Slumberjack Latitude +20°F

THE GOOD: good feeling fabric, well made, strong outer hex-nylon shell, drawcord on the hood. performs when damp and bottom gets wet.

THE BAD: Cold spots down by the legs, snaggy zipper, no draft tube, inaccurate temperature rating.

GOOD USES: Car camping, overnight hikes, anything above 30 degrees, rainy conditions.

BOTTOM LINE: generous temperature rating, cost-effective bag for 3 season car-camping.

I first bought this product at Bass Pro Shops and like most first-time sleeping bag shoppers paid attention to the price and temperature rating. At first glance I noticed that it was a mummy/rectangular hybrid bag with plenty of room to wiggle one's legs while sleeping. I had previously been annoyed with a mummy bag's slim area for the legs.

My first trip with this bag was in rocky mountain national park. I spent 5 nights in a KOA Kampground in Estes. The summer temps I believe got down to maybe 50 degrees at night. I slept alright.

Aesthetically, this bag is also nice. It seems to be well tailored and has this cool hex ripstop nylon fabric on the outershell. Very strong stuff. The stuff bag is also made out of the material-I jammed my bag pretty hard at times into the stuff/compressor sack. The sack is very well made-still holding up after some odd 10 trips of use.

The Latitude 20 has a very comfortable feeling. The internal fabric is soft and feels nice on the skin. Everything is so plush. While I can't fit this bag into my modestly-sized backpack compartment, it's extra-weight serves itself well as a comfortable car camping bag.

Now, here is when I got into some trouble. Let me first start off with saying that I am considered to be a cold sleeper. I took this bag to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone in early September. Temps got down to 26 degrees at night. I thought I was going to be just fine seeing as how my bag is rated to 20 degrees. WRONG!!! Long-story short, I would be comfortable using this bag in no less than 35 degrees F. Very cold down by me legs. I suggest stuffing a fleece blanket under the cover for extra warmth.

I did place my tent in a washout area one-time and things got a little...how do I say...not so dry that night. Without a pad my bag caught little streams of water running through the tent. I didn't feel any soak-through on my bag. I was quite surprised at this.

This bag is not a good backpacking bag at all. But at the price, I won't complain too much. Slumberjack may have better insulation out there now, so do some research before purchasing a new one. I don't want to pigeon hole Slumberjack on my bad experiences with this bag.

The Slumberjack Latitude 20 was the first sleeping bag I ever bought, and my main motivations for buying it were: 1) the price and 2) it was the only bag available at a local outdoor store.

I started backpacking about 6 years ago and this bag was my companion for many multi-day trips, overnights, and a summer of camp. The Latitude comes with a stuff sack that compresses the bag's massive bulk slightly, but I still found that my sleeping bag swallowed up most of my pack's capacity.

You would think that the bag's size would contribute to heat retention, but I found that unless I used a fleece liner inside the bag, I froze in temperatures below 30.

My main gripe with the Slumberjack Latitude is that its large capacity is inefficient for retaining body heat. I am 5'8" and 135 lbs, and I generally sleep in this bag curled up in a ball in the bottom half of the bag. The bag is so huge that I think you could fit two people in there, and I have completely changed my clothes inside the bag with no problem on several occasions.

The Slumberjack Latitude left me with much to be desired, but it educated me on features that I would like to see in a future sleeping bag and it served me well for my beginning backpacking years. It's not a bad bag for the price, especially if you are a large person who doesn't mind packing a large, heavy bag.