Comparisons:
listed weight: 1162 g (2 lb 9 oz) ("Trail Weight")
measured weights: - scale accurate to 1 g (0.04 oz)
bag alone: 1110 g (2 lb 7.2 oz)
stuff sack: 46 g (1.6 oz)
bag in stuff sack: 1156 g (2 lb 8.8 oz)
pillow: 150 g (5.3 oz)(in the pillow stuff sack)
- Apparently the "Trail Weight" does not include the pillow -
listed dimensions:
inside length: 157 cm (62 in)
shoulder girth: 127 cm (50 in)
hip girth: 119 cm (47 in)
foot box girth: 84 cm (33 in)
stuff size: 18 by 43 cm (7 by 17 in)
measured dimensions:
inside length: 150 cm (59 in)
widest girth: 112 cm (44 in) (at the widest point of the bag when spread out on the ground)
stuff size: 16-17 by 41-42 cm (6.5-7 by 16.5-17 in) (a bit lumpy)
It appears that the provided measurements were taken from one end of the bag to the other. The girth measurement I took was from the inside of the zipper to the inside of the draft tube on the other side, what I consider to be the extent of room one has when the bag is zipped up. Regarding the length, I measured from the inside of the foot box to the inside of the hood, with the hood drawn up over the pillow. As any occupant will raise both the foot box and the hood some, this will additionally shorten the maximum inside length (by a few cm/in at most).

Introduction:
This is a blue, mummy-type sleeping bag of what I would call a "relaxed fit". Not a sarcophagus for disciplined sleepers (like mummies), which I immediately liked (my daughter uses up a lot of room in her sleep). It has a hood and a zipper which goes down almost the entire side of it. My daughter was quite happy to see it and immediately tried it out (on our living room floor). She liked the feel and did not mind being zipped up all the way, but quickly complained about getting too warm in it.

From the website:
"Sierra Designs' Kids sleeping bags offer more features than anything else on the market, in either a down or a synthetic option. Forty years of quality construction know-how and attention to detail in each and every bag we make. You'll find kid-friendly features such as our Snag-Free Zipper Track, a Chest Pocket for storing clothing (keeps it warm!), and Glow-in-the-Dark Zipper Pulls. The included Pad Locks keep the bags attached to your pad (no waking up on the cold hard ground). A Tricot Lined Foot Box and a free pillow are included.
Insulation: Polarguard 3D
Shell Material: 70 D Polyester [the hang tag which came with it says 70 D Nylon]
Liner Material: 75 D Polyester
Features:
Attached Mesh Storage Pocket
Chest Pocket
Contour Shingle Construction
Draft Tube
Glow-in-the-Dark Zipper Pulls
Pillow Pocket
Removable Pad Locks
Snag Free Zipper Tracks
Tricot Lined Foot box
The manufacturer rates this bag for -7 C / 20 F.

Trying Out:
We decided to try the bag out right away and went camping. Our camping site was located on level terrain, at about 100 m (330 ft) above sea level (our garden). It was a cloudy, foggy night with temperatures bottoming out around 5 C (40 F) or so outside our tent - how much warmer it may have been inside our tent I do not know (I do not yet have my new thermometer with which I intend to take temperature readings during the remainder of the test period).
My daughter took a little longer than usual to fall asleep, though this is likely attributable more to the surroundings than to the bag. I got her installed inside the bag, with the bag fixed to the pad and the hood draw cord tightened just a bit to give a good "hood"-shape, with her head on the pillow. She insisted, at first, to have her arms outside of the bag (wearing a long-sleeved cotton top). I consented to this, as it was still warm enough.
By the time she fell asleep, her upper body extended a bit further out of the bag, with the pillow in her back. Yet, her lower body was still inside the bag and the bag mostly still on top of the pad. I consider this a success. The material of the bag was slippery enough that I could maneuver her back inside the bag. She was able to do most of her wiggling about in her sleep inside the space provided for it by the bag, which I liked (she did not mind either way, as she did not wake up - which is what I liked).
She was wearing cotton pyjamas, with the hood wide open and the top of the bag not closed up in any way. She was still plenty warm enough under the circumstances. Not much of a test of its temperature rating, but enough to know that we can likely get a good bit closer to it without fear. Which we will.

Features:
Here comes a brief description of the individual features of the bag as listed by the manufacturer:

- Attached Mesh Storage Pocket:
This mesh storage pocket wraps around the foot box of the bag. When packed inside it, the packed bag has the approximate shape of a rather large bucket. This is in no way useful for backpacking, but seems like a good storage option (which is the design intent behind it).

- Chest Pocket:
There are actually two of these. One is a smallish pocket on the outside of the bag with a zipper on it, comparable to a jacket's handwarmer pocket. The other is inside the bag and consists of overlapping sections of mesh sewn to the inside of the bag. I am at a loss of what to do with the latter. I feel that there is nothing wrong with the accepted method of keeping clothing warm inside a sleeping bag, being to stuff it into the foot end. This is particularly true for a bag considerably longer than its occupant. Clothing won't get lost inside the sleeping bag, whether it's in an extra pocket or not. We'll try it out, of course, and report what we think of it then.
The smaller, outside chest pocket may be a good thing for kids who already carry their own keys etc. I'm not sure my daughter will be using it much except for interesting stones and other "treasures".

- Contour Shingle Construction:
This is supposed to provide better insulation than the sewn-through type one sometimes encounters. I am unable to verify this but will take their word for it.

- Draft Tube :
It's a roll of insulating material sewn against the open side of the bag so that it covers the zipper when the latter is closed. Appears to be functional, though of course it can get in the way of the zipper (see below).

- Glow-in-the-Dark Zipper Pulls:
They glow in the dark - provided it hasn't been dark for long. On our test night, on which the bags saw a good bit more daylight than they're likely to when backpacking (when they'll be transported in a - dark - backpack), they were glowing when I put my daughter to bed, but no longer did so the first time I checked on her around midnight. I guess this feature does nothing for me (or her).

- Pillow Pocket (and free pillow):
The Pillow Pocket consists of a black, soft, fuzzy material ("Tricot") which closes by way of a hook-and-loop type fastener. It provides a (small) space for a pillow (which came included with the bag). The pillow is in its own pillowcase, made of what I take to be nylon, printed with a rip-stop-imitation pattern. The pillowcase has a nice, soft feel to it. The pillow itself is difficult to compress using the attached stuff sack and even more difficult to remove from the pillowcase (I stopped trying after I thought I heard a ripping sound from one of the seams of the pillowcase). I may try again with a bit more leisure. The pillowcase seems nice and fits the Pillow Pocket really well. Maybe we could put a bit of clothing or something else in here which we carry anyway. While I'm not an ultralight hiker, I'm also not keen on adding unnecessary "comfort weight" when I'm carrying for two.

- Removable Pad Locks:
These consist of two black, thin strips of textile made from some kind of polymer which run across the back of the sleeping bag and can be pulled tight. As the sleeping bag is mummy-shaped, the lower attachment points of the Pad Locks are closer together than the top ones. This made attaching them to the pad I had put underneath my daughter a bit more difficult than I assume it would have been with a mummy-shaped pad. It was also made a bit difficult by the thin pad we used (a 5 mm / 0.2 in Evazote - closed cell foam - pad folded double).

- Snag Free Zipper Tracks:
The "Tracks" which are meant to make the zipper snag-free are tough textile bands which run alongside the zipper. They do keep the inside material of the bag out of the zipper - unless the draft tube is hanging over the zipper, which of course it has already done once. This resulted in the usual snag, though this did not seem to damage the material at all. Should my daughter be closing the zipper from the inside, the tracks should work really well. So far, however, she pulls on it from the outside (sitting up in it) and this position tends to let the draft tube hang out.

- Tricot Lined Foot box:
The lower 30 cm (1 ft) or so of the bag are lined with the same black, soft, fuzzy material which makes up the Pillow Pocket. This would probably be nice if one were to touch it with naked feet. However, my daughter still needs to grow for a few years until she can do both that *and* have the hood around her head. So the Tricot will mostly feel her clothing, put there so she does not have to heat all that extra space.

and a word about the stuff sack:
The provided stuff sack is the heaviest of the stuff sacks I now have in my arsenal, though not by much. It is also the largest of the lot, and must resist the strongest force. While packing the bag into the attached mesh storage pocket does not compress it (much) and can indeed be done by my daughter, I was at first doubtful that the bag (including the pillow) would fit into the stuff sack. It can be done, but it took me a good two minutes to get it there. The high compression factor seems a necessity to make the bag packable, however. As I will be carrying two sleeping bags when I carry this one, I am happy about the (comparatively) low volume it stuffs to.

Test Plan:
Testing Location and Probable Conditions:
In this region, the test period (October through January) will typically see temps between -5, maybe -10 C (25, maybe 14 F) and 25 C (77 F). For precipitation we'll have fog and drizzle as well as rain in fall, some snow in winter. Fall tends to be windy.
Our - preliminary - plans are as follows: We'll camp on the balcony and in the garden. We plan to do at least one "Walkabout" (Round trip starting from home, spending the night in the tent in the garden. Bags will be carried the distance. Segueing into things. Then there's a "Far Walkabout" (Similar, using the slightly higher elevations (300 to 400 m / 1000 to 1300 ft) and “rougher” terrain around my parents’ place in the Eifel region, again camping in the(ir) garden); and: "Southward Ho!": Following the trails leading from our place to my parents’ place for as long as we like to, and camp where we get to (this will be in the closest “Emergency” shelter, as tent camping is illegal in the area). We'll continue from there as far as we like. Possibly this will be all the way to my parents’ place, if not we’ll never be far from a road and cell phone coverage is good. More may be coming.
We hike in hilly, forested terrain which starts a 15 minute walk from where we live and extends for about 30 km (20 mi) in most directions. This includes hikes in the Kottenforst State Park, the Siebengebirge Nature Preserve (Seven Mountains – bit of a misnomer there, they top out at 461 m / 1512 ft), the River Rhine and the Ahr Valley. Elevations range from 60 m / 200 ft to the above-mentioned 461 m / 1512 ft, paths tend to be well-maintained though we do not always stick to them.
Questions I intend to answer:
Does it provide enough wriggle room? Will the Pad Locks keep her on her pad? Will the Chest Pockets be useful? Will there be issues with moisture from outside or inside the bag? Will it be and remain comfortable for my daughter? Will it show any wear during the testing period? And most importantly: Will it keep my daughter warm at night?

Pros/Cons:
Pros: An outdoor sleeping bag for my daughter which will actually allow camping below freezing. Just what we needed.
Cons: Could be made lighter at the same price (shorter zipper, no mesh). Kids may not care about the weight, but they're not carrying it, either.

Personal Biographical Information:
Name: André Corterier
Gender: M
Age: 33
Height: 1,85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight: 80 kg (175 lb)
Email: andreDOTcorterierATfreenetDOTde
Home: Bonn, Germany

Name: Renée Corterier
Gender: F
Age: 4
Height: 1,09 m (43 in)
Weight: 19 kg (42 lb)
Email: -
Home: Bonn, Germany

Backpacking Background:
I began backpacking in my late teens using Europe’s "InterRail"-System – weight hardly mattered, as we were on trains a lot. I recently rediscovered backpacking and have started out slowly – single-day 24 km (15 mi) jaunts by myself or even shorter hikes in the company of my little daughter. I am getting started on longer hikes, as a lightweight packer and hammock-camper. I’ve begun upgrading my old gear and am now shooting for a dry FSO weight (everything carried From the Skin Out except food, fuel and water) of about 10 kg (22 lb) for three-season camping. Not quite there yet.

Renée began "hiking" at the age of 1 1/2 years. This consisted of walking short distances between “stroller stops” to play in the snow or explore the banks of a creek with her dad pushing her in the stroller for most of the hike. Lately, she’s begun walking the entire stretch of shorter hikes (a few km/mi at most), though she insists on a break with a strung hammock and a hot meal on a camping stove (those, and the ability to drink from the water bladder’s drinking tube whenever her dad picks her up for a moment are what make hiking so cool). Her longest expedition so far was a 16 km (10 mi) daytrip of which she walked about half (she spent the rest in a rented kid carrier, pushing her dad’s FSO weight – including her own FSI weight – to about 38 kg/85 lb). She’s spent a night in a tent and one in a hammock, both with her dad (sleeping better than he did both times).

Read more reviews of Sierra Designs gear
Read more gear reviews by Andre Corterier

Initial Report

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