Does the MH Phantom have room for puffy jackets?

I'd say probably not.

I've been looking into this a lot recently and tried the Phantom out, comparing it to the Western MOuntaineering Summerlite & Megalite as well as the Montbell UL SS #2.

Keep in mind that the Phantom has 60" of girth at the shoulder.

I'm 6'3" and weigh 185. When I tried out the Summerlite which has 59" of girth at the shoulders, I could not comfortably wear a Patagonia DAS in the bag. It was just far too restrictive. I could however wear it in the Megalite which has 64" of girth at the shoulder. I should note though that the DAS is a really bulky, lofty parka and that I fit quite comfortably in the Summerlite without it.

So, it depends on your body size and how puffy the down jacket you're looking at is. If you're my size or bigger and the jacket is roughly the size of the DAS, I'd say you're out of luck.

Then again, something occurred to me the other day: why would I need to wear a heavy winter parka in my three season bag? It seems unlikely that I'd ever need to wear more than a Thermawrap and Micropuff vest during three season conditions, so maybe the test of whether or not you can wear a winter parka in a tree season bag is little bit moot? What do you think?

I agree with you on the heavy parka issue. Here's the thing though… my wife slept last weekend in a Marmot Never Summer (manf. states 0 degrees) and a fleece bag liner… and the low was 30 degrees. I don't see how she doesn't fry alive, but so be it.

My thought is the Mountain Hardwear w/ the jacket could be used in 40 degree weather and the MH alone could be her bag for summer desert trips.

It sounds like this plan might not work though…

Well, that being the case, you'd almost certainly have room to wear the parka in a WM Megalite. At my local gear shop, this bag is about $60 more than the Phantom 32.

You could also wear the parka in a Montbell UL SS bag, but I just returned one of those and can't honestly recommend one to you. The fill was really poor on mine and left me very unimpressed.

Another thing to consider is the most women have narrower shoulders than good sized men, since most bags taper, for women the crushing of insulation would maybe first occur at the hips.

Why would you not use a '3 season' bag and a 'winter' parka? Names smames. I use the DAS in fall and spring, I wish it was warmer for winter use.

To avoid redundancy I pack a jacket(and pants in colder weather) warm enough for morning/evening use and then add a sleeping bag to overcome the difference of sleeping vs waking metabolism. this holds true in summer or winter.

So Tjaard, just to calrify, are you saying that you have found it useful to use your three season sleeping bag in conjunction with your winter parka?

I wasn't basing my assessment on the names associated with the gear so much as (what I hope was) pragmatic thinking. In other words, I assume that if you need to be carrying a winter parka, you need to be carrying more than a tree season sleeping bag rated at about 30*. Does that hold true in your experience?

Do you really find that your Patagonia DAS is not warm enough for winter? What do you use that is warmer?

Thanks!

If she was willing, I'd get her a quilt (which would solve the "is-it-girthy-enough" talk). I, and probably most of us here at BPL, do what Tjaard said – bring the clothes you need to keep warm in the evening and night and bring only what you need on top of that. It's a concept we easily accept.

But… I'm trying to get her pack as light as possible while still using somewhat "traditional" means. I think she has now realized that her jacket is a core piece of her sleeping system.

REI has a Phantom and a Sub Kilo (which I think is even narrower) on hold for me. I'll get the puffiest jacket she has and take her to go try it out. I guess it won't be a surprise, but oh well.

I agree with Dave Horton.
My Megalite is wide enough to wear an insulated jacket and not be restricted or compress the bag's top and side insulation. PLUS I did briefly own a MH Phantom 32 but returned it unused (& got the Megalite) B/C it had such poor loft. Others here have had the same experience with the Phantom 32.

Eric

Well, we got the Phantom 32 last night. Her MB jacket should arrive in the next couple days. She slept for a bit in my MB jacket (obviously too big) in the bag and said she was comfortable. I'm not sure how much loft was being compressed though.

As far as loft… not stellar. The REI Kilo Flash (35*) seemed to have more. The cut is too narrow for her though. Hmmmmm…. I really can't spend the kind of money to get a WM bag. (The 20% coupon knocked $50 off).

I think I'll have her try my quilt out tonight.

I do the same thing Tjaard does. I have one bag, a Marmot Hydrogen. In winter, I use this in conjunction with hooded down jacket, primaloft pants, and primaloft booties. Toasty down into the mid-teens for me. I am thinking of making a light synthetic quilt for summertime, when the Hydrogen is a bit too warm. I'll probably design it so it can be used over my bag if conditions warrant, maybe single digits?

Hey Ryan, you might be able to find last year's Marmot Hydrogen for cheap; they've redesigned it (for the worse, imo). I find I can wear my puffy jackets inside without compressing loft.

David,
I use my '3.5 season' bag ;-) with a parka and pants in winter. On it's own I used to be comfy in the bag around 15 degrees and now with the suit below zero.

In my experience people tend to call 20*F bags '3 season' and 40*F summer bags, so I was going of that. Most 30*F and above bag have cold spots because they are sewn through or lack fill, so they do get cold, but a good 20* bag will work for me well down to 0*F. Maybe I have exceptionally low metabolism when resting but I find I am allways looking for really warm jackets for belaying and camping(inactive), so I do not need much more at night.

I bought the DAS because my old Six-Month-Night(Golite) is getting thin and I was starting to get cold. I could not find the 6MN anymore so I got the DAS, because people made it sound similar: no over the top featus, thick and locng cut. But the loft seems to be 1 layer PG, as compared to 2 layer in the 6MN, perhaps a thicker weight but still thinner overall. I have no doubt people might find it warm enough but I get cold easy, I wore my 6MN while a friend wore a Golite Coal, but he's a furnace! I also climb and camp in Northern Minnesota and Ontario, socamping temps around 0*F are not uncommon and belaying around 10*F as well.

I bought a womens MHW Phantom 15 degree sleeping bag at the REI Superclearance in February (for about $98 with employee pricing). This was to replace my older REI Downtime 0 degree which weighs about 4 lbs. We went up to the Guadalupe Mts. over spring break, and up in the Bowl the first night it got pretty cold (for us)–probably low 20's since in the morning the film of water remaining in a metal measuring cup was all frozen in solid frost crystals in a few minutes. I am pretty cold sensitive. My pad is a short Ridgerest. I wore an REI Nevis jacket (Primaloft, not super puffy) and a Smartwool midweight shirt during the night. We were in a BA Seedhouse SL2. There was plenty of room for me and my clothing in the sleeping bag. I was kind of cold sometimes during the night but not enough to keep me from getting a good night's sleep.

When I bought the Phantom I was also considering a Sub-Kilo but the Phantom was $12 cheaper for me. (I get half off on full-price REI brand items.)

My warm-season bag is a Kilo Flash 35 degree which I love (and it is not sewn through, it has baffles). I am fairly slender so the slender cut of the REI Kilo series bags is not a problem for me. I have thought of posting a review of the Kilo Flash but since I work part-time at REI I figure I am not eligible to review REI-brand products.

I returned my REI women's kilo after a Colorado Trail trip where it lost so many feathers out around the neck. My 2 hiker friends had same new bag, same problem.

I replaced it with a MH Phantom 32 & slept just fine in Alaska 26 degrees with my heavy northface down sweater. I am now getting ready to test it with my new Montbell UL down inner jacket.