LL Bean Sleeping Bag

L.L. Bean Downtek Sleeping Bag 20 Degree

Travis GneitingReviews

  • Overall
  • Value
  • Warmth to Weight
  • Comfort
3.1

Summary

The L.L. Bean Downtek sleeping bag a great value for comfortable backpacking, car camping, and everyday use. It has a lot of features that trickle down from more expensive bags. It’s got a pretty good weight to warmth ratio.

Specs:

  • 2.98 Lb backed weight
  • 76 inch x 34 inch Dimensions
  • 15 inch x 8 inch Packed Dimensions
  • Interior and exterior shells: Ripstop nylon
  • Fill: Water-repellent DownTek™ 650
  • Water-repellent coating on outer shell
  • Baffling holds insulation in place
  • Draft tube on zipper prevents cold air from seeping in
  • Retains its loft in wet conditions

This L.L. Bean Sleeping bag review covers the specifications and our use of the sleeping bag as well as the pro’s and con’s.  This sleeping bag is like a Swiss army knife of sleeping bags.  While not the lightest, if offers some features and comfort that are worth the weight.  If you are a back sleeper, stomach sleeper, legs crossed, roll around, hot/cold you can make this bag work for most situations.  With a forgiving cut, lofty down, heat seals, covered zippers and Velcro closures it’s all comfort.  Just pair this with a good sleeping pad and you are set for a great night in the woods.

Storage Stuff Sack

You have been told, “Don’t store your sleeping bag in it’s stuff sack”.  A really nice storage stuff sack included with the L.L. Bean sleeping bag.

The Little Details

There are little details hidden all over this sleeping bag from loops to hang the bag from.  Also sealed zippers to keep the air out, Velcro closure, that has additional Velcro to close the flap if you don’t want to use it and keep it from sticking to your clothes or pillow all night. Then there is the heat skirt to keep the air in when needed on those cold nights.

Pack Size

While this is a larger sleeping bag it’s still a great bag for comfortable backpacking.  The extra weight is worth it when you hit the ground at night.  The packed size of the bag is 15 inches by about 9 inches.  Still easy to attach to a pack without sacrificing too much room.

Weight

The weight of the bag inside the loose storage sack was 3.29 pounds.  This is a little heaver than the stuff sack just because of the larger sack.

The stuff sack is lighter than the storage sack at only 2.98 pounds.

Final Conclusion

The bag is nicely sized for movement and comfort.  It makes for a great 3 season sleeping bag. There is plenty of room for movement.  The down has a tendency to shift around during the night but not enough to effect the warmth.  The big baffles hold the Downtek in place, full of air and warm.  There is not a full hood on the sleeping bag, but it does have a skirt to lock in the heat. It can be zipped together with another bag for a double sized bag.  You can use the 2 way zippers for venting when things get too warm.  The outer shell does a good job of shedding light water, but if it get’s soaked the Downtek is suppose to keep you warm even when wet, we opted not to test this.  The material is similar to most nylon shell, slippery yet enjoyable for that “camping feeling”.  It’s nice to find a rectangle shaped bag with a lot of the features of a mummy style bag. The bags come in a few different temperature options and styles from around 32 degree to 0 degree.  As with most nylon sleeping bags, this bag suffers from hungry zippers.  Extra caution needs to be taken when opening and closing the zippers to keep the material out of the zipper.

You can view all L.L. Bean Downtek Sleeping bags here