Baffled By Continuous Baffles

Could it be that your baffles are a bit under filled ?
The Continuous Baffles work well (for me) in my WM Ultralite .
And yes I am a tosser. Should be obvious by now.
Franco

My wife had the same issues with every high end bag she tried — by the morning, her hip was covered by nothing but two pieces of nylon shell. She's cold all the time anyway, so this was sub-optimal. She solved it the same way, with the Montbell UL SS bags, a #0 and a #3. Awesome.

"And yes I am a tosser. Should be obvious by now."

I just sprayed orange juice out my nose. Thanks for that.

Franco,

I don't think the baffles lack down. In fact I got a 2 ounce overfill when I bought it.

The bag works fine for my wife, by the way. So I think it is possibly a combination of my movement and size.

I don't think the bag is differentially cut either so that may be a factor.

I also would like to consider a good quality lightweight bag without the continuous baffle feature. Is there anything out there in the above +10 degree range other than the mont-bell bags mentioned in this thread?
Thanks,
Bill

Okay, maybe I'm just dense, but what are continuous baffles?

Each baffle goes horizontally all the way around from top of you as you're sleeping around to the bottom?

I thought all down sleeping bags were like that.

I'm not so much baffled as annoyed! I too do a lot of tossing and turning at night, mostly from one side to the other, so the upper side of my bag changes at least every hour. Most of the time (not always), I can get through the night in my otherwise beloved WM Ultralite without having to rearrange the down. On really cold nights, though, I have to get out and work the down back over my hips at least once a night. In addition, every evening when I unpack, I have to spend at least 5 minutes rearranging the down so that it's relatively evenly distributed in the baffles.

Most bags I've seen with non-continuous baffles are even worse in that they have about 2/3 of the down on the "top" side and only about 1/3 in the "bottom" side. Since with me the top side and bottom side interchange frequently, I need a bag with even down distribution all the way around!

I keep wondering how much WM would charge to make the baffles non-continuous with an even amount of down in each half, or if they'd even do it. Has anyone tried this?

Jerry,

My Montbell bag has partitions within the baffles that prevent the down from shifting downward.

I think continuous baffles are the most common, however.

Daryl

Thanks Daryl

That makes sense

Rhetorical question – do they make "continuous baffles" because it's easier/cheaper, then the marketing people claim it's an advantage so you can shift the down to make it warmer or colder?

I also felt the same way about my WM megalight, I moved the down where I wanted it and ran a couple of lines of stiching lengthwise and it helped enough that I still use the bag regularly.

This is on a 30 deg bag, I suspect the same approach on a bag made for cold weather would likely ruin the bag as there is zero loft where the stitches runs.

> do they make "continuous baffles" because it's easier/cheaper
Yep.
Making blocked down tubes is very hard and I don't think any commercial production would do that: just not economic.

How to prevent the down from moving away from your hips (for instance)?
Well, first ask your self WHY it moves away. After all, it is not easy to get down to shift like that. Something must really be pushing it sideways.

In my experience, the real problem is one or two of the following:
* The quilt or bag does not have a differential cut (read up on that)
* The sleeper is pulling the cover over themself rather tightly. They are called 'clutchers' by some. This is what is pushing the down away from the high points.

The solution which often works is to rectify both of those problems. Good down sleep gear usually has a differential cut, so you need to start practising letting the cover sit very loosely over you. A good aid is to start telling yourself that the tighter you pull the cover, the colder you will be. As this actually fits in with experience, this is not so hard to believe. The every time you wake up in the night, fluff the cover up a bit and settle down with it loose.

Cheers

Western Mountaineering has always offered side block baffles but only in their cold weather bags. Really cold weather bags have V side block and have as long as I can remember.

I have never had problem with my WM bags having down shift from top to bottom and none have a side block baffle. Actually I have seldom thought about it. Maybe I just have not pushed the temp rating in recent memory.

Jeff

my apache dryloft (the third of them) has those top to bottom tubes.
and yes, sometimes you gott'a shove the stuff back to the top when it gets nippy.
it would be nice if it had a bit more feathers in there, and i might just do that.

a few months ago, i did a big wash thing to it, and after i got her all fluffed up sweet, took it down to the dealer from whence it came and we compared it to a brand new one right on the shop floor. after a good decade of use, dang near the same it was (effectively, it was identical. but the fabric was all beat to softer).
i still think, even though it lofts to new, that it could use a tad more punch.

not seeing what the issue with side tubes is, but .. if you want more down … inject more down. how hard can it be ?
is this a rant? (on one lousy beer ? ) or maybe does somebody Owe me a better bag, and i'm just too dense to know it ..?
nahh …
this is BPL, if one wants something better. one can just jolly well build it. and then post pics of how things got done.

I have a few bags designed that way. I have found that if I shake everything toward the top just before bed most of it is still there in the morning. And I too am a thrasher. I have to repeat the process every day. As others have mentioned, some bags shift more than others.

Chalk up one more advantage for synthetic bags?

"is this a rant?"

Oh heavens Peter, no. I've seen you rant and had a jolly good time watching you rant. This, sir, is no rant!

I've looked over this thread and it appears that one poster has not had a problem with down shifting in a continuous baffle bag. The remaining posts are about equally divided between (1) people who have their down migrate on a regular basis and find it acceptable to do what it takes to deal with it and (2) people who find that down migration is unacceptable and have either bought a blocked baffle bag or are looking for one.

I personally find it hard to justify paying top dollar for a bag and then whenever I put it down at night not knowing whether the down is in the right place or not. This, to me, is something that you shouldn't ever have to think about, much less get up in the middle of the night to rearrange down that has shifted. I'm in the market for a new bag and I have shifted my focus to a mont-bell bag (which was originally about 4th on my list) because it is the only one I've found so far with side block baffles in an above +10 degree bag.

It would be nice if the manufacturers make some more side block baffle products available at a reasonable price for those who prefer them.

End of rant..

Note: I received a response from Feathered Friends customer service and they do offer a side block baffle option for their light flight bags for $200 extra.

FWIW, with my WM Megalite and my WM AlpineLite, bags with continuous baffles, the down stays put very well.

With my 3 season Golite quilt I seem to always be fluffing and spreading to make it right even though the baffles aren't continuous.