zPacks Bag Fit

[Coffee]

I just received my zPacks 20 degree bag today! It is a regular width/x long and weighs in at 20 ounces on my scale, a bit over the 19.3 ounces specified on the website probably due to down overfill (no complaints there!).

This is my first quilt-style sleeping bag. I find the fit to be just about right when I get into the bag, zip it up and lie *on top* of my sleeping pad. However, my understanding is that many quilt users actually put their sleeping pad *inside* the sleeping bag. If I do that, I have insufficient room inside the bag, especially at the foot.

I really don't want to exchange for a wide bag both due to weight and because at the torso area, the regular fits great and I think will not allow much if any dead air cold spots (unlike my super roomy Marmot Helium). Should I worry about the implications of sleeping on top of the pad inside the bag, or is it really important to be able to put the pad inside the bag to achieve the desired level of warmth?

I can barely stand to stay inside the bag for a few minutes right now (75 degree room temperature) and it will be a while before I get to test this out in the cold - beyond any exchange period - so a bit concerned.

Thanks for any input.

[handlebar]

If you had a regular sleeping bag, you'd sleep in it on top of the pad. Why should this be any different? You still get the benefit of the insulation which the pad offers, and you don't want to compress the down of the zpacks bag from the inside.

I've used my zero degree MH Phantom bag on top of a neoair xtherm in temps as low as -12F. Worked fine as long as my elbows didn't drift off it onto the shelter floor. On the other hand, in heat like this, on the AT in Aug in mid-Atlantic states, I used my silk liker as a sheet by slipping my pad inside it, then kept my completely unzipped sleeping bag on the side to pull over me if I got chilled during the night.

[Coffee]

In my current traditional sleeping bag, I am entirely inside the bag and then on top of the pad with the bag below me (with down compressed not providing much value). My understanding, perhaps mistaken is that quilt users sleep directly on the pad with the quilt only above them and tucked in on the sides. Now the zpacks product is a bag/quilt hybrid. It has a zipper and you can be entirely inside the bag, or you can leave it open in quilt mode. My question is whether people typically use the zpacks product in quilt mode. In my case, there isn't room to have the pad inside the bag at the foot end. I'd probably have to move up to a wide to make that work.

I've send zpacks a question on this but thought I'd see if there are any other opinions on this.... Perhaps I am misunderstanding what quilt users are doing.

[Violent Green]

Most use their Zpacks bag similar to a sleeping bag. If they use it quilt mode, they keep the pad out of the bag.


Ryan

[Coffee]

I'm kind of leaning toward exchanging it for a wide. I'm a skinny guy but in "bag mode" I feel a little more constrained than I prefer especially with more than my base layer on. One of the big issues with my current marmot helium is too much dead space. The regular zpacks maybe is just a bit too tight. Zpacks Wide is probably perfect. Will get Joe's feedback and go from there. Everything about the construction and quality is great, exactly as expected.

[sbhikes]

My quilt (not a z-packs) has two sets of straps that go through loops on the edges. You put the straps around the pad with the foot end of the pad underneath the foot end of the quilt, not inside. This makes it so the pad is sort of "inside" at the middle and underneath at the bottom. The very top, of course, cinches around your neck.

It's nice because there's a pretty good seal to keep the warm air in. I've also just slept on top of the pad, forgoing the use of the straps at all. Either way works fine.