Climashield XP vs Down temp ratings

[Take-a-knee]

interesting comparisons BB.
again, i would add a word of caution for everyone about over compressing any insulation (down or synthetic).
if you note the packs that some of the BPL.com staff carry on winter trips, they look a little larger than you might expect for such a light weight pack.
grant it, some of that bulk is food, but i suspect that they use a pack w/ enough volume that they don't have to over compress their insulation.

Ray Jardine always packs his quilts last and uses the collar so it isn't compressed more than need be.

[warbonnetguy]

One thing I didn't notice being mentioned about the down, synthetic question is the life span of the loft in synthetics. I have had a few synthetics and they have all lost loft and it's easy to see year after year. Down can hold it's ability to hold loft for much longer spans of time. Consider the down bags crushed into a tiny box beneath the ejection seats of fighter or bomber craft. After years of compression, they come to life after all. Mule

long term compression is bad for down too.

[BillyBob58]

Though I packed the PeaPod in it's fairly small stuff sack for pics and comparison sake, I generally am very paranoid about OVER compressing my insulation. Particularly sense all of my synthetic bags have lost significant loft fairly quickly. Which begs the question: are they as warm as they were when brand new? Anyway, I usually have enough pack room and I stuff insulation more loosely than would occur with the stuff sacks that come with them.

When I got the PeaPod, it was in a zippered plastic bag about the size of a very large woman's purse. In a very short time, it puffed up to exceed manufacturers specs. But when it came time to wrap it and put it under the Christmas tree, I was a little paranoid about leaving stuffed that way for 8 days. So I contacted Ed, who said not to worry about it, since they store them in those sacks for months at a time. That is way more compressed than I would be willing to do long term, but it is apparently not enough to cause harm. I need to ask Ed if there is any worry to leaving it in it's tiny stuff sack for a day or two while travelling to trail heads by air.

But, I have to say that, unlike 100% of my synthetic bags, I have never seen any loss of loft at all in m down bags, even after many years and many trips. Sure, sometimes there would be a small amount of loss due to dirt or moisture, but as soon as it dried out or I laundered it, it would bloom back to as new loft.

[nothermark]

Do you launder your synthetics? As I recall Wiggy told a dealer friend that the best thing to do with his synthetics was to wash them when you bought them. It gets out the sizing they use to control the filament bundles during manufacturing.