Patagonia -7˚C Sleeping Bag | Performance

Launched this spring, Patagonia’s new range of down-filled sleeping bags is the brand’s first foray into the area pretty much since founder Yvonne Chouinard created his own, then novel, mummy-shaped down bag some 45 years ago.

According to Patagonia, this is a modern take on that bag, complete with an unusual central zip arrangement. In US terms, this is a three-season bag, but it’s pretty warm and will, we suspect, work as a year-round bag for a lot of UK users. There’s also a ‘two-season’ version with a -2˚C limit of comfort rating.

As you’d expect from Patagonia, you can’t fault the quality of components – silky soft, lightweight Pertex Quantum on the outside, the brand’s own Houdini stuff for the inner – containing 550-odd grammes of traceable 850+ fill power good down or the basics.

Construction is box-wall throughout with well-filled hood and box-toe present and correct. It feels superbly light, soft and lofty, which is always good news if only from a psychological point of view, and packs down creditably small into it’s simple, two-stage stuff-bag.

Zip And Cut

What really marks the bag out in a crowded market, is that centrally-placed zip. The thinking behind it is that climbers can use it to stay tied into a harness while using the bag and three zips, with cords inside and out, mean you can configure it to suit.

Wear the hood, open the central area and use your hand for example. Or un-zip the lower section to cool off on milder nights. Or just stick one hand out to grab a proffered cup of tea. We actually found it good for reading in the tent on cold nights. You can turn pages without having to twist round or take your head out of the hood.

One small quibble, we found the top inch of closure had a tendency to snag on the lightweight fabric and in venting mode, the zip opening had a tendency to close up, though back and side sleepers might have different experiences.

Is it a big plus point? We’re not sure. We haven’t used it for cold conditions mountaineering, where it might excel while cooking in the morning, then again you still have to expose quite  lot of torso to get full hand/arm dexterity. It easier to keep the hood in place and use your hands at the same time though. In a tunnel tent however, it might actually be a pain in the butt to use this way.

The other love/hate feature of the bag is its sheer internal volume. It’s huge, like really large even for someone with broad, climber-style shoulders. That makes it potentially great for larger folk or for those who want to wear additional down clothing inside without compressing it, but less good for efficiency more generally.

Brands like Mountain Equipment actually use mildly elasticated linings to improve fit and reduce internal convection currents and air movement, Patagonia has pretty much done the opposite. Don’t get us wrong, the bag still feels warm, but unless you really need that increased volume, it reduces efficiency and means using more materials than necessary.

That said, we have no issue with the lofty warm hood, though there’s no neck baffle, or the generous toe-box and overall warmth is good relative to the weight.