The Kelty Light Year 40 is a wonderful down bag that is priced suspiciously low. If you are like me you may be concerned with the quality of this bag due to the low price. Well don't worry this bag is top notch in quality and very warm. I'm guessing they keep the price low by using 650 fill rather than 800.

Despite the light weight the bag is very warm and roomy, I was expecting to be a bit cramped. The bag puffs up with lots of loft and the fitted head portion of the bag is comfy and warm. A zippered foot box is very nice at the beginning of the night and easily shut when the temperature drops. The hip length zipper is much shorter than most bags but I do not see it as a flaw because I do not unzip other bags that far. The zipper does get hung up pretty easy and that's pretty annoying, oddly the female version of the bag has ribbon stitched in along the zipper to prevent this problem. Hey Kelty why isn't this feature on the men's?

The Light Year stuffs down so small that I have to cram things around it in the bottom of my 35L pack so it fills the bottom of the pack and it's feather light (pun intended). In the warmth department I slept comfortably in 25 degree weather with a hat and silk weight long johns, however I was in a tent along with a the rainfly on and that keeps a lot of heat in.

The included compression stuff sack is a nice bonus however the quality of the stuff sack is ho-hum and I would buy a granite gear compression sack and use the Kelty for your clothes. I have not seen a single stray piece of down floating around. The build of the bag is much nicer than my prior Marmot down bag, slightly nicer than my old North Face down bag and as nice as my Mountain Hardware bag.

Buy this bag with complete confidence, you will not be let down (no pun intended). I'm about to order the 20 degree bag for the colder months, Kelty has really raised the bar on reasonably priced down bags.

For you folks who have not seen this pack in person the 2010 version has a great feature that makes it better than all the past Z series packs. The hip belt is adjustable now, so it will properly fit people who are not overweight (Thanks for the update Gregory!!). This feature was previously reserved for the heavy duty Gregory packs.

I have a few older Gregory packs (2008-2009) and my only complaint is that the hip belt ends will touch each other when I tighten them down so they never really get tight enough, the pack weight is not distributed to the hips properly when the padding is wrapped completely around you. I have some really tall friends who wear a large and this problem is far worse for them. For a reference my other Gregory packs are size medium and I have a 32" waist.

Over all this pack is super comfy and well thought out. Either you will like the thickly padded lumbar pad like I do or you will hate it and opt for the Osprey Atmos. I have converted quite a few Osprey owners to Gregory over the years...

It's a great high quality bag that will keep you warm. I've had to leave it unzipped and pulled open in 40 degree temperatures so do not worry about it not being warm enough.

The only problem is a major one the sizes listed are incorrect. I'm 5'8" and the short is too short to pull the hood over my head. I had to give it to my wife.

The North Face has done an outstanding job with this hydration pack. I own a number of CamelBaks and TNF exceeds them all in a number of ways. First the weight of this pack is over a pound lighter than the same size CamelBak that's like carrying a full water bottle you can't drink from. The Nalgene bladder, hose and bite valve are more comfortable and durable and unlike CamelBak the valve does not leak on you. The bladder is also easily filled and it's never a wrestling match to reveal and refill with water. By integrating the straps into the pack TNF allows the load to fit closer to your body and keeps the pack from bouncing around. On the subject of straps the mesh straps will keep you cooler than the nylon and foam straps that are typical of hydration packs. My only request for this pack would be additional reflective material on the rear. Buy this pack with confidence, you will not be let down.