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Poll: Left or right zip?

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  1. #1

    Default Sleeping bag: left or right zip?

    Which do you prefer? Why?

  2. #2

    Default

    Poll is public, and you can vote for more than one choice.

    I have one of each, and prefer the left zip.

  3. #3
    Geezer
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    Default

    Unless you are mating bags, who cares?
    Frosty

  4. #4
    2005 Camino de santiago
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    Default L-r & R-l

    Left zip/Right handed;
    Right Zip/left handed;
    Most buy Right zip out of ignorance when only 25 % left handed
    Center zip is best

  5. #5

    Default

    i have to agree with Frosty here.
    Which costs less? That'd be my choice.

  6. #6
    Donating Member/AT Class of 2003 - The WET year
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    Default

    One way to go about it is to figure out the position in which you most often sleep ...or at least the position you are typically in when you wake up. Now (with your eyes closed) "intinctively" reach for the location you would WANT the zipper pull to be in.

    'Slogger
    The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.

  7. #7
    Registered User LIhikers's Avatar
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    Default

    As a righty ,I find it easier to reach across to the left with my right hand to operate the zipper.

  8. #8
    Registered User LIhikers's Avatar
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    Default

    While laying on my back

  9. #9
    Registered User
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    Default

    I have a left zip bag and I'm left handed. I've never found it to be a nuisance to use my right hand to unzip the bag. I'm not that uncoordinated!

    Other than mating bags one other consideration is compatability with a bivy bag. It's a big inconvenience to have you bag zip and bivy zip on different sides.

  10. #10

    Default

    Does left zip mean the zipper is on your left when lying in the bag on your back?

  11. #11
    Registered User halftime's Avatar
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    Default

    I own two bags. One has a left and one has a right zipper. My newest bag has right zipper and is one used exclusively now for backpacking. Right zipper was my only choice for this particular bag so I did not choose for the zipper location but because it was a good price and was the right size, weight and rating for me.

    I had never given much thought or concern which side the zipper was on until I got this bag. I really like it better than the old one because I sleep on my left side and is easier to adjust the zipper during the night.

    The only concern I have is, I am considering a new smaller/lighter tent with a side entry. I want the entry to work easily with getting in a out of the bag.

  12. #12
    AT 2005 PCT 2010 Big Daddy D's Avatar
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    Default Left/Right Zippers

    I sure wish I'd known about this option BEFORE I bought my winter bag. It is right-hand zip (assuming I am on my back), but I prefer to sleep on my left side, so I would've liked it better to face the zipper (a lefty). Fortunately, it worked pretty well turned upside down-just looked a tad dorky!!
    BDD

  13. #13
    Donating Member/AT Class of 2003 - The WET year
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RockyTrail View Post
    Does left zip mean the zipper is on your left when lying in the bag on your back?
    =============================

    Yes, it does.

    'Slogger
    The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.

  14. #14
    Geezer
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by highway View Post
    Left zip/Right handed;
    Right Zip/left handed;
    Most buy Right zip out of ignorance when only 25 % left handed
    It isn't out of ignorance. It's due to the fact that 75% of us can actually unzip a bag with either hand, regardless of whether we are left handed or right handed.

    When you eat an ear of corn, do you start at the right and eat left? Or start at the left an eat to the right? Are you left handed or right handed? I was caught red handed once. I also once dated a blind girl -- you had to hand it to her. Why did the man with one hand cross the road? To get to the second hand shop.

    How to tell where a driver is from by their hands:

    1. One hand on wheel, one hand on horn: Chicago.

    2. One hand on wheel, one finger out window: New York.

    3. One hand on wheel, one finger out window, cutting across all lanes of traffic: New Jersey.

    4. One hand on wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator: Boston.

    5. One hand on wheel, one hand on nonfat double decaf cappuccino, cradling cell phone, brick on accelerator, with gun in lap: Los Angeles.

    6. Both hands on wheel, eyes shut, both feet on brake, quivering in terror: Ohio, but driving in California.

    7. Both hands in air, gesturing, both feet on accelerator, head turned to talk to someone in back seat: Italy.

    8. One hand on latte, one knee on wheel, cradling cell phone, foot on brake, mind on radio game: Seattle.

    9. One hand on wheel, one hand on hunting rifle, alternating between both feet being on the accelerator and both feet on brake, throwing McDonald's bag out the window: Texas.

    10. Two hands gripping wheel, blue hair barely visible above windshield, driving 35 on the Interstate in the left lane with the left blinker on: Florida.
    Frosty

  15. #15
    Registered User Sandy B's Avatar
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    Default

    I went with right, But years of sleeping in racks on us navy ships, where some racks sleep better getting out of the rack on the right side and others sleep better getting out on the left, has made me where I could really care less which way a sleeping bag un-zips. Just get use to the one you currently have and move on.

    Sandy B

  16. #16

    Default

    Gee, some people get annoyed easily. I use both, hadn't even thought about right vs. left handed, just dealt with the zipper whichever side it was on. I had a center zip as a kid, but now greatly prefer a side zip, either side, doesn't matter.

  17. #17
    Geezer
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by saimyoji View Post
    Gee, some people get annoyed easily.
    Sorry, it was meant to be funny. Guess that's why I'm a mechanical engineer and not a comedian....
    Frosty

  18. #18
    Musta notta gotta lotta sleep last night. Heater's Avatar
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    Default Left zip - Right handed.

    I am right handed so I prefer left zip.

  19. #19
    Registered User
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    Default

    i'm with fiddlehead. cheap=good.
    dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
    (howard zinn)

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