Women are not shaped the same as men; as the Black Eyed Peas so poignantly croon, they have "lovely lady lumps, in the back and in the front." The sleeping bag designers at REI listened, and as a result their women’s Kilo series bags showcase a number of hump-specific features.
The women’s Sub Kilo is comfort-rated at +15F, and since women generally sleep colder than men the 750-fill down is heavier in the contoured hood and roomy foot box. Quality touches include a nice lightweight compression sack, inner zippered pocket for small items, full-length zipper baffle and loops to tie into a sleeping pad.
There are just two drawcords, one for the neck and one for the hood, running through a single cord keeper; to tell them apart by feel in the dark one is flat and one is round, an elegant solution. The bag is certified velcro-free; no snagging on your long underwear. It’s available in two sizes, regular (5’6" women) and long (up to 6′ Amazon women; call me now). And the best for last: it weighs under two pounds! Also available in -5F and +35F ratings.
One response to “REI Sub Kilo +15F sleeping bag”
The REI Woman’s -5 Kilo was a complete disappointment to me. I am only 5’5″, but stretching out crammed my toes into the footbox leaving them popsicled! And I’m a tiny 100lbs, but anytime I turned over in the night, all the warm air wooshed out and all the cold air whooshed in. Whole thing left me freezing cold! Even if I managed to be perfectly still, I never warmed up in this -5 bag, strange considering the temps never got lower than the 20’s out there and I had a perfectly good thermarest under me. I spent the next night wearing an extra set of long underwear and a wool sweater!
My friends tell me to add about 15 or 20 degrees to get a truer idea of the temp rating on any REI bag, they may be right. I know I have certainly learned one thing, I will NEVER EVER buy a woman’s bag again; too short, too narrow, even for me