marmot sleeping bags

[gotnoname]

Any comments on this?

http://www.backpackreviews.com/marmotsawtoothsleepingbagdegreedown.htm

I was considering the Marmot Helium EQ and was wandering if I would get the same smell with it. BTW, does anyone has experience with the Helium? Could it act as a bivy as well?

 

GNN

[rhyang]

Thanks for pointing this out. I have this bag (used a couple of days this spring), and can confirm that there is some kind of funky smell to it. It's weird, because I've also got a Couloir, and used to own a Hydrogen, and didn't experience that smell. Fortunately, Marmot's customer service is supposed to be very good.

 

AFAIK the seams aren't sealed, so I wouldn't recommend using the bag as a bivy by itself. Plus the shell fabric is not waterproof, despite what some of these stores say - 'highly water-resistant' is probably a better term. I can confirm that it beads off moisture extremely well.

[Rodchester]

"Could it act as a bivy as well?"

 

I wouldn't count on it. The materials used on most of the really lightweight bags are very thin and are not any where near water proof, and even calling them water resistant is a bit of a stretch. The membrain (such as Dryloft which is only highly water resistant) is laminated to the inside of a medium weight nylon. Put the two togtehr and it weighs considerably more than the single lightweight shell used on the Helium, or like bag.

 

So No, I wouldn't say that it can do the job of a Bivy, nor can ANY of the lightweight bags for that matter, at least that I know of.

[gotnoname]

I have this bag (used a couple of days this spring),

 

Rhyang do you mean you have the Sawtooth or the Helium?

[rhyang]

I meant the Helium EQ, sorry. Like I said, none of the other Marmot bags I own/have owned have had that smell. It certainly isn't a very strong smell, either. Makes me wonder if a rodent pissed on it overnight while I was sleeping out or something...