1 lb 2 oz of awesomeness

J. Troxell

Member since  Mar 18, 2009

Posted on April 22, 2012

This is the third Big Agnes sleeping bag that I have purchased - I have a Horse Thief for myself and the Amber bag for my wife. That I own three of these should indicate that I am sold on the Big Agnes sleeping system. I have never been the stillest of sleepers - I tend to fall asleep on my side or stomach and then wake up on my back. In traditional sleeping bags the bag ends up all twisted around me, and getting the bag unzipped is an exercise in frustration. With the integrated pad sleeve, those days are gone. I am 5'9" and weight about 160 pounds and I am using the regular length bag. I will say that the bag is not quite as roomy as its dimensions imply - the bottom being fixed to the sleeping pad definitely restricts some of the 67.5" that is promised. However, that said and done, I can roll from side to side pretty easily. I also have to say that I think this iteration of the Big Agnes bags is superior to that of the past generations - both because they can use rectangular sleeping pads and also because only the upper part of the bag is fixed to the sleeping pad; this means that when you bend your knees or move your feet the bag can move with you. Definitely a good thing!

I have been using this bag with an Exped Synmat UL7 sleeping pad, and it seems to be a perfect pairing. I've used this bag down to the mid 40's comfortably. I do wear lightweight long underwear and socks - something which I try to do as much to protect the sleeping bag as for extra warmth. At the lower temperature range of this bag these are definitely necessary for me. The one thing I would definitely recommend is to either wear a shirt with a hood or a cap. While I personally think that ditching the hood for a 45 degree bag makes a lot of sense, I did have one night where I needed a little extra insulation on my head. A lightweight cap is good insurance to keep around.

If I could change two things about this bag: 1) I wish the regular bag length was 6' - on my stomach my feet are touching the bottom of the bag and 2) I could do without the pillow sleeve - somehow it doesn't really seem to help very much.

I had debated going with a Western Mountaineering sleeping bag instead. Really, I don't think you can go wrong either way. However, I won't be getting rid of this bag to switch over. I am really looking forward to summer camping with this bag - there are lots of nights on the east coast where the temperature doesn't drop out of the 60s, and the bags I've had in the past (rated to 25-30F) were just too warm. The Pitchpine is going to get a lot of use so I should be able to give a better review later on.