Best 30 Degree Bag on the market

By The Blue Bomber Ranked #103 - 55 to 30 Degree Down Bags June 3, 2009

I'm pretty new to lightweight backpacking and let me tell you: I did my research on sleeping bags! For my use, I needed something under 2 pounds, and rated to somewhere in the 30 degree Fahrenheit range since I'll mainly use it for summer, early fall, and late spring. Also, I needed something WIDER than most mummy bags, cuz I'm a fatty. I finally narrowed it down to 2 choices: this WM megalite [long], and the Marmot Hydrogen[long]. Both are ridiculously comfy, warm, lofty, clever, full-zip, lightweight, and EXPENSIVE bags. I have had both in my possession at the same time for comparison, and I gotta tell you it's been a REALLY hard decision. Honestly, I still haven't made up my mind. Without further ado, here are some PROs about the Megalite (in comparison to the Hydrogen):

*its shell is more water-resistant
*The zipper is closer to the ground, creating less chance of draft
*The stiffening tape zipper guards are TOP NOTCH on this bag. I can't even make it snag if I try! Marmot's are very good, too, but definitely not AS good as WM.
*The stitching right outside the face muff creates a larger pouch for down to collect in, creating an outstanding and comfortable "cloud-like" top portion to snuggle into.
*The Megalite has a draft collar as well, which is far superior to Marmot's (Marmot's shouldn't even be called a draft collar).

And now the CONS:
*When comparing the stuff sacks that are included with each bag, the Marmot packs much smaller: 7x10 compared to megalite's 6x14. I realize that a compression sack would pack the Megalite much smaller, but WM strongly recommends compressing no further than the stuff sack they include, and I'd like to think they know a thing or two about sleeping bags that I don't know about so I'll oblige.
*The stiffening tape, while amazing at avoiding snags, also becomes somewhat annoying when side-sleeping, because you feel it there (even through the draft tube)
*The main zipper pull is two-sided (meaning there is a zipper pull outside AND inside), unlike Marmot's ingenious "wrap-around" singular zipper pull. When the Megalite is zipped all the way up and you're side-sleeping, the bulge it creates is incredibly annoying and JUST in the wrong spot by your face. This may seem nit-picky, but I am a side-sleeper (obviously), and this is almost a deal-breaker for me. I always switch sides, too, so simply getting the zipper on the opposite side would not solve this problem.
*The hood and drawstrings are not quite as comfortable as Marmot's. There is also a small bit of velcro to "fasten" the zipper pull in place, which I found to be completely unnecessary.
*lastly, and this is SUPER ANNOYING: when you unzip the Megalite all the way, the zipper becomes un-done SOOOOOOOO easily, and is a pain in the ASS to re-attach. This is especially bad when you're using it as a quilt on a hot night and then wake up at 3 to discover you're freezing and all you want to do is get in your bag and zip it up but DAMN IT!! It came undone and now you need to get your flashlight to fix it! And thus, you sleep all the worse because of it. The Marmot does not have this problem; it has a truly LOCKING zipper.

So, all things considered, the Megalite's zipper is simultaneously its greatest strength and greatest weakness. And others may not find these zipper problems annoying at all, in which case I HIGHLY recommend this seriously lightweight and AWESOME bag. Since I did find so many things to complain about, though, I'll have to give it 4 stars instead of 5. And now that I've made this list of pros and cons, I think I'm gonna have to stick with the Hydrogen after all. I hate to nit-pick, but for the price of these bags I expect perfection.
FINALLY, allow me to apologize for turning this review into a comparison, but hey, maybe you'll find it useful.

UPDATE 6/10/09:
OK so I re-compared these two bags and decided that the Hydrogen isn't all good after all. It doesn't loft up as efficiently as the Megalite, which is most likely because the Megalite has more baffles to evenly distribute the down. I also discovered a way to not have the zipper annoy me so much on the Megalite, which is a loftier, and sturdier looking bag by far, so I have decided in the end that the WM Megalite is my go-to bag. It rocks the house, and I'm extremely happy with my decision. I suppose when I first reviewed this I was being WAY TOO picky (probably cuz I was worrying about how much money I spent, and was just looking for problems). When I just relaxed, I realized the Megalite tops the Hydrogen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 30 degree bag. Not to say Marmot makes bag bags, but in this case, WM comes out on top.

View Details: Western Mountaineering Megalite Sleeping Bag: 30 Degree Down DO NOT USE

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