Budget Gear Review: Suisse Sport Adventurer 30 Sleeping Bag

The Suisse Sport Adventurer is a 30 degree synthetic sleeping bag that the manufacturer describes as "ultra-compactable". I purchased this bag really as an impulse buy due to my obsession with gear, because frankly, I didn't need it. I had been eye-balling it on Amazon.com for a couple years, drawn to it's relatively light weight, supposed compactability, and low price. Somehow it wound up in my "Shopping Cart", and before I knew it, it was at my front door. I actually purchased this bag for $40.0 about a year ago, and I know that it's been as low as $30.0, though currently  (on Amazon) you can only buy it from a third party seller at $79.99. After reading this review, if you're still interested in purchasing this bag, hold out until it's sold by Amazon, as I'm sure the price will drop. Or shop around the web, I'll bet you can find it for a lower price than what it is currently listed on Amazon.

Suisse Sport Adventurer 30

The Suisse Sport Adventurer is a plain looking bag. Nothing fancy. No bells and whistles. The first thing I noticed about this bag when I pulled it out of the stuff sack, was how flat it looked. It doesn't have much loft. After feeling the bag, it seems that there is just one long thin layer of MicroTekk insulation (which Suisse Sport describes as "down like"), sewn into the bag.  

It makes for a very light sleeping bag for the price. On my scale the bag weighed 46.2oz (2lb 8.8oz), and the compression sack weighed 3.4oz, for a grand total of 49.6oz (3lb 1.6oz). Now, that wont be considered "ultra-light" but it's not bad for 30 or 40 bucks. The best part about this sleeping bag is how compactable it is. In the provided compression sack you can get the bag down pretty small, and won't have any problem stuffing this thing into your backpack.

This is the part where I go against the grain. If you look on Amazon this bag has an overall 4 star rating out of 458 reviews. That's a a whole lot of good reviews by people that bought this bag, and I imagine most of that has to do with the price.

The first night I used this bag I ran into 2 problems, and they have been plaguing me ever since to the point that I have decided I am not going to use this sleeping bag any longer.

1) Cheap zipper - It's stiff, and it snags worse than any zipper I've ever used. In fact every time I've used this bag the zipper has snagged. "Pay attention when you zip up the bag" you might be saying. Well, I do, and it doesn't do any good. It is a source of constant frustration.

Compressed in the stuff sack.

2) Narrow cut - I am a broad shouldered man. Not big by any means, just wide shouldered. I've never had a problem fitting in a sleeping bag, until now. The first night I could barely zip the bag up passed my shoulders. I struggled and squirmed and fought with the zipper until I finally got it zipped all the way up. Boy was it uncomfortable. My hands and arms had virtually no freedom of movement, and I had to sleep with them pinned to my body. I actually felt like a mummy. Well, this same night after I somehow managed to fall asleep despite how uncomfortable I was, I awoke in the middle of the night cold. After feeling around in the dark as best I could, I discovered why. The zipper had actually split, and from my shoulders down to my waist were actually protruding from the bag, exposed to the chilly night air. Oh, the actual slider body was still clasped in place, but the teeth had somehow came apart. I had actually burst out of the bag! Then of course I had to squirm my way out, find my headlamp, and fix it, which was a total pain in the ass. 

Since then I quit trying to zip it up all the way, afraid that I would burst out again in the middle of the night. Luckily it was summer in low country, so with a baselayer on I slept okay. Until my last backpacking trip to the White Mountains in north/east Arizona, where the temps can drop into the 30's and 40's at night in summer. The second night of that trip I awoke cold, and decided to zip the bag up all the way. After all, for a sleeping bag to perform to it's temperature rating (in this case 30 degrees) it has to be used properly. While trying to zip it passed my shoulders the zipper snagged, and it snagged so bad that I couldn't get it unstuck. Finally I lost my patience, and slept exposed from my shoulders up. Luckily my girlfriend was next to me (sound asleep in my good sleeping bag) to share some body heat, or I would have been even colder than I was.

Which brings me to the 30 degree temperature rating. I couldn't accurately test it because I couldn't get the zipper passed my shoulders. But I will say other than the Whites, where the temperature dropped into the 40's, I slept warm, even with my arms and shoulders exposed.

Lastly I want to comment on the quality of this bag, and that is to say that there's not much of it... Quality I mean. Other than the piece of junk zipper, I can see stitching coming out in various places already (especially around the zipper), and I've only used it 5 or 6 times. The compression sack it comes with is already splitting at the seams, despite my gentle treatment.

Bottom Line: If you are broad shouldered do not buy this sleeping bag. For everyone else - As long as you can get it for under $50, it may be worth buying as a back-up, or a loaner, but personally I would not trust it for your main 3 season sleeping bag, and I doubt it will stand up to prolonged use.

Budget Gear Review: Coleman Crescent 15 Degree Sleeping Bag

The Coleman Crescent is a 15 degree synthetic sleeping bag that you can pick up on Amazon.com for $54.99, and was the first sleeping bag I purchased when I started backpacking. It's still in my gear collection, and it still gets used. I've grown very fond of this bag over the years. 

The first thing I noticed when I pulled it out of the box is how sharp it looks. It's just a nice looking bag. I love the blue and black color scheme, and the Coleman lantern logo in the center. In fact, one of the reasons I bought this bag was because it was a Coleman. At the time, before I ever heard of Marmot or Big Agnes or Western Mountaineering, I thought Coleman was the top-of-the-line maker of sleeping bags. But unlike other budget gear I've purchased, the Coleman Crescent did not disappoint at all.

The best part about this bag is that it's warm. I can't say if it's true to the 15 degree rating or not, but I can say that I've never been cold in this bag. The first year I had it, I used it a lot for backpacking in the summer and fall in Washington and north Idaho, but since then I mostly use it for car camping, and it always keeps me warm. I've even lent it out to friends on the rare occasion I could convince them to go backpacking with me, and even they comment on it's warmth. The coldest conditions It's been used in were in the Washington Cascades in Spring, on snow at about 6,000 feet. I can't say for certain how cold it got at night but I'm guessing in the 20's, since I was chilled in my 20 degree North Face Orion, while my brother stayed warm in the Coleman Crescent. But it's not just warm, it's comfortable too. It seems roomier than my other sleeping bags, and I tend to sleep better when I use it. It's made well too. I've had it since 2008 and it's still in great shape. You can tell by the feel of it, and by the look of it, that it's designed and built very well.

My bro staying warm in the mountains

One of my favorite things about this bag is the zipper guard, which is a plastic "case' that fits over the zipper to prevent snags, and it actually works. Nothing is more irritating then snagged zippers, and with my other sleeping bags it's a constant problem, but with the Coleman Crescent it's a non-issue.

The only gripe I have about this big is that it's big and heavy. It does not compact very well. This sleeping bag will probably only fit inside an 80 liter plus backpack. Otherwise you would have to strap it on the outside. I never tried it with a compression sack, but I'm sure you would be able to cut down on that bulk if you used one. On my scale the bag weighed in at 3pounds 8 ounces, which is lighter than the 5.2 pound listed weight on Amazon, but still on the heavy side.

Summary: 

This is a nice sleeping bag, and $50.00 is a good deal. Sure it's big and heavy (what do you expect for that price?), but it does what it's supposed to do: keep you warm. With the proper care it will last for years. If you're on a budget, or a beginning backpacker, or both, I highly recommend this sleeping bag for your all-around 3 season bag, especially if you live up north.

I know I just posted this pic on my last blog but it's in the only shot I got of the zipper guard. Check it out.

Budget Gear Review: CUSCUS Expedition 88

There are so many options out there for backpacking gear that often times it can be a headache deciding what gear to actually purchase, especially if you're new to backpacking. When I first started backpacking, I really didn't know what I was doing when I jumped online to shop for gear, so naturally (and because of my budget) I gravitated toward cheaper gear. I remember my first trip into REI. I was looking for a tent. I saw the prices REI was charging, and my jaw dropped to the floor. "This place is a rip off" I told myself, and I walked out of the store and bought a $30 two-man "backpacking tent" from another outfitter. All summer I lugged that heavy piece of crap into the mountains. It wasn't just a tent either. I bought a budget backpack, a budget sleeping bag, and a budget sleeping pad. nearly 5 years later only one of those items passed the test, and remains in my garage (okay 2 actually, but one of them is out the first chance I get). 

Even now I'm on the lookout for good buys on gear. It's just the nature of the beast when good quality gear is so expensive. Up to now I have avoided reviewing the cheaper gear that I buy, but after using one of those items in a backpacking trip last week, I thought the public had a right to know before buying some of this stuff. So as of now I am going to review a few of the budget off-brand items I have purchased and used over the years. 

CUSCUS Expedition 88 Liter Backpack.

A newer version of the same pack. Mine is gray and black.

This was the first backpack I ever bought. In the beginning, like I mentioned above, I didn't understand the need to spend $200.00 on a backpack. I found this baby on Amazon.com for $35.00 and was sold. The CUSCUS Expedition is about the cheapest backpack you can find on Amazon, and that, combined with it's huge carrying capacity is the reason I bought it. Of course, since then I've learned that bigger is not better in the world of backpacking, but at the time I thought I needed a huge pack to carry all my crap, and actually I did because all the crap I bought was as equally huge.

The CUSCUS Expedition is actually not a bad looking pack. It's gray and black, which I like. It's made of a thick canvas material. It looks durable. It has 3 huge outside pockets, and a pocket on the inside for a water bladder... And that's about the only positive things I can say about this pack.

One thing I noticed immediately was how stiff the zippers are. When those outside pockets are full of gear, it is actually very difficult to close the zippers. Now, that's not a huge problem, but let me tell you it can be a major annoyance when you take a pit stop on the trail and are holding everyone up because it takes so long to zip your pack up. The zippers however are nothing compared to the hip belt, which I will flat out say is a total piece of crap. First off the hip belt will only tighten to a certain degree, and any further attempts to tighten it will only result in the pack actually twisting on your back, or the buckle coming apart. Even while hiking, the buckle will sometimes just come apart for no apparent reason. It's quite frustrating. I bought a replacement buckle from REI in the hopes of fixing the problem, and while the buckle actually stayed together I still could not tighten the hip belt. I found the only way to adequately tighten the belt was by actually unbuckling the belt, and individually sliding either end further apart from each other, and then sucking in your gut and buckling them together. Which in the end only revealed another problem. The belt would quickly work it's way loose. When I say "quickly" I mean within 10 minutes of tightening the help belt, it will be so loose on your hips that you can look down and see a gap between the belt and your waist.

With my cousin Luke on the Tucannon River, notice his backpack rides above his shoulders.

All this of course leads to the biggest problem with this pack. It does not carry weight well at all. When I first started backpacking I was carrying 35 pounds in this pack, which should be no problem for a pack this size. But I was pretty much always miserable wearing it. You will spend much of your time trying to adjust this pack so it rides comfortably, but all your efforts will be wasted. No matter what you do the shoulder straps will hang off your shoulders causing pain and discomfort. Sure, it has an adjustable torso, but it does no good at all. The pack sags, and the weight is carried on the shoulders. I tried everything, including packing it a variety of ways, but nothing worked. Once while taking this pack on an overnighter in the William O Douglas wilderness in Washington, my hands swelled up enormously.  My fingers were like bratwursts attached to my hands. In the end the only way to carry this pack with any semblance of comfortably is to physically hold the shoulder straps up with your hands.Not fun.

The last thing I'll say about this pack is that after several years of barely any use, the stitching is coming out in a variety of places, but mainly on the zippers, the belt, and the inside pocket for the water bladder, which has completely separated from the seam.

Summary:

Sure this pack is only $35, but you get what you pay for. A poor quality, cheaply made, poorly designed backpack, with a suspension system that flat-out does not work. If you like pain, then buy this pack, but I would suggest forking over some extra dough and buying one that actually works and will last... Of course if you keep it light, and only do short mileage overnighters, then it might work okay. In that case you can buy it here.

Low rider.