Therm-A-Rest has been pushing hard into the sleeping bag market this year. While the use of 750+ down left us feeling a little wanting, one product in particular looked pretty interesting from a design standpoint. The Navis can be best described as a cross between a traditional barrel bag and a quilt, but with a twist: They have cut the amount of down used in the top half of the bag so that you can pair it with a puffy jacket. As a result, the bag comes with two temperature ratings, 45F when used as-is, and approximately 25F when used in combination with an insulated jacket. Of course that number will vary depending on your choice of jacket. The innovative features don't stop there however. The bottom side of the bag (the part that sits against the sleeping pad) has no insulation, just a thin layer of fabric. Additionally, the underside of the bag has two stretchy straps designed to fasten it to the sleeping pad (not just Therm-A-Rest pads, but many other manufactures will work as well so they tell me). The bag is barrel shaped and has no zipper; getting in-and-out may be difficult for some and venting options will be rather limited. The weight of the bag is 21oz.

Interesting indeed.

If they move to better down and lighter materials they may have a winner here. It's great to see the big boys getting lighter.

A step in the right direction but after trying to crawl in and out of their last lightweight attempt that just had a hole in the bottom I can say with 100% certainty that I will not be giving that bag a try. What is wrong with the traditional quilt design? Why force me to wiggle through the head hole or any other hole?