Sleeping bags with half-length zippers.

[Funkmeister]

For ages I've wanted to own a Marmot Helium sleeping bag. A few weeks ago I found one on EBay. New with tags. Kept in a closet in the cotton storage bag. Non smoking home. All for a decent price. So I bought it.

But when I got the item I discovered it was a half-zip version of the bag. I've always thought the few grams of weight savings was a poor trade off for losing my ability to use it as a blanket--zipper completely undone--on warmer nights.

So I'm curious to know other people's thoughts on the half zip versus the full zip advantages and disadvantages. To be clear, I am not a gram counter. I do pay attention to weight, but don't go crazy over a bit of extra weight in my pack.

Are there other advantages of the half zip version that I'm missing?


Can enough of you convince me to keep the bag? If not, I'll be posting a 'for sale' thread sometime soon.

[Christoph]

I've got a 30 degree mummy bag that was issued to me in the military. I love it as it's comfortable, extremely light weight (like 2 lbs! and that's crazy for anything issued), very warm (too warm for me in some cases), but yea... that darn 3/4 zipper! Wish I could find one just like it, except a full length zipper so I can use it as a blanket. I sleep hot anyway and sticking a leg out not a fun task. I see a new one probably next season.

[Leo L.]

Same here, I bought a superlight Exped bag and unfortunately it has a half-length zip.
Just hate it for this reason.

There is one tiny advantage tough, the zipper area has a little less insulation and so halflength zip means half heat loss in this specfic area.