Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Hussey
• Age: 23
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
• Weight: 155 lb (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• City, State, Country: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Date: February 17, 2004

Basic Product Information

• Manufacturer: REI
• Year of Manufacture: 1999
• URL: http://www.rei.com/
• Listed weight: None
• Bag weight as delivered: 3 lb 7 oz (1.56 kg)
• Stuff Sack weight as delivered: 2.2 oz (62 g)
• Temperature Rating: -5 F (-20 C)
• Size: Regular
• Stuffed Size (Uncompressed): 8 x 15 in (20 x 38 cm)

Product Description

Details

The Down Time has hang loops on the front top of the hood and on the bottom of the foot box. It has a full length baffled draft tube against the zipper which is reinforced near the zipper with grosgrain ribbon to prevent snags. The hood is a simple two-triangle design. The hood has a separate cinch cord to make independent adjustments of the top hood and the chin hood portions. The neck draft collar is actually not a collar on my version, rather, it is two bulbs of down which I stuff on either side of my neck at night. Here is a picture showing the two bulbs pulled outside of the hood:

I measured the girth at 57" (145 cm) and the length from the bottom of the foot box to the apex of the hood at 83" (210 cm). The fitting is basic -- the triangular hood grows wider gently to the maximum girth, and then tapers linearly to the foot box. The fit is roomy for me, and I can move to many positions while sleeping in it.

Field Testing

I have used the Down Time for over 200 field nights. This bag was the first serious outdoor sleeping bag I bought, and it is still with me.

Trip Details:

I have used the Down Time all over the USA, though mostly on the West Coast and Western Mountain states. Night time temperatures ranged from 50 F (10 C) to -10 F (-23 C), and conditions ranged from snowy and icy to dry sandy desert. Elevations ranged from sea level to 12,000 ft (3700 m), and terrain was mostly mountainous.

Important Usage Points:

+ Product as Advertised: Yes
Comments: When I purchased it, the Down Time was advertised as an inexpensive basic down bag. Dry-Loft was relatively new and uncommon at the time and thus much of the advertising concentrated on it, however, it seems that the new line of Down Time bags no longer have Dry-Loft as an option, so I will not comment on it here. The Down Time certainly fits the bill as a basic and inexpensive down bag. Its temperature rating has proven to be relatively accurate, the small details such as cinch cords and baffled design certainly existed as claimed, and all in all I never felt I got something different than what I felt I saw advertised in the store.

+ Durability: Excellent
Comments: My main issues with most sleeping bags are either (a) that I slide off my pad onto rough ground and tear holes in the outside, or (b) toss and turn with various masses of gear inside the sleeping bag, and tear holes in the inside. Neither has ever been a problem with the Down Time. I've ended up bounds away from my pad, and though the outside looks a little scraped in places, there are no holes anywhere. Over the time I have used this bag, I have long since stopped caring about stretching out, pushing against the sides, and shoving things every which way inside -- despite this, however, the inside shows only a little discoloration. Of perhaps highest importance to me, however, is that this bag recovered nicely after I washed it twice using non-detergent soap. The down puffed back up to what seemed to be its original loft, and so even the loft retained its durability over time with my proper care. I store the bag fully expanded and free, and I let it dry out carefully after each trip.

+ Resistance to Weather: Good
Comments: For the weather coming in from the outside, the Dry-Loft has served this bag exceptionally well. I can sleep outside in snow showers and never fear getting wet, and I have even successfully slept fine in light drizzle in a pinch. The internal weather on the other hand, the bag handles less well. I believe this probably has to do with the older Dry-Loft construction (as I have observed the same thing in my older versus newer Gore-Tex jacket), but the Down Time depends heavily on a large temperature gradient to move internal moisture out during the night. What does this mean? Well, if I am sleeping straight outside in the snow (cold) and I am sleeping very warm inside the bag (warm), then I wake up with the bag nice and dry and puffed up. If however, I am inside the bag (warm) inside of a very warm snow cave or even a semi-warm tent (also warm), then the bag is wet and flat in the morning. In other words, if the inside is warm and the outside is cold, then the Dry-Loft seems to transport moisture out just fine, but not if the outside is also warm. This has presented some odd problems, because on one hand I want to sleep where it is warm to keep me warmer, but on the other hand a flat down bag is no good. Because of this, I have pretty much stopped using this bag for ski touring and the like since I enjoy sleeping in warm snow caves and the Down Time does not. As I said before, however, look into this on the newer Dry-Loft covering since some of my friends who have newer down bags with Dry-Loft outers do not experience this problem.

+ Comfort: Great
Comments: The Down Time bag, though simple, still retains a high degree of comfort. My favorite is the two bulbs of down which serve as the neck draft collar. They work very effectively, and they don't feel constricting like the full collars do. The hook and loop at the hood holds a watch just fine by looping the watch over it while closed, and the hood cinch cords are made with different types of cord to differentiate in the dark. The bag is roomy enough for me to store water bottles and boots in with me when the weather turns cold, and also roomy enough for me to curl up in different positions when sleeping. The only issue I have is that the Dry-Loft is very rough around the hood cinch cord, so when I cinch the face opening down to the smallest it can go the Dry-Loft rubs against my face and bothers me enough that I wake up to shift it away. Not a big deal, but annoying nonetheless.

+ Insulation: Excellent
Comments: The temperature rating on this bag is very accurate. At just below 0 F (-18 C), I am still somewhat comfortable, but as it gets colder I begin to feel cold. Where that boundary lies for a given trip depends on everything from what I eat beforehand to the pads I am sleeping on. But to me this means the temperature rating is accurate. For reference, I consider myself to be an average-to-warm sleeper. The insulation combined with the windproofness of Dry-Loft, make for a surprisingly warm bag. The down in the bag has very good loft when it is clean and dry, and I often wake up with the down literally pushing outward on the baffles. For colder temperatures, the roominess of the bag becomes a problem (I find new cold spots whenever I turn over) but this is easily solved by tucking a portion of the bag under me since the problem is size and not insulation.

+ Changes and Maintenance Over Time: Down shifts and clumps
Comments: My biggest problem with this bag is that the down shifts to the sides and bottom of the baffles. The baffle design is very simple -- straight across the chest -- and as such whenever I turn over apparently the down gets pushed off the top of the bag and down to the sides. Additionally, about every 70 field nights the down gets dirty enough from my sweat that it loses enough loft to decrease its warmth significantly. At that point, I wash the bag and it resolves both the down shifting and clumping issues, but since it takes two full days of investment to carefully wash the bag and then leave in an unheated front-loading dryer for about 8 hours, it is pretty impractical to wash the bag whenever the loft starts to shift or clump. All in all, however, the down springs nicely back to life, and I can bang most down shifting back into place with a little work in between trips or at night. Other than that, the bag has really required no maintenance.

Summary

Overall, the Down Time is a very dependable basic down mummy bag. The Dry-Loft adds a lot to the weatherproofness of the bag even if it does prevent me from using the bag in full winter snow caves due to the bag becoming flat. This bag nicely fills the niche between a very lightweight summer bag and my super bulky expedition bag, and it has served me well in that area for many years.

Upsides for me:

• Comfortable
• Durable
• Dependable

• Baffle design allows a lot of down shifting
• Older Dry-Loft prevents sweat from escaping

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Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > REI Down Time -5 F > Owner Review by Cora Hussey