Sleeping Bag for a small woman

Feathered Friends size Small women’s bags fit to 5’3″ so they are smaller than your typical women’s bag which seems to be sized for 5’6″. The FF 30* Women’s bag also appears to be pretty narrow so it should be pretty efficient.

My other advice is that women tend to sleep cold and so called “women’s” bags aren’t always rated accordingly. I’m not sure how much experiance she has with bags to see how she sleeps (hot/cold), but if you really want her to be warm at 30*F you might need a 20*F bag.

One exception to this is my wife’s Marmot Women’s Helium but is was considerably heavier than the Men’s Helium despite being 6″ shorter and narrower. Why? It has as much down in it as my 6 ft 0*F bag.

A big +1 for Feathered Friends’ women’s bags…their “regular” is for women up to 5’3″. I need the “long” myself, but they are “true-rated”. I took my Egret UL 20 on the Colorado Trail, and was never cold, even when sleeping above 12,000ft.  Not cheap, but really nice bags!

Of course, the other option would be to get her a quilt (but size up in both length and width to ensure that she has enough extra fabric to wrap around her and snuggle in). I have a top-of-the-line 950fp quilt from Underground Quilts that is so warm, I’m actually thinking about selling my FF bag!

Does Feathered Friends use the waterproofed down?  I didn’t see that on the web page- it just says “900+-fill goose down”, so I had assumed that it was not treated to be waterproof.

Dean,
I agree with those who say, or have found out the hard way, that many women sleep cold. She can always put arms and legs outside of the bag if she’s too warm but being cold is miserable.
I am 5’0″ tall and I chose a Western Mountaineering bag, the Versalite, that is 5″6″ so I can really snuggle down into the bag. It is a 10 degree bag and I often use it in the middle of summer in the High Sierra and it’s not too warm-or I adjust until 3-4 a.m. when it gets colder. I know so many women who have had to suffer in the cold or trade in their bag because it’s just not warm enough. The Versalite is a favorite of many because the temp. rating is accurate.
Feathered Friends’ bags also have a great reputation for accurate temp. ratings.
You already know from these forums that a very warm pad is also crucial for women. I would stick with the brand names that have been recommended time and time again. The money is well-spent to have a good night’s sleep. Many of the women who do the most long-distance or through-hikes use a 10 degree or even a 0 degree bag.

Feathered Friends does NOT use waterproof down as far as I know, but I wouldn’t be too concerned with it. I think “waterproof down” is more for marketing than anything. Keep your bag dry, a soaked ‘waterproof’ down bag or synthetic bag would suck only slightly less than a regular down bag.

I have used down bags for years in areas of the southeast that gets over 100″ of rain a year and Alaska where it rained for days and I was out for 14 days – no issues.

Re:  Water Repellent Down (in general) — I highly recommend reading the section on WR Down in THIS Buying Guide.  There are some very good reasons that the two most prestigious manufacturers of down sleeping bags in the USA (WM and FF) have chosen NOT to offer WR Down products.

I am 5’3″ and have a variety of bags (occupational hazard!), but the warmest tend to be “regular” length (usually max length 5’6″) women-specific bags that have been through the EN testing protocol.  Since we tend to be cold sleepers, the ladies’ bags get more insulation to keep us warm at the same temperature as the guys’ bags.  My experience is all with major manufacturers – no FF or Western Mountaineering, though it seems it would be hard to go wrong with them.

Big Agnes’ petite sized bags for women go to 5’5″, which is a little shorter than the usual W’s regular.  I also think the water-resistant treatments on down now are totally unnecessary, but it’s getting harder to find bags without it.

The REI Joule bag you mentioned is a very nice bag.  My daughter has one and has spent many a comfy night in it.  You might also take a look at the Magma:  17-degree temperature rating, 850-fill goose down, and only 2lb 6 oz for the regular.  I think REI’s bags tend to size a little on the short size, and the Magma is definitely a snug, very thermally efficient fit.  It is a little warmer than what you are looking for, but it’s also lighter weight and can certainly be unzipped.

Actually, this is for my 11-year-old daughter, but I’m sizing it on her mother so that she doesn’t need a new one in five years when she grows.  Thus my interest in waterproof down, she’s still a kid…  :)

FWIW I have untreated down bags myself, for the reasons in the links people provided, and she’s unlikely to use the bag without me around (she has a cheaper synthetic bag for kid activities) so maybe I could just get her an untreated down bag.

I’m a quilt fan, but if I were in the market for a bag, I’d be checking out the ones from Nemo. The women on a FB forum I’m on (pacific northwest outdoors women) mention it a lot. Not super light, but they do have a high-fill model

https://www.rei.com/product/112184/nemo-jam-30-sleeping-bag-womens

Valerie — Interesting read and good to know about the treated clumping issue. I got my EE quilt before treated down was widely used, and was wishing I had that. Now I am perfectly happy!

(and opens up FF bags if I want to get my winter game going)

Hmm.  FF Egret Nano 20 is looking good…  Their stout DWR process might mitigate against waterproof down, anyway.