangular cut provides. I'm a big time tosser when I sleep and tend to primarily sleep on my side and stomach. Recently I've really come to appreciate the extra room in the footbox of rectangular (or semi-rectangular) bags compared to the mummy bags I'd slept in for years. The Galactic is no exception and feels like a palace inside. I'm not a fan of being constricted, and this is not a problem for me with this bag which is a big plus.

I spent a little time inside the bag playing with the adjustments and zippers. While inside the bag I had little trouble figuring out how to use the drawcord and ribbon adjustments to fine-tune the fit at the top of the bag. I also worked the zipper up and down the side of the bag several times to see if I could find any snag points or possible trouble spots and didn't find any. With a little bit of flexibility I was able to get to the foot of the bag to open up the foot vent, which I think I might find to be a blessing until the weather starts to cool off more.

One thing I'm not sure how I will react to is the lack of a hood on the bag. I'm a Florida boy, born and bred. For me a 35 F (2 C) night is pretty cold… so I'm curious how I will adjust. I bring a fleece cap with me on every trip anyway so I'm not too concerned about it, but it will be different nonetheless so I'm interested to see how that works out for me.

There are a few other features that I noticed that are worth mentioning. These include internal loops for attaching a liner (which I have and just might have to use for testing's sake), external loops to use this bag as a liner, and large hang loops on the foot end to hang the bag up (for storage or drying I assume). I also noticed but don't completely understand the sleeping bad security loops. I've seen several bags that have straps attached to attach the sleeping mat, but the Galactic's are just two loops on each side (for a total of four) to which I'd have to attach my own straps.

Also included were a large storage sack and stuff sack for the Galactic. The storage sack is of nice quality and is a good size for the bag and I am using it for my general storage of the bag. The stuff sack, on the other hand, leaves much to be desired. Frankly, I'm not impressed with the size when I pack the bag into the stuff sack. It is not a compression sack, so it stays fairly bulky when stuff. Further, the stuff sack does not seem particularly weather resistant. Because of the bulk and lack of water resistance, especially considering the down fill, I will be using an eVent waterproof compression sack for the remainder of the test.

Down the Trail

The Galactic has impressed thus far, but the true tests are all ahead of it. I don't really know anything until I hunker down in camp with it for the night. However, the mid-range temperature rating (which covers a lot of the camping season here in Florida), the decent weight, the generous cut, and extra configuration of "quilt mode" certainly make it look good on paper.

While all these things are very promising, there are many questions that need to be answered. Notably, I'm interested in finding out the functional temperature range of the bag. I'm also curious if the cut of the bag will cause me any problems down near the low end of the temperature rating in terms of generating and retaining warmth. I'm also very curious to find out how the bag performs completely unzipped and used as a quilt.

This concludes my Initial Report. Please check back in early November for my Field Report which I'm sure will have lots of valuable new information and insights into the Galactics performance. I'd like to thank BackpackGearTest.org and Kelty for the opportunity to participate in this test series!

Test Report by Greg McDonald

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