www.mountainhardwear.com; 3 pounds, 6 ounces
Camping sounds exotic and romantic—until you stretch out to sleep on the rocky surface of the earth. While choosing the ideal sleeping bag can be as confusing as calculus, our experience leads us to conclude that a down-filled bag with a waterproof breathable shell provides the best bang for your buck. The Banshee SL, with its seven inches of 800-fill down loft (we measured it after six months of hard use and it hadn’t lost much poof), is as pillowy as a pricey B&B feather bed. The welded waterproof/breathable shell  has been hot glued and thus has no pesky needle holes to let in moisture seep (or allow feather escapage). Even in sub-freezing summer conditions at 10,000 feet on Mt. Rainier, when paired with a sleeping pad and double-walled tent, it was plenty warm—despite the -10 wind chill.  But warm summer nights on Mt. Hood were comfortable as well, thanks to the two-way zipper vents at the footbox. We love the generous 62 inches of shoulder girth (58 at the hip)—despite a “mummy” cut, there’s plenty of room to thrash around without feeling claustrophobic. The fluffy two-piece neck collar and five-piece hood are luxe extras when the bag’s unzipped in warm weather—and in cold conditions, they work to keep drafts out and body heat in. Tradeoff: Because of its not inconsiderable loft, the bag only stuffs down into a basket ball-sized bundle. So you’ll need a pack with a decent-capacity pack(3,500 cubic inches at least) to bring it along on a multi-day backpacking trip.
Comes in both regular and long