The sky was a gradient of pale orange to violet grey. It was 5am and I stood shivering, straddling the too hot/too cold DMZ that surrounded the campfire, and staring down at my sleeping bag. Its rectangular cotton shell was a brownish-green diffuse with cartoon images of cowboys and Indians aiming weapons at unseen foes. The fill was a quarter inch of synthetic floss with all of the insulation and loft retention properties of cotton candy. It smelled vaguely of Cheetos and Orange Crush. The zipper had lost both of its fobs and was stuck two feet from the bottom, and it was soaking wet. I had rolled it out too early and while my friends and I were off engaging in various mayhems, the dew point was crossed and the bag soaked up what seemed like quarts. I. Was. Miserable. It was in that moment that I decided that sleeping outside was for cattle and Cub Scouts, but not for me. It was the last sleeping bag I would own.
Until now. As one would expect, the Kelty Ignite DriDown 20 Sleeping Bag is a HUGE departure from the glorified pillowcase I used to have. From its mummy shape to its nylon shell, to its duck down fill, it is a completely different experience. It even has a hood! But the best part is the fill – DriDown™. As the name implies, it is down that stays dry (or ‘dri’ I guess). Made from duck down that has been given a hydrophobic finish, it maintains its loft 170% better, dries 33% faster, and stays drier ten times longer than untreated down. All of which conspire to make this a great three season sleeping bag that will keep you warm and comfy down to 16º if you are the menfolk, or 28º if you’re a lady (according to EN 13537*).
Since returning to the scene of my last sleeping bag incident wasn’t in the cards, my test consisted of lounging about in my front yard on one of the colder nights Seattle has seen in a while. I was surprised how well the bag stopped the wind and almost instantly created its own microclimate around me. It was down right comfortable. So comfortable in fact, I actually started to imagine riding out to yonder foothills and spending a few nights under those crisply defined stars and waking to orange sunlight glinting off frosty grass… but then a low flying jet roared overhead and snapped me out of it. I unzipped the side, climbed out and headed back inside.
Sleeping outside might still not be for me, but the Kelty Ignite Sleeping Bag is comfortable enough to have me reconsidering.
Good:
- DriDown
- Only weighs 2lb 10oz (2lb 13oz for the long)
- Comes in men’s, women’s, regular and long sizes
- Really comfortable, even in wind
- DirDown is not a petroleum product and is apparently enviro friendly
- Snazzy Ziggy Stardust stripe
Bad:
- Zipper kept getting caught (it’s 2014, can no zipper manufacturer figure this out???)
The Kelty Ignite DriDown 20 Sleeping Bag – $199 – 209 for men’s, or women’s
*The More You Know: EN 13537 is a scientific, standardized, European test for sleeping bags. It uses a thermal mannequin (beats being a crash test dummy) to test the true temperature rating and comfort level for both women and men.
boring: all images via kelty.com. Kelty provided me with a review sample, which in no way effected my opinions or review.