Shoutout to the guy who let me try his down sleeping bag last weekend

I've been using a synthetic sleeping bag for like 5 years because I thought down was too fragile and would lose its loft if you even looked at it wrong. Last weekend I was camping up near Lake Almanor and this dude next to me had an old Patagonia down bag that he said was from 2012. He let me crawl inside it for a minute and honestly I was shocked. It was way warmer than my synthetic bag and it packed down super small. He told me he just washes it with special soap and dries it with tennis balls and it's still going strong. Now I'm rethinking my whole setup. Has anyone else switched from synthetic to down and regretted it or wished they did it sooner?

2 comments

2 Comments

jackson.wesley9d ago

Did he mention that tennis ball trick only works with down specific soap and a front loading washer? I made that mistake with my first down bag and it came out clumpy as hell. The agitator in a top loader just beats the down to death. Also you gotta make sure you dry it on low heat for like 3 cycles sometimes before those clumps break up. That Patagonia bag from 2012 was probably a 800 fill which is still good but the newer ones are even lighter.

eric3599d ago

You're spot on @jackson.wesley about the top loader killing down bags. That agitator will wreck a 800 fill fast. People don't realize you basically need a front loader or a giant commercial washer with no center post. Took me three low heat cycles with my North Face bag last year and it still had clumps until I threw in six tennis balls instead of just three.