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Slumberjack Esplanade 20 Review

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Slumberjack Esplanade 20 Review (Slumberjack Esplanade 20 sleeping bag)
Slumberjack Esplanade 20 sleeping bag
Credit: Slumberjack
Price:  $80 List
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Manufacturer:   Slumberjack
By Chris McNamara and Max Neale  ⋅  Nov 1, 2012

Our Verdict

The Slumberjack Esplanade 20 combines the comfort of a rectangular sleeping bag with the heat-trapping function of a hood. This bag offers budget campers both a solid value and slightly more warmth than many similarly priced bags.
REASONS TO BUY
Only rectangular bag with a hood
Slightly warmer than hoodless bags
REASONS TO AVOID
Lowest quality zipper is weaker and snags more frequently than other tested
Hood is uncomfortable when fully cinched and creates a poor seal around your face and neck

Our Analysis and Test Results

Likes


The Esplanade offers the comfort of a spacious rectangular bag and adds the warmth of a hood. This is the bag's best attribute; the hood adds five or more degrees of warmth to a hoodless bag.

Dislikes


Unfortunately, the benefit of a hood is partially offset by a series of drawbacks due to the bag's low quality and poorly designed features. The zipper is the lowest quality of any budget bag tested. It catches easily — one tester said that it caught every time he used the bag — and feels prone to breaking (in comparison to the 70 other sleeping bags we've tested). Although the hood adds warmth, it's not comfortable when cinched and creates a poor seal around the face and neck area; hot air escapes through convective heat loss, especially when you move around. Our testers found the bag to be warm to the low forties; a 20 degree rating is highly optimistic.

Value


The Esplanade's low price is appealing. The bag lies somewhere between the Wenzel Conquest and Wenzel Grande in terms of value. In general, we believe those offer a better bang for the buck but the difference is slight.

Chris McNamara and Max Neale