Check out our review of the best backpacking sleeping bags to see how all of the models compare.
The Nocturne and Nemo's Spoon Series bags aim to provide people with a highly comfortable sleeping bag that's not ludicrously heavy. The spoon shape is unique in that it increases the diameter of the bag in the lower legs to give you more room for sprawling, thrashing, and kicking. The added comfort in the leg area is wonderfully comfortable compared to more efficient bags that are trim in the leg area; it could be useful for people that thrash and sprawl a ton when they sleep. This is among the most comfortable traditional style (hood + zipper) bags we've tested.
As our ratings suggest, however, we do not believe comfort is an important attribute of a backpacking sleeping bag. Existing bags, even those that are trim in the leg area, are plenty comfortable. More importantly, when backpacking it is more comfortable to carry less weight than to carry more weight and have more space to sprawl about inside a sleeping bag.
For car camping, when weight is not a concern, the wider the bag the better. And when compared to rectangular bags, the Nocturne is only moderately comfortable. Rectangular and semi-rectangular bags, like the Feathered Friends Penguin offer much more room and feel more bed-like than the Nocturne. (The Penguin is our highest-rated all-purpose bag for backpacking and car camping when comfort is a high priority.) The Nocturne has an average amount of space in the upper body. People with wide shoulders may not find this bag to be as comfortable as others. Adding more space in the chest area could be beneficial and would be in line with the goal of increasing comfort.
The 15-degree model weighs 35.6 oz. That's nearly as much as some 0-degree down sleeping bags, and some backpacking tents and all ultralight tents weigh less than the Nocturne 15. The bag uses a relatively low-quality 700-fill duck down, which is a far cry from the top-tier 900-fill power goose downs found in the best down sleeping bags. The lower quality down means that the bag weighs more and doesn't compress as well as it could otherwise.
Returning to the comfort topic: We believe that it is more comfortable to backpack with a sleeping bag that weighs 18 ounces than it is to carry a more comfortable Nocturne that weighs twice as much.
The main problem with the design of Spoon Series bags is they sacrifice performance for comfort. Increasing the girth of the bag in the feet adds weight and decreases thermal efficiency by creating drafty dead air spaces around your legs. You heat up one area and move about into a cold area and have to start warming things up all over again. This bag's 15 degree temperature rating is optimistic. We believe that a 25 degree rating would be more accurate; our testers began to get cold in the upper 30's.
The most efficient sleeping bag is one that leaves just enough room for your body and the bag to loft up properly. Increasing the circumference from there negatively affects performance. The bag has a low warmth to weight ratio when compared to the other down backpacking bags we've tested. Therefore, we do not believe it is suitable for weight conscious backpacking.
The upper body is surprisingly small given the bag's emphasis on comfort. More space here would be more comfortable. The hood is comfortable when left open but when the drawcord is cinched down it is less comfortable than the average sleeping bag we've tested. We really like the down flap that can cover your face and tuck in around your neck; this is the best part of the bag- a beneficial innovation for car camping sleeping bag design (full neck baffles perform better for backpacking and ultralight bags). The zipper lacks a snap or velcro closure at the neck and can come undone during the night if you toss and turn, and particularly if you're around or taller than 5' 10". All other sleeping bags either have a closure to reduce stress on the zipper opening or the zipper curves in closer to the neck (Marmot Plasma, Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15, etc.) It's an unfortunate inconvenience to wake up cold with the zipper open. The bag has a TINY zipper pull for its stash pocket that's hard to grab in daylight when you're fully awake; reaching for it in the dark while you are half asleep is very difficult. Finally, the Nocturne's Insotec Flow Baffles are much less versatile than continuous horizontal baffles that allow you to shift down from the bottom of a bag to the top and vice-versa-- increasing performance for both warm and cold conditions. All-in-all the Nocturne's features are subpar from a performance perspective and very expensive from a comfort perspective.
