Thanks to those who responded to my previous thread on Valandre or Feathered Friends.

I have decided to go with Feathered Friends and specifically the Swift.

Now help me choose a fabric: Nanosphere or the lighter, more water resistant (and more expensive ) Pertex UL Endurance.

Oh and a color....; )

Do you use a bivy? And so is condensation a problem? If so, maybe the more water resistant fabric--unless it doesn't breathe as well!

Nothing is straightforward.

I am well happy with my Nanosphere bag.

Are you moving away from quilts.

Cheers,

Stephen

I have a Pertex shell on my WM bag that is 12 years old. Has held up. Still beads up. Maintained of course.

Well you guys are sure helpful! J/K.

FF has indicated that the Pertex is a bit more water resistant and a hair lighter but after watching videos of Nanosphere, it looks highly water resistant to me!

@Stephen - no, not going away from quilts. Just adding to the quiver for colder temps.

Good stuff Dave, thats what I thought.

After trying out a quilt at 15f I will definitely be sticking to bags for below freezing.

If you like I can do a shower test on my Lark if that would help.

Hi Stephen, that would be amazing, although I would hate for you to get your bag wet!

I still can't make a decision...grrrr...

IMHO I feel that one chooses a sleeping bag for a lot of other reasons first before being concerned about its shell's DWR.
1. warmth rating
2.size/fit
3. weight
4. fill type & insulation retention construction (syn. or down)

I have a WM Megalite that I got for its warmth, interior size (B/C I have wide shoulders) and weight, not to mention WM's quality.

Then recently I had WM overfill it to drop the temp rating by about 10 F. when I painfully discovered that high altitude summer camping can see temps well below freezing.

When I first got the Megalite I sprayed it twice with Revivex, the best current DWR. This has worked very well. Can't wait for "Never Wet" to hit the market.

If you're worried about getting the foot of your bag wet when it pushes against your tent bathtub floor walls just put your zipped up WPB parka over the foot of the bag. That trick is also good for getting more warmth at the bottom 1/3 of the bag on a cold night. Remember to really tighten up the hood drawstrings too.

Edited by Danepacker on 06/09/2012 16:50:21 MDT.

My opinion:

Fabric: seeing as the bag is for colder weather, I would place a higher priority on breathability. FF doesn't seem to give any info on which fabric has breathes better; have you looked into this, David?

Color: for Pertex UL, I like the the azure. The tangerine looks good, but you might get tired of a bright orange bag in a few years. For Nano, the ruby or sky blue.

@ Eric - I agree with you. But this is the final step in the ordering process. One fabric has the 900+fill and the other the 850+fill. Differences in cost. This is one of the reasons I am avoiding WM - I find their UL fabrics leak down more than I would care for. FF allows some customization in this regard.

@Steven - good point about the breathability. I will ask that on Monday.

Hi Dave,

It's something I do will all my down gear anyway, just did not get around to doing it on the Lark yet.

Will do it in a bit and report back.

Hi Eric,

I cat wait either for the Dwr down, I know 3 cottage vendors who will have it do far :-)

Enlightened.
Zpacks
Gooses feet.

Cheers,

Hi Dave,

Water just beaded straight off it, quick shake and it as dry.

Cheers,

Fantastic - thanks!

dave any reason 7d or m55 haven't made your list? both feel really nice against the skin...

>> Oh and a color....; )

Did you ask what's on their cut list?

@Josh - I am not clear that those are options for the bag.

@Sumi - making the call shortly. I was under the impression that the colors listed currently on the website are all available.

>> I was under the impression that the colors listed currently on the website are all available.

My experience was that, yes, all of the listed colors could be *ordered* but how quickly you got it depended on what they had on hand already made and what was on their immediate cut-list. When I ordered my Grouse, they only had one or two Grouses on hand. The Swift is probably more popular than the Grouse, so maybe not an issue.

What did you end up getting David? Any additional info would be useful for me at this stage.

So far I understand the NanoSpehre to be more durable and have a permanent waterproofness, as opposed to the slightly lighter but less durable Pertex UL which uses a DWR.

Hi Robert,

I went with the Nano in blue with 2oz of overfill. The bag is divine. Any condensation (so far) has just beaded off the fabric, the quality is superb, and the bag almost too warm for 20F. VERY true to rating (of course, the overfill helps).

Thanks David! Yep I think that pretty much confirms my choice to get the NanoSphere shell as well. Now to work out exactly what bag(s) to order. Wew!