Review: ZenBivy LightBed

This is part 2 of my series on cold weather backpacking sleeping gear.  Part 1 reviewed the Enlightened Equipment Revelation quilt that I have been using for the past six years that I have been happy with but struggles to keep me warm when temperatures drop below freezing.  This week I am relating my impressions of the Zenbivy Light Bed 10 degree sleep system that I recently tried out.   There are plenty of reviews on this Zenbivy bed out there, and I read a bunch of them, but none of them had any info about the performance as it would relate to me as a side sleeper who tosses who rolls over many times a night.  I'm going to rectify that here and now!

I have Facebook algorithms to thank for introducing me to ZenBivy.  Ads for their sleep system started showing up in my feed.  Relentlessly.  I checked them out initially and quickly dismissed them due to price.  As I started searching for a better sub-freezing option this Fall, I revisited them.  I really liked some of their design ideas.  In particular, the sleeve that goes over your pad has wings that clip onto the quilt to prevent drafts from coming in as you roll around, which was my biggest complaint about the Revelation quilt.  Reviews generally seemed to range from positive to glowing.

The Purchase

ZenBivy had a pre-black Friday sale offering 30% off their sleep system, so I bit.  They have 3 models to choose from.  After working through this chart and evaluating price vs. performance, I ended up with the Light Bed 10 degree, primarily because the zipper attachment of the standard bed seemed like it could be fiddly and cumbersome to use and the Core Bed 10 degree was starting to get a bit big and heavy for the price.  I bought the large size quilt and sheet to fit my 25" x 77" Thermarest Neoair X-Lite pad.

All in, I paid $329 for the quilt and sheet shipped.  That is an atypical splurge for me and way out of character.  I guess not being able to find something that meets my requirements was making me desperate and willing to pony up the big bucks.  Plus, the stock market had been up, so I was in a rare spendy mood.

Initial Impressions

It took nearly 2 weeks for me to receive my bed.  I don't know what shipping service they use, but it was slow.  It came in an impressively small box which is a good sign.  Unpacking: it came with the sheet, the quilt and a large storage sack.  No stuff or compression sack.  They try to sell you one of theirs when you buy your quilt.  I have other compression sacks already, so I skipped that.

The sheet did not fit my Neoair all that well.  It seemed like it was too big.  At least at the foot.  The NeoAir is tapered rather than rectangular and the sheet was designed to fit rectangular pads as well, so there was some excess material.  There was an elastic bungie to help take up the slack, but it was pretty much maxed out taking up all it could.   This isn't a big deal, but I have to wonder if the regular sized sheet would've fit better, even though my pad is the 25" wide model?  This image shows what looks like my pad with their sheet on it.  Mine was all bunched up down at the bottom and didn't fit nearly as well as this photo from their website shows.  

The quilt footbox was the fast footbox variant which is fixed close and doesn't fully open up flat.  There is a single clip part way up around knee high to try to keep things closed up from your calves up.  The pad clipped into the sheet easily enough.  The hood fit my Trekology inflatable pillow, though it was a little big and more comfortable with my head on top of the hood rather than inside it.  Doing the clips up was a little awkward from inside the quilt, but I managed.  The room in the quilt was impressive.  I had no problem testing out my usual side-sleeping positions.  The one thing I did notice was the open area of the quilt form where the wings end to where the footbox is sealed up still left a gap for cold air to get in when I rolled around.  The circle area below shows the gap between where the wings end and the footbox clip is.  

On to the real test to see if this would be a problem.

The Sleep Test

I had to wait for a break in the rain and a cold night to test the quilt out in the back yard.  I finally got an acceptable night with a low around 29F.  I wore my usual thermal base layer and socks and climbed in.  I actually slept pretty well for the first few hours.  At some point I started getting a little cold and put my down hood on.  I then awoke at 4AM and was uncomfortably cold.  As I rolled around, it actually felt like the quilt was just too big for the pad.  When on my side, my knees would push off the pad as the quilt provided no resistance to brace them against.  Once they were off the pad, the cold could seep in from the bottom.  Even when they were on the pad, the quilt interior just did not feel warm enough.  I don't know if it was coming in from the gap between the footbox and the wings or if there just wasn't enough insulation in the quilt.  The 10 degree rating is likely a survival rating, but I would've figured it could handle 30 degrees comfortably.  That was a big disappointment.

Conclusion

I decided to return the Light Bed.  While it performed OK, it was not really a big enough improvement over my Enlightened Equipment Revelation quilt, so I couldn't justify keeping it.  Being what I assume is a small company, ZenBivy doesn't have the greatest return policy.  They basically give you 14 days and don't refund shipping or pay for return shipping.  Unfortunately, I was one day past the 14 day window when I completed my sleep test.  Luckily, they had a holiday extension for returns.  I sent them an e-mail requesting a return and they got back to me quickly with an authorization and instructions.  Great customer service so far.  I have sent them the bed back (with all tags still in place) and am awaiting the refund.  Hopefully there is no issue there.  If they had free shipping and a return policy more like Amazons, I might have tried the regular size quilt and sheet to see if they worked better for me, but ultimately, I think the 10 degree rating would still not be good enough to meet my cold weather needs.  The search for my perfect sleep system continues... Part 3 explores a lower cost alternative, the Omnicore Designs -10F mummy bag.