Western Mountaineering Caribou MF Down Sleeping Bag Owner Review

Reviewed June 6, 2005

Name:	Mark Wood
Age:	25
Gender:	Male
Height:	5' 11" (1.8 m)
Weight:	240 lbs (109 kg)
Email Address:	woodmark0 at yahoo dot com
Location:	Chenango County, NY U.S.A.

Backpacking Background

I grew up camping with my parents and have taken a few short backpacking trips as well as two 10-day trips. My wife and I have really gotten into hiking this year and our goal is to try to take one weekend overnight trip every month through fall. We live near the Catskills and the Adirondacks and wish to explore them in the upcoming years. This means hiking on rather rocky, hilly terrain.

We try to purchase gear that performs well, while lowering our total carried weight.  As an engineer, I enjoy researching different gear options in order to make an informed decision. My general base pack weight is currently around 25 lbs.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Western Mountaineering
Year of Manufacture: Presumably 2005
URL of Manufacturer: http://www.westernmountaineering.com
MSRP: $240 U.S. Dollars
Listed Weight: 1 lb. 4 oz. (0.57 kg)
Weight as Delivered: 1 lb. 5 oz. (0.60 kg) without included stuff sack
Style: Regular Length
Length: 6' 0" (183 cm)
Shoulder/Foot Girth: 63" / 40" (160 cm / 102 cm)
Weight of Fill: 10 oz. (0.28 kg)
Rated Temperature: 35 F (1.6 C)

Item Description

Western Mountaineering has long been one of the premier sleeping bag manufacturers. It was no surprise to me then, when I went to purchase this sleeping bag, it was one of the higest quality bags in the store.

The Western Mountaineering (WM) Caribou MF down sleeping bag is one of the Microfiber series of sleeping bags created by WM. Instead of the shell being constructed of the light ripstop nylon found on their ExtremeLite series of bags (including the popular UltraLite and HighLite), the Microfiber series is instead constructed of their MicroLite XP fabric. This fabric is supposed to be a tighter weave than nylon thus shedding more water and being somewhat more durable.

This bag has many features which can be seen on the manufacturer's webpage, but I will summarize them here. The bag is constructed by using a 10 inch (25 cm) square sewn-thru box construction. This means that the stitching sews the shell directly to the liner and sandwiches the down in between. While this may lead to cold spots along the seams, for above freezing temperatures it offers considerable weight savings when compared to baffled construction. It is reported by the manufacturer as having 10 oz. (0.28 kg) of down fill and 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) of loft. I believe the down is what WM referrs to as 850+ fill power duck down, but the web site has no information regarding this fact. From my measurements, the loft appears to be the advertised height after letting the bag loft up for a while, and so I have no doubt that I have the full amount of down fill. This bag also features a full length, two-way zipper to aid in venting.

The bag, as I received it when I picked it up from the store, was packaged in the large cotton storage bag. Also included was a black XXS stuff sack to pack the bag in when backpacking. When stuffed in the included stuff sack, the bag is approximately 12 inches (30 cm) long with a diameter of around 5 inches (13 cm). The finish of the bag, both inside and out is silky smooth. The entire bag is black except for the outside of the bag on the top which is a deep blue -- very appealing to the eye. I was also pleased to note that the full-length zipper was well constructed with a decently long zipper pull on both the inside and outside. There is also an ample strip of stiffener along the zipper to prevent the fabric from becoming snagged or sucked into the zipper. There is a small patch of hook and loop fastener at the top of the zipper to keep it from unzipping as well as a single drawcord which adjusts the hood and neckline of the Caribou. Since this is a summer weight bag, the hood is flat cut but does wrap sufficiently well around my head. This bag is a very simple, no frills design. However, close inspection shows impeccably sewn seams and attention to detail in its construction.

Reason For Purchase

After a shakedown hike for our upcoming Appalachian Trail section hike, it became apparent that both my wife and I were carrying too much weight. One of the biggest culprits was the 5+ pound sleeping bag I was carrying around. It was an old no-name bag and was always WAY too warm in the summer months. Knowing that I am rarely cold, I decided that a summer-weight bag would be sufficient for most of our hiking. At this point, I started to research. It became apparent that the Western Mountaineering line of bags received high praise, and they had several bags in the temperature range I was looking for. Also, many of these bags were MUCH lighter than my existing bag. I found a semi-local dealer and proceeded to pay them a visit. His first suggestion was a WM HighLite simply due to its very light weight. But there was the simple problem regarding the fact that it wouldn't zip around my chest.

Now I don't pretend to be in perfect physical shape, but I'm really not overweight. I'm your typical football linebacker build with very wide shoulders. The salesman, being very familiar with the Western Mountaineering bags suggested I try the Caribou MF. To my pleasure, this bag fit very well. It's a snug fit, but not uncomfortable. Seemed like the perfect bag for me, and it shaved a ton of weight off my pack! I couldn't have been happier! The only downside to the whole purchase was the price. These bags are definitely not cheap. But, you do seem to get what you pay for.

Field Use

I recently returned from a eight day backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail in the Northern end of the Shenandoah National Park. This was the first trip with the Caribou MF and I was excited to see how well it performed. The elevation for this test ranged from around 1000 - 3700 feet (305 - 1126 m) above sea level. The temperatures ranged anywhere from 35 F (1.6 C) to 70 F (21 C) during the nights we were camping. We also got a fair amount of rain. All of my sleeping was done in a two-person tent with my wife. For the test, I was only wearing shorts -- no shirt, socks or anything to keep my extremities warm.

This bag performed wonderfully. What more can I say? We had one particularly rainy night where there was a decent amount of condensation on the inside of the tent and my Caribou MF stayed dry on the inside with lots of loft despite touching the sides of the tent multiple times (I wish I could say the same thing of my wife's non-down bag). Also, a few drops of rain fell in the tent while we were putting all of our gear inside and it actually beaded up on the shell of this bag. A quick shake and all was dry! For me, the temperature rating is very conservative though I tend to sleep very warm. Most nights, I had the bag unzipped and used it more like a quilt. Regardless of how much I sweat in the bag during the warmest of nights, no smell seemed to stay on the MicroLite XP fabric which was a big bonus for me. Furthermore, I noticed no odor coming from the down itself. I really feel that I would be comfortable well below the rating of this bag, especially with a silk liner and an appropriate sleeping pad. However, temperature ratings of sleeping bags are so subjective that your experience may very.

During my limited use, the technical aspects of the Caribou MF worked perfectly. I noticed zero loss of down during the entire trip. I never got the zipper caught on the surrounding fabric and the zippers stayed exactly where I set them, regardless of any tossing and turning. The only complaint about the whole zipper system is that while it is full-length, it still only comes to about mid-calf. This arrangement made it somewhat difficult to stick my foot out of the bottom in order to cool myself. Not a major complaint, but worth noting.

Also worth noting was the sheer slipperiness of the fabric. Most similar lightweight bags have the same finish, but it does make it interesting to try to stay on my sleeping pad if the ground isn't perfectly level. Too often I found myself waking up in the middle of the night right up against the tent wall. Not good when there is condensation on the tent. However, I must say I love the slippery fabric on the inside of the bag since it lends a nice feel to the bag against the skin and makes it very easy to get in and out of the bag.

Conclusion

For me, I think the Caribou MF is an ideal three-season sleeping bag. Its construction is such that I expect many years of productive service and therefore, I feel that the bag was worth the somewhat high price tag. I have also heard that the Western Mountaineering customer support is wonderful, though I have yet had the opportunity to test this (and hopefully, I never will)!

Pros:
- Conservative temperature rating
- Very nice feel to the fabric against the skin
- Wonderful construction
- High water repellency

Cons:
- Somewhat high price tag
- Slippery fabric makes it hard to stay on your sleeping pad
- Zipper could be a little longer