Synthetic or Down Bag versus Washing

The down bag will keep its loft better, but requires a lot more care in washing or drying to avoid damaging baffles and fabric due to the weight of the wet down. If the scouts or their parents will be doing the washing, synthetic is probably the more durable choice.

You might also consider the exterior fabric. A little mud could just be wiped off of some fabrics preventing the bags from having to be washed so often.

I'm sure someone more technical will be chiming in soon with more specific 'pros and cons' on the various insulations and fabric choices.

I think most people will be using front loading washers which spins most of the moisture out, so transferring the bag to the dryer may not be a big risk to the baffles.

Mostly, I'm wondering if taking the oil out of the down by washing will reduce a down bags insulation value faster than washing breaks down the current synthetics.

Anyone have any experiences ?

John,

For my two cents I would recommend your scouts get synthetic bags. Very easy to wash and will stay warmer if they do happen to get wet. Down will totally fail if it gets wet. I have been an assistant scoutmaster and for our troop we were quite happy with synthetic bags. Down bags are also a hassle to wash- special soap, industrial dryer, special handling. And to my knowledge washing a down bag should be a relatively rare event to preserve the loft. Now that is not to say that some of the older kids couldn't use a down bag carefully and not have a problem, but for most of them I would start them off with a synthetic bag. Also, decent synthetics are generally considerably cheaper than decent down bags in my experience.

Good Luck,
-Mark

Definitely synthetic. Kids aren't as good about keeping things dry, or clean, and rips will happen. Much less drama with a synthetic bag.

As for as washing, go to the laundromat and use the monster size washers with a recommended detergent. Dry on the low heat side. Those big laundromat dryers turn slow and fluff them up nice.

If the baffles aren't damaged in washing, a down bag will outlast their scouting time.
They can pass it on to their own kids.
Drying is a hassle and will take forever tho.

Heat kills synthetics, so line dry them if that is what you
end up with.

With either type I just hose off my bag at the end of the trip
and let it dry in the sunshine. Much faster than washing the
whole thing and it will last longer too. Every few years,
I wash the whole thing.