User Review: Big Agnes Encampment 15°

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May 16, 2012

baggrab928
10 reviewer rep

Rating:
Source: bought it new
Price Paid: +/- $200

Summary

Roomy!
Light despite being big and relatively lofty.

Pros

I like having room to bend a little inside the bag.
I like the integrated pad concept

Cons

If you had a flat or bad pad or mattress, you'd be f****d

Over years I'd often wondered what good down or synthetic fill on the bottom of backpacking bags really does for you — generally it's flat and useless as soon as you lie down. When I saw how this bag resolved that design issue, I couldn't resist.

The design concept for this bag is: save some weight by NOT having any fill on the bottom side; use that weight to provide a roomier bag.

This is NOT a mummy bag in the true sense of the word — it's boxy at the foot. It's still light enough for backpacking, because in lieu of fill on the bottom side, there is a sleeve for a pad or airmatress. I use a full length Big Agnes air mattress.

This is BY FAR the most comfortable, back-packable sleeping back I've ever used. I switch from sleeping on my side, to sleeping on my back with knees up using a big stuffsack full of clothes several times through each night. This bag allows me to move within the bag...a true mummy kind of follows you around, and I end up getting claustrophobic. Not so w/ BA Encampment.

I'm a summer backpacker, but up high in Sierra Nevada. Not too much really cold sleeping. Although I've never been cold in this bag, I doubt that it would be comfortable at 15 degrees...maybe at 25 degrees.