SOFTIE 3 MERLIN by SNUGPAK
(A Brett Harris Ltd. Brand)
 report review
TWO SEASON LIGHTWEIGHT SLEEPING BAG
Long Term Report - May 5, 2004

SPECIFICATIONS

The Softie 3 Merlin, two season lightweight sleeping bag, is manufactured in the UK by: 
Brett Harris, Ltd. under the Snugpak brand.  

Year of Manufacture: 2003

Web: http://www.snugpakusa.com
International: http://www.snugpak.com

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

I have slept with the Snugpak Softie 3 Merlin nearly every night since receiving it.  Admittedly, half of the time this was in the comfort of my bedroom, but I spent a total of 48 nights outdoors with the Merlin (although I normally just call it (him) 'Merlin').  About half these nights were in the back yard under varying conditions.  On hikes, terrain was variable, and included sandy beaches, river sandbars, bottomland hardwoods, and Cypress swamps.  Temperatures ranged from 85 F (29.4 C) to 42 F (5.6 C).  Humidity ranged from 85% to 40%, with the average running to the damp side.  

The Merlin was used in a variety of shelters, including the Tarptent Virga by Henry Shires, a Hennessy Hammock, my open garage, and on several occasions nothing but the canopy of trees above me.  Various pads were used during the Long-Term Test period.  Usually a blue closed-cell foam pad often wrapped in a Neat Sheet.  Ground temperatures never dropped below 50 F (10 C).

PACKING AND UNPACKING

I have gotten somewhat proficient at rolling Merlin and putting him into the compression sack.  Unfortunately, it still isn't all that easy.  Merlin must be folded correctly then rolled very tight in order to get it into the stuff sack.  Even with my strong hands, this is a chore.  It takes me almost four minutes to roll it then work it into the stuff sack.  If the stuff sack were just a little larger, this wouldn't be as difficult or time consuming.

TEMPERATURE RATING

I almost always sleep nude, and I followed that practice when using the Snugpak.  I am not only more comfortable this way, but few people ask to borrow my sleeping bags.  

I do not usually zip a sleeping bag, even in the coldest weather for a few reasons.  One, I don't like to be confined.  I wouldn't define this as any kind of claustrophobia - I just like to be able to move freely.  Secondly, I have found that any part of the sleeping bag under me compresses, and so loses its insulative value.  I prefer, for those reasons, to use any sleeping bag as a quilt.  During the test I did use the Merlin both ways and no appreciable difference in the temperature rating was noticed.  

Rather than file a series of mini trip reports, I have decided to summarize my findings.  The temperature ratings chart, as detailed in the Field Report, is reproduced here for the reader's convenience.

Temperature rating can be affected by many things.   Humidity is one of them.  During times of high humidity I have often woken up to a decidedly damp sleeping bag - but this was never true with the Snugpak Softie 3 Merlin.  Every morning the bag was perfectly dry, having absorbed no moisture whatsoever!  I could not believe this was true at first, and did some controlled tests, weighing the bag before going to sleep, and then immediately upon waking.  The measured weight gain from humidity never exceeded 2 ounces (57 grams)!  Thirty minutes later, the measured weight gain was zero.  The bag had completely dried.  I consider this to be only one sandwich short of miraculous.

I also wanted to test the bag under wet conditions.  In order to do this, I soaked the bag in a tub of water, then rolled it up to squeeze as much water out of it as possible.  It was still quite damp, and I used it when damp like this on three separate occasions as a quilt under the controlled conditions in my open garage.

For the bag to dry out, the water must evaporate.  Evaporation also requires that the humidity of the atmosphere be less than the evaporating surface (at 100 % relative humidity there is no more evaporation). The evaporation process requires large amounts of energy. For example, the evaporation of one gram of water at a temperature of 212 F (100 C) requires 540 calories of heat energy (600 calories at 32 F (0 C).  The rate of evaporation - which directly impacts drying time - is a function of several factors, including relative humidity, differential temperature, and surface area exposed to the atmosphere, among others.  Given all of these factors, drying times will vary greatly under various conditions.  

In my limited sample of three nights nude in the damp bag, I found that the bag did provide warmth, but the temperature rating was, of course, compromised.  Using the bag at  45 F (7.2 C) when entirely damp is a chilling experience, but I did not die.  By the morning, the bag was nearly entirely dry.  Wearing dry clothing in the damp bag considerably improved my comfort.  Using a Neat Sheet as a liner improved the bag's performance greatly, and I was quite comfortable even though the bag was damp.  

Compared to my experience with down bags vs. synthetic bags, I can make a few comments.  One, the Snugpak Merlin lofted nicely even when damp.  A down bag similarly soaked in water and squeezed out would have been totally worthless.  The Snugpak was still an asset when damp, but a down bag becomes a liability.  The Snugpak was 'good as new' the next night, being completely dry with all of its loft.  A down bag can take days to dry, and is almost impossible to re-loft in the field.  This is one of the reasons that I use synthetic fill bags almost exclusively, and the Snugpak performed very nicely in this regard.

A further experiment, under actual field conditions, was to start with a completely dry bag and setup an 'accident'.  At an ambient temperature of 40 F (4.4 C), I jumped into a cold stream while wearing minimal clothing and waited until I was shivering rather violently.  I then got out of the stream, undressed but did not dry off, and crawled sleepily into the Snugpak Merlin without drying off.  I was warm in less than 30 minutes and dry within an hour.  

DURABILITY

I have been very pleased with the durability of the Snugpak.  I did manage to tear the insulation in one place by trying to get the last little bit of the footbox into the stuff sack by forcing it with my thumb.  Neither the shell nor the lining were damaged.  Having learned my lesson, I will avoid this in the future.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

The outer shell is quite soft, but the inner shell is exquisite.  The very fine quality of the Pertex Infin8T material continues to be wonderfully comfortable.   The 'profiling' or 'no stitch through' construction means that there are no stitch lines to irritate my sensitive skin.  I just love the way it feels.  The only irritant is the large triple tag. I will definitely cut this out after the test period. 

The fit is decent.  I am 56 in (142 cm) around my arms, however,  and the 59 in (150 cm) fit is rather confining around my shoulders.  It is, however, ample below the waist and above my shoulders.  The hood cinches nicely and I am quite cozy.  When used as a quilt, the Snugpak Softie 3 Merlin is more than adequate.  

The product poster included with the Merlin states, "Due to the ultra fine 'down like' nature of our filling and the ultralight fabrics we use, some percolation of the fibre through the casing is inevitable."  I have not observed any such percolation.  

Moisture did not prove to be a problem.  I never allowed the bag to become wet during actual use.  I did test the bag's wet performance as noted above.

I have washed the bag once on the gentle cycle and dried it on low with no apparent damage.  

The anti-snag zipper is definitely not anti-snag.  If the nylon webbing ribbon used to reduce the chance of snagging were a little wider, it might be anti-snag.  Admittedly, I have not snagged it badly, nor have I damaged the Pertex or the zipper, but it isn't as good as it could be.  I have gotten very used to the zipper now and I hardly ever snag it.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE STUFF SACK.

The Snugpak Softie 3 Merlin is light and small.  That's good.  It replaced a synthetic bag that is considerably bulkier with the same rating (read cheaper), it has allowed me to carry less in both weight and volume - the goal, really of any backpacker.  The Snugpak works wonderfully in my Hennessy Hammock, and it has become my bag of choice for hammock sleeping.

What's bad?  Very little.  It's a little confining for my girth, but that's the fault of Southern cooking, I suppose.  The anti-snag zipper isn't very anti-snag in my experience.  The stuff sack should be just a little larger in my opinion.

I expected that it would be very difficult to get the Merlin back into the compression stuff sack.  To be fair, it isn't as hard as I thought it would be, and it has gotten faster with practice, but it is still not easy.

SUMMARY

The bottom line is that if I were going to buy a sleeping bag of this rating, I would buy a Snugpak Softie 3 Merlin.  I don't think I can say it any plainer than that.

THINGS I LIKE

1.  Small
2.  Light
3.  The Pertex material is more comfortable than any other synthetic material I have had against my skin.

THINGS I DON'T LIKE

1.  Moderately difficult to get into compression stack.
2.  A little confining for my girth.
3.  Anti-snag zipper isn't anti-snag.

***

Thank you for your time.

Shane Steinkamp
shane@theplacewithnoname.com
www.theplacewithnoname.com/hiking