New Sleeping Bags from Nemo Perform for 2015

      Nemo Equipment, whose outdoor gear has won prestigious "Best Inventions" awards from Time and Popular Science Magazines, continues to impress with their new line of innovative sleeping bags.

From water-repelling down to Primaloft, arctic-expeditions to minimalist backpacking, Nemo will definitely change the way you think about sleeping bags. Here's the lowdown on how they perform.

Mezzo Loft 30 and Strato Loft 25

Mezzo Loft

Strato Loft

                       The closest relatives to "your father's" old sleeping bag are the Nemo Mezzo Loft and Strato Loft. Both the Downtek-filled Strato Loft and the synthetic-filled Mezzo Loft feature waterproofing technology, enabling users to stay warm in wet conditions. Furthermore, these bags are closer to bedding than they are sleeping bags. When you slide a pad in the sleeve underneath, put a pillow in the special compartment, and cuddle up with the "blanket fold," you'll think you're sleeping in a luxury bed-set.

Tango Duo 30 2P, Mambo Duo 20 2P

Tango Duo 30 2P

Reverse side of Mambo Duo 2P

I recently blogged about the Nemo Tango Solo 30, 2015's Outside Magazine Gear of the Year selection, but Nemo has more in the way of ultralight sleep systems -- for couples too. The Tango Duo 30 2P and Mambo Duo 20 2P are the best way for couples to cozy up in the backcountry. With a slipcover holding your two pads together, this lofty double-wide sleeping bag system mimics a made bed. Hydrophobic fills in these comforter-styled bags ensure warm nights in unfavorable weather, and the backless design saves on unnecessary weight.

Nemo's CEO and Lead Product Developer, Cam Brensinger, stopped designing spacesuits for NASA's exploration of Mars to design sleeping bags for people like us who love the outdoors. Thanks Cam B-)

"Should I Buy a Sleeping Pad with Horizontal or Vertical Baffles?"

That's a great question, and to answer it accurately, we have to ask you one more question. Will you be sleeping in a tent or hammock?  If you predominantly sleep in a tent, according to the research and testing I recently completed, I don't think you can make a wrong decision here. If you answered "hammock," skip the next two paragraphs (What is this, a choose your own adventure blog?).

It's true that in the past vertical-baffled sleeping pads were known to "taco," leaving the wannabe sleeper wedged or worse, too close to the edge and rolling off the pad. Big Agnes has taken that feedback to make improvements upon their popular Air Core and Insulated Air Core sleeping pads. I literally just got off of one, and the new design features a berm around the pad's perimeter which effectively cradles sleepers and largely reduces any issues with tex-mex cuisine. It also felt as if the vertical baffles gave alignment to my body as I laid on my back.  Plus, vertical baffles allow the pad to slide into Big Agnes sleeping bag sleeves better than pads with horizontal baffles.  .

Sleeping on ground with a horizontal-baffled pad is also a go. A few moments ago, I was atop Nemo's new Astro Air (nearly identical to the Astro Air Lite and Astro Air Insulated), and I enjoyed the level of comfort achieved from the contouring feeling which horizontal baffles give. The big benefit of this type of construction is its side-to-side stability.  The top baffle is also enlarged, to provide sleepers with a instant pillow.

If you mostly like to sleep in a hammock, that settles it; you want a sleeping pad with horizontal baffles. It alleviates any feeling of constriction by spreading out the material horizontally, rather than being wrapped up like an eggroll. Hammocks alone are rather comfortable, but when a sleeping pad featuring horizontal baffles is brought into the equation, the comfort level skyrockets (IMHO). It morphs regular hammocks from a floating coffin-esque sleep station to a hovering cocoon of cushion.

All in all, technology and gear companies are advancing at a rate which gives benefits to backpackers and campers they could've never dreamed of decades ago. You really can't go wrong nowadays.

But you can still come by and test them out for yourself :)

On the Matter of Warranties - and GREAT outdoor brands!

While at the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival this weekend, we spent a good deal of time practicing our tent set-up skills at the Nemo Tent booth Nicole from the home office surprised us with something new we didn’t already know about their tents…they all come with a lifetime warranty!

It’s a testament to the quality of the brands we carry that many of them come with lifetime guarantees. You may have seen on our last post that on several occasions MSR (and Thermarest - both owned by Cascade Designs) have shocked us by covering product issues (like broken tent poles) by replacing items at no cost to the customer…even when the damage clearly wasn’t a defect, but was the result of customer action and normal wear.

In backpacks both Gregory and Osprey cover their packs with lifetime warranties, and even our Darn Tough wool socks come with a lifetime guarantee... Imagine that!

Boot and watch manufacturers tend to treat warranties differently. Since both products can be subjected to extensive daily use--and wear and tear—their warranties are more limited. All of our boot manufacturers limit their guarantees against defects in workmanship or materials to 1 year, yet we’ve seen extensions made in some cases. Believe us we’ve recently seen some cases where boots have been subjected to so much abuse in as little as two weeks that the line between a product failure and user issue has been pretty close. Never-the-less our three boot brands Lowa, Zamberlan, and Vasque have been Fantastic to work with, have quickly dealt with the issues, and have been generous in honoring warranty requests. St. Moritz watches come with a 2/4/6 year warranty. More than a great service record, though, we have heard from many many customers - and seen the reviews on the web - of the amazing quality of these boots and watches. Perhaps even more telling in this case is the number of warranty issues we have NOT been called about.

At CCOutdoorStore our goal is to make sure you get a quality product, but in rare case when something isn't perfect, we work hard to be your advocate and give you the service you deserve. Just give us a call at 1-802-244-4000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-802-244-4000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-802-244-4000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email us at info@ccoutdoorstore.com and we’ll get the process moving so as to minimize your down time.