REI Magma Sleeping bags — cold spot at zipper?

[Jeremy A. W]

These seem like such a good value, but I have read a couple reviews about a serious cold spot high on the bag from the zipper. Any BPLers have experience with the Men’s Magma 10 or Woman’s Magma 17?

Thank you,

Jeremy

[Jenny A]

I have a co-worker that purchased the women’s bag, and she loves hers.  She has not used it yet in temps below 40 degrees F. (summer in Colorado and all), but she is pleased so far.

[Jo P.]

My girlfriend has one. She hasn’t mentioned anything about a cold spot, and we’ve been in temps around freezing.

[Jeremy A. W]

Thank you for the feedback Jenny and Jo. All the best.

[Gary Dunckel]

Just a thought – if it is a left side zipper, be sure that the zipper IS on the left side when you are lying on your back. The baffle then drapes down to cover the zipper. If you flip it over so that the zipper is on the right side, the baffle droops down and exposes the zipper a bit, causing a cold spot.

Some bags are worse at this than others. I was using a WM Ponderosa once (which is a left-zip bag), and my buddy had his left-zip Marmot Helium. We were sleeping in a 2-vestibule tent, and I wanted to be able to easily get out of my bag and the tent. So I reversed my bag so that the zipper was on the right. WM does well-filled baffles, and I didn’t have any zipper cold spot issues.

But years ago my lady and I slept in 2 old REI bags that zipped together. She preferred sleeping on the right side, her zipper baffle would sag significantly, and she always felt a draft in temps below +40* F. I was always quite toasty. Our relationship ended before I figured out what was causing the problem. I then took the bags to be cleaned, and I had my guy do a serious over-fill of both baffles. I haven’t used those bags zipped together since that time, but I’d guess that the draft problem has been solved. I now use 2 WM Ponderosas zipped together, and there hasn’t been an issue with cold spots.

[Jeff McWilliams]

How do you flip a mummy bag over so that the zipper is on the other side?

Mummy bags have a hood area on the bottom that cinches down around your head.  If you were to flip the bag over, wouldn’t the hood now cover your face?

 

[Gary Dunckel]

You are pretty much right, Jeff, but it can be done – just tuck the hood inside the bag under your chin. But then you don’t get to have a hood, right? The bags I had talked about were all barrel-shaped rectangular bags without hoods. However, I have on occasion flipped my Marmot Hydrogen (which has a sweet hood) over so I could get out and access the tent vestibule on the right side of the tent. I’m a side sleeper, so I can still use the hood (sort of…).

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