Western Mountaineering Alpinlite Sleeping Bag 20F Down Cranberry 6ft Left Zip

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For years I have dreamed of owning a Western Mountaineering sleeping bag. I would drool over them at my local gear shop, but then sticker shock would set in after seeing the price tag and I would sigh and move on to the more reasonably priced bags. Now, after thirty years of backpacking, I finally arrived at a point financially where I could afford the Rolls Royce of down sleeping bags! I decided on the Alpinlite 20 degree bag as it checked the most boxes - light weight, decent warmth rating, super compressible, and with a little extra room for side sleepers. This past week was my trial run - Colorado mountains, 9000 feet elevation, mid to high 30's at night. In most ways, this bag did not disappoint. Warm - check! Roomy - check! Compressible & light weight - check, check! So, you may be asking, why the three stars? Especially when on every single website where WM bags are sold they almost always garner a 4 or 5 star rating. As you can see in the picture I attached, I had a down insulation release. Now some might say, well this is normal for a down bag. For my $300 Kelty down bag? Totally! I even expect it. If I don't wake up in the morning with a few small feathers on my clothes then something is definitely wrong. But for a $700 WM down bag I was caught completely off guard! This from Western Mountaineering's bag tag: "We carefully select the lightest weight and highest thread count DOWNPROOF fabrics available . . . we use the finest quality DOWNPROOF materials." To me, downproof means that the fabric will prevent down from pushing through it. Am I wrong? Maybe, but I don't think so. I reached out to the retailer who supplied a comment from the manufacturer that this condition is "normal" and the fix is to just push the down back in. Hmmm. NORMAL?!?!? If it's normal, maybe the bag tag should say, "we use materials that are DOWNRESISTANT - since no fabric is totally downproof." And if its normal, then $700 is way to steep for me to have to fix their engineering mistakes. In conclusion, I give this bag three stars. Four is too close to five and no one will read this review. Two is unnecessarily harsh, because this bag does perform very well. If you're in the market for a great down bag, this fits the bill. Just don't be too surprised if you have a similar failure issue. After all, no one makes perfectly flawless gear! Read more

Best sleeping bag I have ever used. I would recommend it over any other bag. Well worth the money. Read more

High quality bag! Have used to the low twenties no problem. Light and packed down small. Read more

It took me 2 or 3 years to save enough money to get this bag. It was well worth the money. I have the WM alpine light. I have not gotten cold the least bit when using, in fact, woke up sweating one night. There may have been a few feathers that have poked through, but I have had it for 15 years. It packs down really easily. Wouldn't have anything else. Read more