User Review: Feathered Friends Tern

Reviewed October 14, 2004 by Steve Borg

Rating: rated 5 of 5 stars
Design: mummy
Fill: 775+ fill down
Temperature Rating: -10 to -15 F
Weight: 3 lb. 6 oz. (without the stuff sack and including 2 oz. of overfill)
Price Paid: around $600

I have owned this FF Tern with a Dryloft shell and 2 oz. of overfill and 775 fill down since 1996. Even my 34" chest size finds the bag a bit snug when I am wearing only thin underwear. Wide shouldered guys may find the narrow shoulder girth too constricting. Because of the small shoulder girth, wearing bulky clothing to lower the temperature rating may not give you the full benefits of the extra clothing because you will just end up compressing the down inside the bag.

With the Dryloft shell, when I wake up in the morning after a night at 0 degree weather, the down just underneath the shell feels damp to the touch. Don't know how a microfiber or plain nylon shell without Dryloft would fare in the breathability and condensation department at the same temperature.

The coldest I ever slept in in this bag was around 0 degree F and I felt just okay, not warm nor cold, but just a bit cool in the chest and belly areas. I do not characterize myself as a cold sleeper, but I am 41 years old and my metabolic rate is probably not what it once was when I was 25 or 30, so maybe this explains why I didn't feel toasty warm inside this bag when it was only 0 degree outside, when the bag is rated at -10F. With the 775 fill option and 2 oz overfill, the temp rating would actually have been closer to -15F. I did feel on several occasions that the draft tube was not entirely effective along its entire length. A couple of spots near the knee let in cold air. I had to touch up a couple of places along the draft tube in the middle of the night to seal the tube tight, but I still slept cool after the adjustments.

One thing I truly detest with this FF Tern is the snag-prone zipper. Sometimes I work up a sweat trying to untangle a snag. In comparison, zippers on Western Mountaineering bags are a pleasure, truly one-hand operation zippers, with no snag whatsoever.

I haven't slept in a Western Mountaineering bag on a trip and so can't comment on the respective temperature ratings between FF and WM. I am of the opinion, perhaps unfounded, that WM bags are slightly more conservative, but construction wise, they are about equal. FF has tuck switch, which I take to be a sign of higher quality. The draft collar on this FF Tern bags is also very substantial, maybe more substantial than WM bags of the same temperature rating.

If I had to buy a bag again at this temperature rating I probably would gravitate toward a Western Mountaineering bag for one reason and one reason only: Western Mountaineering's snag-free draft tube and zipper design. Other than this difference, I think both companies make equally superb bags.

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