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Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > MontBell UL SS Down Hugger 5 > Owner Review by Garrett Cole
Tester InformationProduct Information Location and Conditions General Overview Product Performance Summary *Tester Information 
Name: Garrett ColeAge: 23 Gender: Male Height: 5' 10" (1.78 m) Weight: 175 lb (79 kg) Email address: garrett_d_cole@yahoo.com Home: Sidney, New York, USA Date: November 28, 2006 Backpacking Background: As former President of my college's Outdoor Club I often spent weekends on the temperate Adirondack (ADK) Mountain high peaks and on Catskill Mountain trails. I have hiked many of the ADK high peaks during all seasons of the year. Most recently I hiked over 1600 miles (2575 km) southbound on the Appalachian Trail, from Maine to Atkins, Virginia. I subscribe to a light is right philosophy and try to keep my base pack weight below 10 lb (4.5 kg) for 3-season trips, and 15 lb (6.8 kg) during winter excursions. Back to Top *Product Information Product: Montbell U.L. Super Stretch Down Hugger #5 Manufacturer: Montbell America, Inc. URL: www.montbell.com Year of manufacture: 2005 Manufacturer’s listed weight: 1 lb 3 oz (539 g) Weight as reviewed: 1 lb 3.9 oz (564 g) Manufacture listed stuff size: 4.8" x 9.5" (12.2 cm x 24.1 cm) Stuff size as reviewed: 4.8" x 8.2" (12.2 cm x 20.8 cm) Comfortable temperature rating: 42.8 F (6.0 C) Minimum temperature rating: 28.4 F (-2 C) Fill weight: 6.3 oz (179g) Insulation: 725 fill power goose down Shell fabric: 15-denier Ballistic Airlight™ Lining fabric: 15-denier Ballistic Airlight™ Maximum recommended user height: 5' 10" (1.78 m) Inside shoulder girth: 53.2" - 70.9" (135 cm – 180 cm) Inside knee girth: 42.8" - 57.1" (109 cm – 145 cm) Color: Ink Blue / Black / Grey MSRP: $225 (US) Back to Top *Location and Conditions I have used this sleeping bag during four months hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT), a continuous footpath stretching over 2100 miles (3381 km) from Maine to Georgia, and one October weekend outing in the ADK High Peaks. Sleeping temperatures ranged from below freezing to over 80 F (38 C). Night-time weather included beautiful star filled nights, severe thunder storms, snowfall, severe fog cover, steady rain, and anything else you could expect while out in the woods. This sleeping bag was used for roughly 120 nights. Back to Top *General Overview The Montbell U.L. Super Stretch Down Hugger #5 (SS #5) is an ultra-light sleeping bag that offers several attractive features. These features have been fully utilized during my latest hike on the AT keeping this side-sleeper toasty warm. One feature of interest is the use of horizontal elastic stitching creating a flexible mummy bag that is able to stretch around individual body types. This feature improves thermal efficiency and allows for more wiggle room for unsound sleepers such as myself.  A
unique feature is the built in draw cord on the horizontal stitching
closest to the foot of the sleeping bag. This provides adjustment
beyond the stretchiness of elastic stitching allowing users to fit the
bag more snuggly around their ankles, again increasing thermal
efficiency. Other uses of this feature include completely closing
drawstring of the last baffle to accommodate shorter users, inverting
the foot box inside the sleeping bag brings more insulation toward the
feet, and the entire sleeping bag can fit inside the foot box
eliminating the need for a stuff sack.In addition to those features, this bag has all the standard features of a well made down mummy bag. There are hood and neck adjusting drawstrings to custom fit around your head. There are also a few sewn in loops along the seams of the sleeping bag which would be convenient for hanging the SS #5 to air out or dry; I have never used these loops. There is a flap of nylon along the side which helps prevent zipper snags and to a small extent prevents drafts. The zipper opens at the head and the foot of the sleeping bag allowing for more ventilation on the user's feet during warm nights. Included with the sleeping bag are a lightweight stuff sack and a cotton storage bag. Back to Top *Product Performance I was extremely pleased with the performance of my SS #5 over the course of my AT hike. It proved to be one of my favorite pieces of gear for its low weight, versatility, durability, insulating capability and unique features. 
At only 19.9 oz. (564 g) the SS #5 is amongst the lightest sleeping
bags on the market. Thanks to its 725 fill power goose down, it
compresses to the approximate size of a water bottle. These aspects
combined make it ideal for carrying during long distance backpacking
trips. During my experience with the sleeping bag, I not use the stuff
sack it came with. Instead, I put it in my backpack loose so that it
would fill in the open spaces at the bottom of my Granite Gear Vapor TrailI really appreciated the features that allowed for the SS #5 to be more versatile than a simple rectangular sleeping bag. The stretchy horizontal baffles that give this sleeping bag its name worked wonderfully to reduce the amount of dead space in the sleeping bag that my body had to heat. In addition, on those nights when sleeping on the ground just isn’t working out, the stretchy baffles make it easier to shift and roll around as they create a little give in the width of the bag. I did try out using the foot adjustment but because I tend to move around at night, when the foot adjustment was tightened around my ankles it felt like I couldn’t move my legs at all. A good deal of that feeling probably came from my claustrophobia and may not exist for others. In addition with the foot adjustment feature, on hot nights when I slept only in my silk sleeping bag liner, I could pack the entire sleeping bag into the foot of the bag and cinch the adjustment closed to create a fluffy down pillow for my head. Over the course of using the SS #5, it proved to be extremely durable. After about 120 uses, aside from smelling of sweat (which could be washed out), the SS#5 shows no signs of wear. The durable water resistant (DWR) treatment on the shell of the sleeping bag has held up well. I have had no fabric or seam failures with this sleeping bag and will continue to use it as a warm weather sleeping bag. I do not know how to measure the effectiveness of the DWR treatment on the shell of the sleeping bag. But during the 120 nights using the sleeping bag, the SS #5 remained dry all but one night by keeping my pack lined with a trash compactor bag, and also using a pack cover. I was not willing to unnecessarily wet the sleeping bag. After nights of fog, mist and high humidity or multiple days of rain, the bag would feel damp to the touch, but it never soaked through to my body. I made one critical mistake by covering my sleeping bag with a tarp on a cold windy night when staying in a lean-to. I woke up halfway through the night to find that my own perspiration had wet the sleeping bag which reduced the SS #5’s insulating capability. Adding to my discomfort the air temperature dropped just below the minimum temperature rating that night. Montbell uses a double temperature rating system for their sleeping bags. While this system creates some confusion, with a little investigation of their website, the double ratings are described clearly. The distinction is made on Montbell’s website:
While using the SS #5, I’ve found that the comfortable temperature rating is accurate, but below it, I needed to add layers of clothing for warmth to be able to get a sound nights sleep. Below the minimum temperature rating, even with added layers of clothing, sleeping was very uncomfortable. Such outcomes should be expected in temperatures lower than the sleeping bag is rated. When temperatures expected are at or above the comfortable temperature rating, the SS #5 is my first choice of sleeping bags. The bag has continually lost down but the feather or two a week did not noticeably affect its warmth. In the first few uses, the SS #5 lost an alarming number of feathers (3 to 5 per use), but after a week the feather loss rate significantly slowed. Using the same digital scale before and after the 120 uses, the SS #5 lost one tenth of an ounce (3 g), and I speculate this loss in weight to be loss of down fill offset by additional body oils in the fabric. Back to Top *Summary
I have been pleased with the Montbell U.L. Super Stretch Down Hugger
#5, for lightweight backpacking use in warm weather. I enjoy the
special features of the sleeping bag which include the stretchy
horizontal baffles to custom fit my body and allow for more movement
during nights on trail, the foot adjusting cinch, the hood and neckline
adjusting draw cords and the durable water resistant (DWR) finish on
the sleeping bag shell. Carrying the sleeping bag is pleasant thanks to
its low weight and volume. When stuffed the SS #5 is about the size of
a 32 oz (1 L) Nalgene bottle, but packed loose, it seems to take up
hardly any space at the bottom of my pack once the rest of my gear is
loaded on top. It shed a few feathers in the first nights sleeping in
it, but over the course of 120 nights has lost only .1oz (3g), and
remains my first choice in sleeping gear when going light when night
time temperatures are expected to remain above the comfortable
temperature rating of 42.8 F (6 C).Back to Top Read more reviews of Mont Bell gear Read more gear reviews by Garrett Cole Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > MontBell UL SS Down Hugger 5 > Owner Review by Garrett Cole | |||