Big Agnes Encampment 15 Degree Sleeping Bag

Plenty of Room
October 15, 2011

for the extra big backpacker who wants extra room without too much extra weight and will only be using the bag with a pad, I would recommend the Encampment Long. For the past 20years I've used an almost 5lb synthetic private label Campmor bag rated to about 25-30 degrees. The one nice feature my old bag had was extra room in the girth. Looking at most of the comparable synthetic bags in the $150-$200 range, I thought I was going to lose the extra space until I discovered the Encampment. It's probably one of the roomiest ones you'll find if not the roomiest. I tried the NorthFace Cat's Meow but at 6'4" even the long bag bearly fit me length wise. I was apprehensive about having no insulation on the bottom and being forced to use a pad but when I thought of it I could almost never think of a time I used my former bag outside without a pad. My Neo Air All season (regular size) fits nicely in the pad sleeve. However I'm not sure the long size would be able to fit. I've used the Encampment twice now. The first night it was low 40s/ upper 30s and while I was comfortable I was at the lower end of comfortable and wondered how I'd feel if it were in the low 30s or 20s. The problem was that I stuffed the built in pillowcase with my fleece which then didn't really allow me to fit my head in the hood completely. When I went to bed it didn't really matter because it was just 50s and I didn't need the hood yet. However by the middle of the night when the temp dropped and I was in a half zombie mood too lazy to take my fleece out of the pillow case, I couldn't quite fit thus the boarderline comfortable night. The second night I used the bag, it was too warm even to zip the bag up so I never experimented with the hood. So even though the built-in pillowcase is a nice feature in theory you can't really fully take advantage of it in colder weather. Another thing to keep in mind with these "must-use-a-pad" BigAgnus bags is that when you roll to your side your ability to breath out the breath hole is limited.

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Great Bag !
March 23, 2009

I was told these were the bags to get and man am I glad I did. I am a hot sleeper so I wasn't certain about the 15 degree raiting on this puppy but man o man was it great. Well insulated and very comfortable. Way more shoulder/hip and leg room than your typical mummy bag. Inserts for pillow and sleeping pad make for less slipping and sliding at night. Nice storage bag as well. My only dissapointment is that the bag doesn't come with a girdle or compression straps for the compression sack. Overall great bag though!