Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > Valandre Shocking Blue > Carol Crooker > Long Term Report

Valandré Shocking Blue, Long Term Report

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Backpacking background: For the past 8 years, I've backpacked about 30 days each year. Most of my trips were three to six days long, and were in Arizona, the mountains of the western states, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and New York. Weather has varied from 107 F to a low of 0 F (42 to -18 C). My three-season base pack weight varies from 10 lbs (5 kg) to 5 lbs (2 kg), depending on the weather. My winter base pack weight is about 18 lbs (8 kg). I normally use a tarp for shelter all year round.

PRODUCT SYNOPSIS

The Shocking Blue is a 49 oz (1389 g) down, mummy-shaped sleeping bag rated to an extreme rating of -13 F (-25 C). Notable from the Valandré website claims, is the use of very high quality down and fabric, a unique collar to lock in warmth, and differential construction with down chambers shaped to fit the human body. (See my Initial Report for a more detailed description of the Shocking Blue.)

Contents

SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS

The Valandré Shocking Blue is a well made sleeping bag using high quality materials. It has been more than warm enough (once warmed up) in the cool conditions I've had it in from a low of 17 F (-8 C) to a very soggy 25 F (-4 C). There is plenty of room inside for me to wear insulating clothing to add even more warmth. It takes longer to get toasty warm in this bag than closer fitting, less lofty bags I've used, but once warm, I've been cozy the rest of the night even as temperatures dropped. The collar slows heat loss out the "mouth" of the bag but it took me a few trips before I got the knack of closing it by feel alone. The bag itself holds warmth well - once I'm warm in the bag, it still feels warm after an extended bathroom/snow-shoveling break.

The collar is "fussy" and it took me a few bag nights to master it. It helps seal in warmth when fully engaged. Unfortunately, I never had the colder conditions I was hoping for to really give the collar a good test.

The shell of the Shocking Blue is very water resistant, but will wet through if subjected to enough moisture. The bag kept me nice and warm to 17 F (-8 C) - the lowest temperature I experienced - even with about 4 oz (g) of moisture in the shell fabric or insulation of the bag. After the bag was compressed in a stuff sack for many hours with this moisture content, loft decreased significantly.

On the warmer side, I didn't overheat with the bag fully zipped up in the mid 40s F (7 - 9 C) until mid-way through the night. To put this in context, I live in the desert and sleep best when I'm quite warm.

The Shocking Blue is incredibly compressible and quick to recover its loft after being compressed. After a few minutes of fluffing, straight out of a compression sack, the measured loft was within 0.2 cm (less than 0.1 in) of full loft. The provided storage sack requires that the Shocking Blue be compressed, so I don't plan to use it for storage. The provided compression sack is lightweight. The Shocking Blue fits inside with no problems, and the volume is small enough that I was able to use a 2900 ci (50 L) pack for winter backpacking.

What I like:

• Very nice looking bag - gorgeous color.
• Extra loft in hood and foot box.
• Long enough.
• Roomy enough to wear extra layers and to shift position.
• Quick response from Valandré customer service.
• Retains heat.
• Incredibly compressible.

What I don't like:

• Opening in seam.
• Takes a while to warm up the bag.
• Learning curve to master the collar.
• Have to be careful not to snag zipper.
• Once cord locks are snapped together, it's hard to disconnect them.
• The compression sack strap ends can pull out of their buckles - sewn over ends should prevent this.

OBSERVATIONS

I've had the Shocking Blue in the field for six nights since my Initial Report. See my Field Report for detailed observations and field conditions during testing. Below I detail the in-house tests I did during the long term phase of my testing, when it was too hot to sleep in the Shocking Blue.

Netting Storage Sack
The storage sack that Valandré sent with the Shocking Blue is much smaller than I expected. When it is stuffed, the sack measures about 10 3/4 x 8 x 20 in (27 x 20 x 51 cm). The Shocking Blue fits into the sack with no problem - this bag is highly compressible - but, it does have to be compressed to fit. My preference is to store down bags fully lofted so I do not plan to store the Shocking Blue in the supplied storage sack.

Shell Water Resistance
The Asahi Kasei Impact fabric was quite water resistant in the field. I did an at-home experiment to get a better idea of the shell's water resistance. I formed a "well" in the fabric and poured about an ounce (30 ml) of water in and let it sit. I checked it every 5 minutes. There did not appear to be any wetting after 20 minutes. At 25 minutes, the fabric was starting to wet through. Droplets that spattered outside the well were still beaded up.

Loft Restoration After Compression
My impression from field testing is that the Shocking Blue recovers loft quickly after being in a compression stuff sack. I tested loft restoration at home to get a more quantitative feeling for how the Shocking Blue recovers loft. I did three experiments. In the first I left the Shocking Blue stuffed in its own compression sack for two hours, then removed the bag, shook it out a bit and measured loft after 30 minutes and 1 hour. In the second I left the bag stuffed for 24 hours, then laid it out without any "fluffing" and measured loft immediately and every 30 minutes for 3 hours, then measured loft at 5.5 and 13 hours. Finally, I left the bag stuffed for 27 hours, removed it and spent a few minutes fluffing it, measured loft immediately and then every 30 minutes for 1 hour. I cranked the Valandré-provided compression stuff sack down to a height of 14 inches (36 cm) each time. Each time, I measured loft in five places across the same baffle and averaged the readings. I'd previously measured the double layer loft of this baffle as 6 in (15.2 cm) after allowing the bag to loft for 24 hours.

The first test, I took the bag out of the stuff sack, gave it a shake or two, and laid it out to measure loft. The loft was 5.5 in (13.9 cm) after 30 minutes and 5.6 in (14.1 cm) after 1 hour. This raised questions for me - what is the loft immediately after I take the bag out of the stuff sack, and what happens if I am careful not to fluff the bag? That led to the second experiment.

For the second test, I carefully removed the Shocking Blue from the compression sack and laid it out for measuring without fluffing after it was in the compression sack 24 hours. Loft was 4.6 in (11.8 cm). The loft slowly increased to 4.9 in (12.4 cm) after 13 hours.

These results raised the question as to whether the higher loft in the first test was because the bag was stuffed longer or because the bag got a fluff during the first test. So, for the third test I compressed the Shocking Blue once again in the compression stuff sack, for 27 hours this time. When I removed it from the sack I spent a few minutes (no more) thoroughly shaking it out. Then I immediately measured the loft as 5.8 in (14.7 cm). I made two more measurements at 30 minute intervals. Loft increased by 0.2 cm (remaining at 5.8 in).

My conclusions are that the Shocking Blue can be back to nearly full loft with a few minutes of fluffing straight out of a compression sack, and that taking a couple of minutes to fluff a bag makes a huge difference!

Room for Insulated Garments without Loft Degradation?
I put on my puffiest clothing and climbed into the Shocking Blue to see if there was room for me and my puffiness. I wore Bozeman Mountain Works Cocoon pants with the GoLite Six Month Night Parka. There was plenty of room in the leg section over the Cocoon pants and in the torso over the GoLite parka. Next I wore the Western Mountaineering Meltdown jacket (17 oz, 482 g jacket) inside the Shocking Blue. The Meltdown has more loft than the Six Month Night - about 3.8 in (9.7 cm) of double layer loft. There was less room inside the bag wearing the Meltdown, but still no detectable loft compression in the bag or jacket. For reference, my shoulder and hip girth are 44 in (112 cm).

Thanks to BGT and Valandré for this testing opportunity.

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > Valandre Shocking Blue > Carol Crooker > Long Term Report