The NEMO Kayu 15 is a down-insulated mummy sleeping bag designed for three-season backpacking and tenting. Weighing 2 lbs 3 oz, the Kayu will not be the lightest weight sleeping bag in its class, but it surely has a number of options that differentiate it from comparable sleeping luggage with the identical temperature score. Chief amongst these are particular thermo-regulation gills on the chest that allow you to vent it in hotter climate with out having to crack open the aspect zipper and let in chilling drafts. It additionally has waterproof/breathable cloth on the hood and footbox to stop tent condensation from degrading the bag’s insulation, since these are the elements of the sleeping bag most definitely to be affected.
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Specs at a Look
- Gender: Males’s
- Examined Decrease Restrict: 17F / -8C
- Examined Consolation Restrict: 27F /-3C
- Insulation: 800 fill energy
- Water-Resistant Down: Sure
- Weight: 2 lbs 3 oz / 992g (Precise weight is 2 lbs 4 oz)
- Down Fill Weight: 17 oz / 480 g
- Size: 72 inches examined (78″ additionally obtainable)
- Girth: Shoulder (63″), Hip (55″), Footbox (46″)
- Compressed Quantity: 5.9L
- Compression Sack Weight: 3.3 oz (included)
- Storage Bag: Included
- Material: 20D nylon ripstop with DWR on the shell, 30D nylon taffeta lining, and a 40D nylon ripstop waterproof/breathable footbox.
Sleeping Bag Options
Not like NEMO’s spoon-shaped luggage that are designed for aspect sleepers, the Kayu is primarily designed for again sleepers who don’t roll onto their sides or curl up after they sleep. To that finish, the bag is reduce considerably slim within the chest, though roomier within the hips and foot field, to scale back the quantity of physique warmth required to warmth it up and preserve it heat whilst you sleep.
Function-wise, Kayu 15 (additionally obtainable in a 30-degree mannequin) has the entire normal options you’d anticipate on a premium sleeping bag, together with:
- a beefy draft collar that covers the higher chest and again to stop warmth from popping out the highest once you transfer round contained in the bag
- a 3/4 size, bi-directional zipper to avoid wasting weight, however enable versatile venting of the legs unbiased of the chest
- a two-way aspect zipper with a draft tube and taped zipper stiffeners. The draft tube prevents chilly air from leaking in between the zipper enamel whereas the stiffeners scale back the prospect of a zipper snag and ripping the inside cloth.
- a jacket-style insulated hood, which turns with you in the event you roll over in your aspect at night time
- an exterior zippered stash pocket to carry a headlamp at night time
Thermo-Gills
However the factor that basically units the Kayi aside of the therm-gills on its chest, that are zippered down baffles, that when opened launch warmth trapped contained in the bag to chill you off. They’re the equal of pit-zips on a rain jacket though the again of the thermo-gill will not be open however coated with a skinny piece of nylon. Nonetheless, when the thermo-gills are unzipped, a few of your core heat is launched by means of them. After they’re zippered closed, the insulated sides of the thermo-gill fill within the area below the zipper, trapping your core heat as soon as once more.
However the actual worth of those Thermo-gills is that they enhance the efficient temperature vary that the Kayu 15 can be utilized in by about 25-30 levels, so you should utilize the identical sleeping bag from 15F as much as 40F, with out having to purchase a second hotter climate sleeping bag. That’s a giant deal when sleeping luggage price a few hundred {dollars}.
Waterproof hood and footbox
The Kayu 15 has waterproof cloth on the foot field and the again of the hood to stop tent condensation from compromising the insulation. This can be a neat function that makes a number of sense on multi-day journeys within the spring and late autumn when tent condensation is most definitely to happen and can have the best affect on bag efficiency.
Comparable Down Sleeping Luggage
Suggestion
The NEMO Kayu 15 is a down-insulated sleeping bag that has a a lot wider temperature vary than its identify would counsel. Whereas it’s designed to maintain you heat in 15-degree climate, it has a temperature regulation function referred to as Therm-Gills that allow you to vent heat as much as about 40 levels. That gives a level of flexibility that’s uncommon in a mummy sleeping bag.
Regardless of that, I’m on the fence about this bag. The Thermo-Gills are a pleasant function to have and so they labored for me, they’re simply not as compelling a function on the Kayu 15 as on a chilly climate bag just like the NEMO Sonic -20 and even the Sonic 0 the place cracking open the aspect zipper isn’t a really comfy various. That mentioned that Kayu 15 is a wonderfully first rate 15-degree mummy sleeping bag and a viable possibility if you wish to spend lower than a dearer and lighter-weight sleeping bag for a similar temperature vary.
Disclosure: NEMO donated a sleeping bag for assessment.
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Final up to date: 2023-05-11 20:13:16
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