Mountain Hardwear Speed 32 Sleeping Bag Review

Doesn't it seem like the boxed-in compartments on the underside are counterproductive? Since, when we're sleeping, any down under us gets squashed to uselessness anyway, wouldn't conventional quasi-circumferential tubes allow it to escape sideways, out from under us, to where it could expand and do some good?

Good review Brad, and great job on catching the little superflous features. Hopefully they will take your comments to heart if they decide to release a v2.0 of the bag.

If each zipper-ribbon were half it's width, would it be out of the way enough so that the zipper wouldn't snag?

Good point Dan. I'm wondering if it would be a fix to to take each ribbon, fold it on itself and sew across, effectively cutting the width down to half, while simultaneously stiffening it. Take a look at the pics in this blog:
http://greenecasey.blogspot.com/2012/05/mountain-hardwear-mtn-speed-32.html

It looks like the zipper has a tendency to eat the ribbon while being zipped up. If the ribbon weren't as wide, would it no longer be in path of the zipper's devouring jaws?

Brad, how does this bag compare to your summerlite? I think that would have been a better comparison, given that both bags use 9-9.5 oz of 850fp down. I'm thinking the Speed 32 would be warmer because of its narrower cut, yet it might be colder because of the draftier sewn through sides and sewn through bottom. Would love to hear your opinion.

Good review.
This bag has been on market quite a while now. Overpriced for much of it, but its starting to appear on sale now for reasonable prices , IMO.

One of my frequent complaints as well. Mfg chasing low wt, at the expense of making their bag unuseable for the intended purpose.

I agree, a summer bag has to have a full zip so it can ventillate well.

WM highlight has similar issue.

I went to quilts because were lighter, cheaper, and ventillated better , for summer use.

Konrad, I wouldn't bother folding the zipper ribbon and sewing as you suggest. Frankly, if I tried the bag on, loved it, loved everything about it, and had to have it… I would just cut the zipper out and start fresh.

There's almost no comparison to the SummerLite. Maybe I'm getting older or grumpier, but I'm finding that my lower legs need a little room to move in the night or I get stiff… not a problem with the SummerLite. I prefer the circumferential baffling on the SL, because I regularly shift the down to an even 50/50 distribution and use it as a quilt. I feel like there is more than the spec'd extra inch of chest width in the SummerLite; I can easily layer up in the SL, but didn't feel like I had that kind of room in the Speed.

The footbox of the Speed 32 is sculpted more nicely, but I'm not sure I noticed any functional gains. I liked the depth of the Speed hood better, but prefer the drawcord arrangement of the SL. I don't feel like there's a ton of difference in warmth between the two, but if someone put data in front of me showing that the Speed is a few degrees warmer, I could believe that. I actually prefer the shell fabric of the Speed. Would love to see WM do an uberlight bag, maybe sewn-through baffles on 5" spacing, full-length #3 zip, and a ~0.65oz shell.