I'm tall, skinny and want a good 20 degree bag under 2 lbs. Western Mountaineering has the Ultralite; lots of good feedback and at 1 lb 15 oz for the tall its under 2 lbs. Feathered Friends has the Hummingbird nano which comes in at 1 lb 11oz for the tall and is minus the neck "thing" to help keep the warmth in. (Hey, some days I have a way with words and some days I no have way.) Anybody here with experience with the Hummingbird nano? For essentially the same price, I would not mind dropping another quarter pound if it seems worth it.

Be sure to compare the girth measurements of each bag to your own (measure your shoulder girth over your arms and while wearing all your insulating clothing). The Hummingbird is an inch narrower in shoulder girth than the Ultralite, which is too narrow for many people. At the hip, the reverse is true.

Both are high quality sleeping bags, with little, if any, difference in quality. To me, the draft collar (the "neck thing") in the WM Ultralite often makes the difference between being comfy and being cold. I can leave the hood relatively loose for ventilation (or at least for avoiding breathing into the sleeping bag) yet not have any icy drafts down the back of my neck. Others may differ.

On the other hand, you can get far more custom variations in a Feathered Friends bag (for a price, of course).

I came really close to getting a FF bag, but decided on WM instead. That's mostly because at that time (or at least from Backcountrygear.com), the WM was slightly less expensive. IMHO, you won't go wrong with either.

BTW, in my old age, I've finally learned my lesson about basing buying decisions on weight (or price) alone!

Ah, choices, choices.... I can't answer directly, but have an original model Ultralite in long without the neck thing, and it's a legitimate 20-degree bag so the uprated Ultralite surely is that and perhaps a bit more. I have an FF Swift with down upgrade and optional removable draft collar and it's warmer than the Ultralite. As far as I can tell the Hummingbird is a skinnier Swift equivalent so conceivably could be spec'd to be warmer than the Ultra.

As a coda, Brian Robinsion--he of the first calendar triple crown--used a Hummingbird for most of his hike. It was still in great shape when I looked it over at a talk he gave.

You may be a candidate for the scientific, "eeny, meenie, miney, moe..." method of selection.

Cheers,

Just to further complicate the issue, I would recommend that you consider the Marmot Helium. This is a 20° bag in the same weight range (mine weighs 28.5 oz) as the two you listed and can usually be obtained at a lower cost. I have one of the older Helium bags with the half zipper. The newer Helium has a full length zipper; a feature that I wish I had on mine. Overall, it is an excellent bag and can be had in the "extra" length. I also have a WM Summerlite and it is somewhat less roomy in the shoulder area for me than is the Helium. I generally use the Summerlite unless I anticipate temperatures below about 30° for more than a night or two.

I'm not familiar with the Marmot Helium, but I once had a Marmot Hydrogen. It was a lovely bag! The only thing wrong with it was that it wasn't warm enough for me. It was true to its current EN13537 rating of comfort rating (cold sleepers, alias women) of 39*F. Of course Marmot didn't use the EN ratings back then.

The main difference is that both FF and WM bags are made in the USA, if that concerns you.

"Eenie Meenie" can be rigged, especially for two items, if you start with the item you don't want. (With three items, start with the one you do want.) Flipping a coin won't work now that 3 bags are up for consideration. That leaves rolling the dice! Good luck!

Thanks for all the suggestions! The Marmot Helium and Marmot Hydrogen are 15 and 30 degree F bags with weights of 2 lbs 6 oz and 1 lb 12 oz, respectively. Probably I could get by with a 30 degree F bag, but it is easier for me to get cooler in a bag than it is for me to get warmer (if that makes sense? I control my temp by sticking one or both feet out into the cool air. Then I am happy.) so I would rather have the extra 3 oz with the WM ultralight. So sorry Pika, but the Marmot's are out of the running (although the $300 price tag is very nice for the quality...the other 2 are basically $400).

The other consideration is that I will have to wait a month for Feathered Friends to produce more hummingbird nano longs. Its looking more and more like a coin toss...ALTHOUGH, first I will check and recheck the measurements.

Ya know, I would have responded yesterday evening but I couldn't get the web site to respond. Its much better this morning.

You should play "Eenie Meenie" with my daughter. She can create drama even when N=1.

Cheers,

Rick_D, I should just let your daughter pick...I'm having a hard time.

She'd be happy to tackle it because she lurves sleeping bags (and tents) and has been known to filch mine. Be forewarned: her super-fave bag is in the form of a large, shaggy dog.



Cheers,

And, just so you get the gearaholic opinion: "Why are you trying to choose? Buy one of each!"

I can't comment on Feathered Friends since I've never actually seen or used one of their bags, but you'll never regret buying the Western Mountaineering bag. You may WISH you bought the FF, but you won't REGRET the WM purchase. (My guess is that, if you buy the FF, you'll end up wishing you'd bought the WM instead - the grass is always greener...)

Not such a bad idea!

Check the cutoff-billing date for your credit card. Order both bags just after the cutoff date. That gives you about 3 weeks to receive both bags, look them over, crawl inside and decide which one to send back in time to have the credit for the one sent back post on the same bill as the cost. Be prepared, though, just in case the process is stalled by delayed shipping or delayed credit.

Of course this assumes you are paying your credit card balance in full each month to avoid paying interest charges. Otherwise, you'll have additional interest expense.

Alternative: The easy part: Find a local WM dealer, crawl into the bags. The harder part: Take a trip to Seattle and crawl into a FF bag (they're downtown right next to the flagship REI store). While you're in the area, plan a trip or two in the beautiful Washington Cascades or Olympics (just check to be the snow has melted enough).

All very good advice here. depending on age plan to grow. A bag of this caliber to me is a long term investment? I used my last bag for 30 years! Either of those bags would have been fine for me in earlly twenties! Bye the time I was thirty shoulders too large! At 47 I am leaning toward a Marmot Helium ! Much more girth!

I made a pilgrimage the the mother of all REI's in Seattle last summer but I didn't know FF was right next door!! DOH!!!

I'll just have to go back

No personal experience with FF but I'm extremely happy with my 2 WM bags.

I've had four WM bags going back 20 years. Over the years I've had the chance to compare WM to FF... at the end of the day, I believe WM uses slightly but noticeably "loftier" down. FF are nice bags, but it's my distinct impression WM are better.

Well...I pulled the trigger, so to speak, on a Western Mountaineering. As someone else said in this thread, this is a long term investment for me as well and I have 5 other good (but heavier and lower rated) bags in the house. So for another $30 I picked up an WM Alpinlite long 20 degree bag and at a scant 21 oz I think that is worth the extra cash long term. Turns out one of my friends has one of these and the cut has lots of room for me. It would take 4 weeks to get a FF and I would like to get on trail again before that. Need to test my new bag, and bug net, before I head to Wyoming.

Rick_D...tell your daughter I'm sorry, but I made up my mind. (I was very close to using her before I talked to my buddy!)

OH NO!! Feathered Friends just put all of their bags on sale for 75% off!!! (Just messing with 'ya. I have a WM and have always been happy with it.) OldScout

She'll only be disappointed if you failed to analyze the color scheme, which I'm sure kept you up nights, yes? Priorities, man!

Enjoy the new bag. You'll probably wonder, "What took me so long?"

Cheers,