User Review: Big Agnes Horse Thief 35°

Big Agnes Horse Thief 35°
Above: The current Horse Thief 35°, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed August 11, 2008 by James Mosley

Rating:
Fill: down
Price Paid: GBP200

Not for me this.

I spent three nights with the Horse Thief and mummy sleep mat combo and didn’t have a good night’s sleep once.

There has been a lot said and written about the Big Agnes system, which in theory seems a winner. However, I found myself cocooned in the bag and any movement caused the whole thing, mat included, to tilt off the deck with me. It felt as if my legs were taped together.

I ended up removing the pad form the sleeve and reverting to a traditional bag on mat set up. It also made a right old racket each time I moved, with the noisy squeaking mat causing much mirth among my pals next door.

Unless you can sleep flat on your back, with your arms by your side without moving for six hours, this isn’t for you. Their claims of it being like your mattress at home are just fanciful marketing spiel.

Thankfully the good people at Big Agnes have been very helpful and accepted the return. I will be reverting to bag and mat. In their defense, I may have been better suited to a non-mummy type bag, but I would still think long and hard about going for this new system.

Make sure you choose a model large enough that enables you to move on your axis without the whole thing moving with you. A shame, because the Big Agnes tent I bought with it is superb.

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