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REI Sub Kilo sleeping bag, regular
Owner Review
October 25, 2006
Name: Rebecca Mezoff
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Height: 5 ft, 10 in; 1.52 m
Weight: 130 lb; 59 kg
Email: rlmezoff@cybermesa.com
Address: El Rito, New Mexico USA
Backpacking Background: I went on my first backpacking trip
in Colorado at age 13 and was hooked. I returned seriously to it about eight
years ago. After years of hiking with a very heavy pack, I started lightening
my load and now hike with as light a pack as possible. I hiked the Colorado
Trail in 2003 with my yellow labrador. If I can’t do a long trail, I always
try to do a couple week-long hikes as well as a few weekend trips each year.
Most of my hiking experience is in the mountains of the American West.
Manufacturer: Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)
Year of Manufacture: 2003
URL: http://www.rei.com
Listed Weight: N/A
Height consideration: Tagged for people up to 6 ft (183 cm)
tall
Weight currently: 2 lb 1.3 oz; .94 kg
MSRP: $229
Comfort rating: +20 F; (-6.7 C)
Product description: This sleeping bag is a down mummy bag
with attached hood. The top of the bag is a dusty green color (oxidized blue
on the label) and the bottom, foot, and inside are a dark grey. The full length
zipper baffle and the bottom part of the head opening are light grey. There
is an REI logo sewn on the hood as well as a sewn insignia near the draw cord
that says +20 F. It has 750 fill goose down with a polyester ripstop shell,
polyester taffeta lining, and vertical baffle construction. The bag is long
enough for my 5 ft, 10 in (1.52 m) frame with a couple inches of slack which
let me wiggle my toes comfortably. I have big feet (size 10 women’s US),
so the few extra inches are nice to accommodate them. If I were taller with
even bigger feet, the bag might not feel long enough. The sleeping bag comes
with a compression stuff sack which is 7.5 by 15 in (19 by 38 cm) and weighs
2.1 oz (60 g). The bag also comes with a large ivory colored cotton storage
sack. The bag has a full length zipper with a zipper tab that flips inside or
out. It also zips from the bottom for ventilation. There are separate draw cords
for the hood and neck portion which are held together in one cord lock. One
cord is round and one is flat so you can differentiate them by feel. There are
two small grey nylon loops, one at the foot and one at the head, for hanging
the bag. I use these loops to hang the bag from a tree when I get into camp
so it can gain some loft without my dog sleeping on it, which she loves to do
after a long day of hiking. There are no pad lock straps or loops. The bag will
compress to 7.5 by 11 in (19 by 28 cm) in the compression sack it comes with.
It loses very little down, in fact on most trips I don’t see any loose
feathers at all.
I have used this sleeping bag extensively on weekend trips, week long trips,
and my 500-mile Colorado Trail trek. The Colorado Trail hike was 45 nights and
a conservative estimate of total nights in this sleeping bag both backpacking
and car camping would be 100. Most of my backpacking has been done in Colorado,
Nevada, and California and I have not experienced sequential days of rain or
snow while using this sleeping bag so can’t comment on its performance
when damp. I started my Colorado Trail hike with an old sleeping bag which did
not keep me warm, and within a week I ordered this bag from REI and had it sent
to my next mail drop. REI was great about this and had no qualms about sending
the bag general delivery. I had suspected I would need a warmer bag and had
researched and picked this one before hitting the trail.
I am a cold sleeper and I always wear some kind of long-underwear and thick
socks to sleep in. I also always wear a fleece hat and will put on my thick
fleece jacket if the temperatures outside get below about 45 degrees F (7.2
C). Unless it is very cold outside, I do not use the hood feature of this sleeping
bag. I don’t like to have anything cinched around my head because I flip
flop all night long and the back of the hood ends up over my face. I have used
the hood feature on very cold nights and found that it did keep me warmer although
I had to keep shifting the bag to keep my airway clear.
I use a 2/3 length RidgeRest pad most of the time when backpacking. I find often
when it gets below 45 degrees F (7.2 C) my feet and legs get cold and I curl
them up onto the pad. Because my thighs are so long, there is not enough room
inside the bag to bring my knees all the way to my chest, so the whole bag gets
pulled up with my knees. Because I turn a lot in the night, the bag often ends
up with the bottom on top of me. Since the Sub Kilo has even insulation all
the way around instead of less on the bottom as some sleeping bags do, the bag
turning in the night has not been a problem for me unless it is cold enough
that I need to use the hood feature. Generally I put my pack under my head with
any unused clothing and use my thick fleece for a pillow on top of the hood
portion of the bag. By morning invariably the bag has migrated somewhere and
the hood is on top of my head or behind me, but this doesn’t seem to stop
me from sleeping well. I do occasionally carry a lightweight short Therm-a-Rest
pad and have similar results with that pad and sleeping bag combination.
The Sub Kilo kept me warm at 12,000+ feet (3650 m) elevations camping under
the stars mid-summer on the Colorado Trail in 2003. Temperatures for these nights
were around 30 degrees F (-1 C) which is the coldest I have experienced with
this bag. On at least 10 occasions backpacking in Colorado, I have waked up
with frost on the outside of the bag around my head, but was warm inside (these
were occasions when I was sleeping without a shelter).
I used this sleeping bag in the Wind River Range in August of 2006 and found
that in similar conditions it was no longer keeping me warm (the bag is now
3 years old). This year I was camped for 5 nights at elevations between 10,000
and 11,000 feet (3048 and 3353 m) with temperatures no lower than 40 degrees
F (4.4 C) and although I was not shivering, I found myself trying to get my
dog to curl up next to me several times each night to keep me warm. I suspect
the inability of the bag to keep me warm this summer was due to its age and
heavy use as well as my (unfortunately unintentional) loss of weight over the
last couple years.
I take care to dry my bag out before stuffing or take it out to dry during the
day. In very warm weather I leave it unzipped and drape it over me like a quilt.
This works well.
I have used this bag on numerous car camping trips also. Generally for summer
camping when I will have a full length pad and a double wall tent, I leave the
bag unzipped and drape it over me. My car camping trips are infrequent and are
generally in warmer places than where I would be sleeping when backpacking.
I made a tarp with netting attached to the edges which I use for a shelter (this
is similar to a Henry Shires TarpTent of the original design). My tarp tent
tends to collect a lot of condensation, especially when I’m hiking with
my dog, so the outside of the bag often gets damp during the night from brushing
against the tarp wall. This kind of moisture does not seem to seep into the
bag to any great extent and after 30 minutes in the sun it will be completely
dry.
I currently use a Mountainsmith Ghost pack which is a small internal frame pack
with hipbelt. The Sub Kilo fits nicely into the bottom of this pack in its stuff
sack. I like the ease with which you can grab the sack from the bottom of the
pack with the straps on the compression sack. However, if I had a bigger capacity
pack, I would probably sew a lighter weight waterproof stuff sack for this sleeping
bag as I feel that 2.1 oz (60 g) for a stuff sack that isn’t even waterproof
is a little heavy.
Long term results: I have been using this sleeping bag for
three years now and am still pleased with it considering how much use it has
given me. REI now has a women’s version of this sleeping bag and if I
were to choose now, I would get that version. The regular bag I am using is
too roomy for my skinny frame and when it gets really cold, I have to tuck the
bag around me to take up some of the air pockets. In the last year I have had
much more difficulty staying warm at high elevations and have purchased a -5
degree F (-20 C) bag for high-altitude hikes. The nylon on the Sub Kilo has
remained in good shape and does not stain easily. The zipper does catch the
shell with some frequency which can be annoying if you’re trying to get
out in the middle of the night. There is nothing worse than when my dog is trying
to get out of the tent at 2 am to chase a racoon and I find myself stuck in
my sleeping bag! Well maybe it would be worse if I had to pee as well.
Summary:
This is a good basic lightweight sleeping bag which has served me well for the
past three years. It was a good investment.
Things I like:
1. warmth to weight ratio is good
2. the bag still feels cushy and cozy after much use and no washings
3. it stuffs to a very small size
Things I don’t like:
1. after three years of moderate use, the bag seems to have lost some loft and
does not keep me as warm as it used to
2. I am quite thin and the bag is roomier than I’d like in the torso which
means I often end up tucking it around me to decrease air pockets
3. Even when new, it never kept me warm down to the rated 20 degrees F (-6.7
C)
Read more reviews of REI gear
Read more gear reviews by Rebecca Mezoff
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