shivers

THE SHIVERS

People buy what they think, believe is a sleeping bag. If it is a Wiggy bag it is a sleeping bag. Any other brand you can find in say rei is not a sleeping bag but a” no sleeping bag”. If you were to buy one of those “no sleep sleeping bags” you will experience the “shivers”.

When you purchase for example a 0 degree F sleeping bag you expect if in a tent on a ground pad with minimum clothing on you will be comfortable when the temperatures is 20 degree F. This scenario is true if you own a Wiggy Super Light 0 degree F sleeping bag.

If you have purchased any other brand of what is called a sleeping bag other wise known as a “no sleep sleeping bag” you will be in for a big not so happy surprise.

You go camping this time of year as the temperature is dropping. You set up your camp. You have a solid meal. You get into your sleeping bag and after an hour or so you begin to feel cool. You may at this time add clothing. After a while even though you have added clothing, you are beginning to feel cold and ultimately you begin to “shiver”.

Why is all of this happening? After all you purchased what you were told by someone in the store the bag of choice is a 0 degree bag and it says so on the hang tag and in some cases it is even embroidered on the bag.

The bag in question is filled with chopped staple polyester fiberfill. The fiberfill has been quilted in place so it does not shift. Of course, the quilt stitching lines are cold spots, heat escapes through them. The heat you are losing happens to be the heat your body is giving off. These quilt lines compromise the fiberfill insulation which is not very good to begin with. Your body is giving off heat that should be contained within the bag but you are in the process of learning it isn’t staying in the bag.

You are metabolizing the meal you had which is your fuel. But because the structure of the no sleep sleeping bag, quilting, plus the fact that the chopped staple fiberfill is not doing a good job insulating, you are burning up your fuel very quickly. Once all of your food is metabolized [your fuel is gone] your source of heat is gone. Your feet get cold first no matter how many pair of socks you put on. Ultimately you begin to experience shivering.

I have heard from numerous men and woman stories of owning what they thought was a 0 degree F sleeping bag only to experience being in a “no sleep sleeping bag”.

Women are seriously mislead thinking the made for a woman sleeping bag designed bag was going to perform better than sleeping bags designed for men. This is nonsense. Every imported synthetic sleeping bag is filled with polyester fiberfill and is a “no sleep sleeping bag” regardless of shape.

For a lot more money you can have the same experience in a down filled bag. the person [s] who spend their money on down bags have the same result.

I do not believe the marketers of these “no sleep sleeping bags” care. I know they in total have no knowledge of insulation, if they did, they would clearly be using continuous filament fiberfill [Climashield]. I believe they all know about Climashield but blatantly refuse to use it.

I have never given thought to making a specific designed woman’s sleeping bag. over the years a woman has asked me why, because woman are in need of a sleeping bag rated lower than a man’s bag because woman do not generate as much heat as men do, so I as an example recommend a 0 degree bag for plus 20 degree F conditions. To date I have been very successful with my recommendation.

Because the Ultima Thule is very underrated, I am comfortable recommending it to woman going into those temperatures.

Shivering is not an experience one experiences in a Wiggy bag.