Review: Omnicore Multi-Down Mummy -10F Sleeping Bag
My Expectations
Based on the specs, I had high hopes for this bag. We'll start with the price. At $130 it is slotted in between the cheap car-camping bags that weigh 6+ lbs and the expensive name-brand bags. It achieves some of the cost savings by using a combination of down and synthetic insulation. The result is a bag with a -10F rating that weighs a little over 4lbs. While that isn't super light, it is acceptable for a cold weather bag. I take the -10F rating with a grain of salt. Based on the weight and mix of synthetic and down insulation, I would expect this bag to have a comfortable usage range at least 20 degrees above the -10F rating. I have never found a mummy bag that I'm comfortable in, but this one looked like it is nice and wide and would allow for rolling around and side sleeping. Given my draft problems with quilts at cold temps, I'm thinking I have no choice but to go back to a fully enclosed sleeping bag when the thermometer drops below freezing.
The Purchase
A special FU goes out to Lowes where I purchased this bag from. The regular size was available from Amazon and a number of other retailers, but Lowe's was saying I could get it with free next-day delivery, so they got the nod. I had some Visa check cards as a gift that were valid at a few stores, including Lowes. Unfortunately, it wouldn't take them on the online ordering process. That may not be Lowes' fault, but what happened next certainly was. Somehow in validating and trying to use the cards, they kept making me get a one-time code to enter to log in. Every time I tried to check out, it made me get another code, then the transaction would fail. Even when I tried to use my regular credit card to purchase it, it would still fail and make me reset my password. I went through three passwords and about 7 one-time codes trying to check out. I eventually gave up and had Mrs. Wisdumb order it for me from her account. Had they not been promising the fastest delivery, I would've given up and just bought it from Walmart or Amazon.
Then there was the shipping. Lowes didn't provide a tracking number for it, but we got a FedEx notification about a delivery with no reference to what it was or where it was from. It took it 3 days to arrive, not the next day that was advertised. I don't know what has happened to Lowes. They used to be a good store, but over the past few years they're acting like they don't give a crap about their business.
Initial Impressions
The shipping box was pretty small, especially considering this was a partially synthetic -10F rated bag. Be careful opening the box with a knife as the bag is bulging all the way to the seams, and if you cut too deep, you could slice the bag. The bag came with a nice compression stuff sack and a storage sack. (Zenbivy could learn from this). The material the bag was made of was weird. I don't know how else to put it. It wasn't the typical slippery sleeping bag nylon. It felt a little tacky, almost, like a super dirty fabric car seat. Just weird. There was one pleasant surprise as I unfurled the bag- there were sleeves for your sleeping pad on the back side. That wasn't even advertised as a feature of the bag, and I didn't see anyone mention them in the reviews. I think these are a great feature for those of us that roll around a lot when we sleep. Here are the pad sleeves in action:
Trying it Out
To begin, I put my Thermarest Neoair X-Lite through the pad sleeves unzipped the side and climbed in. This is where the problems started. It was tight. Usually, the mummy bags are tight in the legs, but this one was tight around the shoulders. So tight I struggled to zip it up- I couldn't get the zipper up past about mid chest with my arms inside the bag. There wasn't room for my arms to move to operate the zipper. Thinking the pad and sleeves may have been contributing to the tightness, I took the pad out and tried again. While it was better, it was still too tight, and I still couldn't get it fully zipped up. It didn't help that the zippers weren't smooth to operate and tended to catch in the fabric of the bag. The sticky fabric of the inside of the bag also made it hard to pull any slack to one side to create room for my arms. I have slept in mummy bags before and recognize they can be tight, but I've never had problems with being unable to move my arms around like I did in this bag. I don't understand how the fit could be that off. I'm not exactly a giant- 5'10" and about 170lbs. I do not expect to have fit problems in a regular size bag.
There were draft collars top and bottom with drawstrings to tighten them up and velcro to secure them, but things were so tight, I couldn't get my arms up there to operate any of them. Maybe you are supposed to use your teeth?! There was a short zipper on the left side that you could unzip to get your arms out. With this unzipped, I fit, but it would let all the cold air in.
As for rolling over, that was a super-difficult task, even with the zippers not all the way up. The tightness and the sticky fabric conspired to thwart this maneuver. The legs area was actually OK for side sleeping and I could bring my knees up without much trouble.
My Trekology inflatable pillow fit in the hood area, but the hood was too small for both my pillow and my head. Insert your own head-size joke here.
On the plus side, I got plenty hot in the bag just trying to zip it up even though the insulation didn't feel like it had much loft and seemed a little thin. Unfortunately, since I didn't fit in the bag, I did not give it a sleep test outside, so I can't say how well it performs thermally.
Conclusion
I had high hopes for this bag when I bought it and am very disappointed in how it turned out. I thought it was going to be the solution to all my sub-freezing problems. I obviously can't keep it and it has to go back. There is a large size version of this bag that is about 6 inches longer and 2 inches wider, but I'm not sure that will be enough. It also adds more than a pound to the bag pushing it over 5 lbs which is getting a bit heavy. I also don't know how well it will perform in severe cold. The thinness of it worries me that it won't do well.
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