REI Mojave +15

This is my other sleeping bag that my daughter mainly uses. I got this one about three years ago when my son temporarily misplaced my 10-degree bag and I needed one for a trip I was taking. It works well to temps down into the 30s but for warmer weather it's mainly used as a blanket because it can get too hot.

This was a desperation purchase because I was heading out on a camping trip and my son, who had used my regular bag on his last trip, misplaced it and we couldn't find it anywhere. REI had this on clearance so I grabbed it and off I went. We were camping in the CO mountains and the night temps got down into the 30s, with frost on the tents. I was plenty warm in this bag so I believe it would do fine in 20 degree weather too.

My main complaint is that the bag has a tight fit, especially around the legs. I like a bag that has enough room in it for me to turn inside it and not have the whole bag turn with me. But this is more of a preference, so not really a knock on the bag. I've read where people complain about this bag shedding down feathers but we haven't had this problem.  

I eventually found my other bag and use it. My taller daughter has claimed this bag and has used it a half dozen times or so over the last couple of years. She likes it for warmth, with her main complaint being she has to be careful with the zipper because it gets stuck easily when opening or closing the bag.

This bag packs down to a pretty small size for being a 15 degree bag. We use a Sea-to-Summit Med sized sil-nylon compression sack and it gets down to the size of a volleyball.

The bag was comfy when sitting in my living room. Outdoors I was anything but warm. The first night I slept in it temps were in the 30s, I was cold, uncomfortably cold. I took all the precautions including long underwear and a beanie. I haven't been so cold in a sleeping bag in over 15 years and I've yet to own a sleeping bag worth more than $50. I figured since my thermometer got left in the car maybe I'd overstated the temperature and it was in fact closer to 20 degrees so I gave the Mojave one more shot.

I took it camping in 50 degree weather thinking I'd for sure be comfortable in long underwear and a beanie as the temperatures were at least 20 degrees warmer. While I was able to sleep I was cold, if I hadn't packed the long underwear and beanie I wouldn't have slept much if any at all.

The Mojave is appropriately named, it's a good sleeping bag for camping in the Mojave desert, but only during the summer time as night time temps would normally be no lower than 60 deg. For serious 3-season use this is not the right bag, even in the Mojave desert.

Aside from sleeping cold in 50 deg temps the bag is very well made. It was the nicest bag I had owned as far as construction, cut and comfort (temperature ignored.) The weight and stuffed size were everything I could have asked for. The color scheme wasn't my favorite but not as awful as some out there.

If this bag had been marketed as a summer bag I'd have been pretty happy with it but I needed something to keep me warm down to 30 degrees. Fortunately REI has a very liberal exchange policy, I was able to return it for a North Face Cat's Meow bag without any questions asked. While I liked the feel of a down bag I couldn't afford the down bags with an honest 15 degree rating.

Kept me warm in 12 degree weather in a 4-season tent. I'm usually a cold sleeper but had minimal discomfort throughout the night.