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Posted by Bill S on March 22, 2008 at 5:48:14 pm EDT
In reply to Looking for a new sleepng bag posted by WISam on March 17, 2008 at 11:06:22 am EDT

The minister said

Quote:

So far I used gear from Diamond Brand, LL Bean, REI, ALPS Mountaineering, Chinook, The Backside, SunnyRec, Trekk, Campmor, Cabela's, etc.

Hmmmm, five of those 10 are REALLY BIG names, with 3 of them selling over half the outdoor gear sold in the US, much of it with their own labels, and a fourth, which has its own label on virtually everything it sells, being pretty close behind. So I guess I don't know what you mean by BIG names.

The 5 brands that kutenay and I have mentioned are small specialty manufacturers, not major conglomerates or part of a major conglomerate. Also, all of those manufacture all their products in their home country (Feathered Friends and Western Mountaineering here on the West Coast, Integral Designs in Alberta, ...) None are manufactured in China, Bengladesh, or other South or SouthEastern Asian countries. If you look on products labeled by Cabela, Campmor, REI, and LL Bean (at least the last LLBean item I handled), they all are manufactured in China or other Asian countries. Not that the Asian countries make inherently bad products, but quality control is an issue, and you aren't dealing directly with the manufacturer if there is a problem. And yes, I do own a number of Asian-made products. But mostly I prefer to deal with local companies when possible.

"polyamide" is a form of microfiber, kutenay.

I will second kutenay's comments on VBLs and bivy sacks, and the use of synthetic long johns inside the VBL - they make VBLs a lot more comfortable. I also agree that for short term (2 or 3 days) use, condensation is a minimal problem in down bags. If you use care (like not dragging wet snow into the tent with you, venting the tent rather than sealing it up tightly and getting lots of condensation that drips on you, and little things like squeezing the humid air out of your bag first thing in the morning when you get out of the bag, hence preventing further condensation) you won't have problems with soggy, wet down bags.

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