REASONS TO BUY
Warm
Highly weather resistant
REASONS TO AVOID
Small hood
Tight cut
Feathered Friends Snowbunting Review
We love this bag for any time we need protection against wet snow or snowmelt
Credit: Feathered Friends
RELATED: Best Winter Sleeping Bags
Our Verdict
The Feathered Friends Snowbunting is a classic workhorse, loved by many for its durability and solid warmth to weight ratio. This former Editors' Choice Award winner is thermally efficient and all business. Tough waterproof shell fabric and a narrow cut make the Snowbunting a great bag for alpine missions and ski touring - when going light matters the most. This year, the Western Mountaineering Kodiak MF nabs the Editors' Choice Award because it has a better warmth to weight ratio and scored higher in our comfort and features metrics. If you're looking for a lighter, less expensive bag for variable winter weather conditions in temps above zero, the Snowbunting remains a worthy contender and an excellent choice.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Feathered Friends Snowbunting | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Winter Sleeping Bag |  Best Simple Design with Weather-Resistance | Best for Fast and Light Winter Camping |  Best Bang for Your Buck | |
| Price | $789 List $789.00 at Feathered Friends | $730.00 at Backcountry Compare at 2 sellers | $600 List Check Price at REI | $669.99 at Backcountry Compare at 2 sellers | $243.69 at REI Compare at 2 sellers |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | This bag has a weight saving fitted cut and is great for alpine missions when you'll encounter wet snow | This bag is the cream of the crop when it comes to loft and comfort | This lightweight sleeping bag comfortably cradles you with warm, lofty down | Excellent for moving in the mountains in cold weather, this model is lightweight, packs small, and stays true to its temperature rating | This budget bag offers protection from the elements via a large draft tube and plush draft collar |
| Rating Categories | Feathered Friends S... | Western Mountaineer... | The North Face Infe... | Mountain Hardwear P... | Mountain Hardwear B... |
| Warmth (20%) | |||||
| Weight (20%) | |||||
| Comfort (20%) | |||||
| Packed Size (15%) | |||||
| Weather Resistance (15%) | |||||
| Features (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Feathered Friends S... | Western Mountaineer... | The North Face Infe... | Mountain Hardwear P... | Mountain Hardwear B... |
| Measured Weight (size Regular) | 2.85 lbs | 2.85 lbs | 2.68 lbs | 2.68 lbs | 3.13 lbs |
| Fill Weight | 25.3 oz | 30.0 oz | 29 oz | 29.6 oz | 35.0 oz |
| Type of Down Fill | Goose Down | Goose Down | Down RDS Certified | Goose Down RDS Cert/Fluorine Free | Down |
| Fill Power | 900 | 850 | 800 | 850 | 650 |
| Material Weight (excludes down filling) | 20.3 oz | 15.7 oz | 13.9 oz | 13.3 oz | 15.1 oz |
| Temperature Rating | 0°F | 0°F | 0°F | 0°F | 0°F |
| No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Shoulder Girth | 60" | 66" | 64" | 58" | 62" |
| Hip Girth | 56" | 57" | 60" | 52" | 53" |
| Foot Girth | 38" | 41" | 44" | Not listed | Not listed |
| Shell Material | Pertex Shield EX | MicroLite XP | 15D recycled nylon, 30D nylon taffeta | 10D Nylon Ghost ripstop, DWR finish | 20-Denier ripstop nylon |
| Continuous Baffle | Yes | Yes | Not listed | No | Yes |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
This bag is a mountaineer's bag designed by mountaineers. It's one of the most weather resistant contenders in our review. While it's a few ounces heavier than many of the similarly rated bags, we feel that the Snowbunting's weather resistance and overall durability make up for the extra weight.
Performance Comparison
The Snowbunting resting peacefully in its natural habitat
Credit: Jenni Snead
Warmth
Rated to 0 degrees and scoring at 9 out of 10 in the warmth metric, the Snowbunting is the only bag containing certified 900 fill power down - 25.3oz of it to be exact. Combined with a relatively narrow 60" shoulder cut to eliminate uninsulated airspace, this makes for an extremely warm bag.
Weight
Weighing in at 2 lbs 13.6 oz, the Snowbunting is only a few ounces heavier than a few bags with similar ratings. The Snowbunting is impressively warm and weather-resistant for a bag under 3lbs.
Bags with a black interior fabric tend to dry out faster in the sun. Our testers like the fluffy draft collar, but wish the hood was a little deeper.
Credit: Jenni Snead
Comfort
This bag earns a lower score in this metric. For cold winter bivies, nestled among the rock and snow, when you're waiting for the sun to come out so you can get going, the Snowbunting is plenty comfortable. The hood and draft collar are extremely warm. When cinched tight, the hood hugs your head and ears like a snug down hat, but the hood is too shallow to cover your whole face, and some of our testers felt claustrophobic when they tried to sleep on their sides. The narrow foot box makes it possible to warm up fast in this bag, but leaves little room to cross your legs, move around, or stash your boots.
The Snowbunting packed down as small as we could stuff it.
Credit: Jenni Snead
Packed Size
The Snowbunting measures 7" x 11" in its included bright yellow stuff sack. Using our mighty bag-compacting compression sack.
Getting this bag into it's included stuff sack took some work.
Credit: Jenni Snead
The shell fabric traps air so well that we found ourselves a little overworked from stuffing the bag into its sack. It takes a few minutes for the Snowbunting to achieve its fully lofted grandeur once it's unpacked.
Features
This bag only has the features absolutely necessary for cold weather survival, so you can climb in, get warm fast, and stay warm. No stash pockets, no extra room, and no vents in this stripped-down, light and fast design. As mentioned before, the hood is warm and snug, but a touch shallow if you want to cover up your whole face. The draft collar, delightfully swollen with down, rests comfortably beneath the chin and is secured with a single plastic snap. The draft tube eliminates cold spots from the zipper and has an anti-snag strip. The zipper glides well, almost snag-free.
When it was 35 degrees and raining, this bag still kept our tester warm and dry. He doesn't want to come out.
Credit: Jenni Snead
Weather Resistance
The Snowbunting is a real standout in weather resistance, just as bombproof as the heavier contenders. The Pertex Shield fabric performed flawlessly in our precip tests. Our tester detected zero moisture inside the bag as rain pelted and puddled up on the outside. Water was unable to penetrate the shell when submerged. The inside of the bag is black, and the small amount of water that entered the bag during submersion evaporated quickly when we turned the bag inside out and laid it in the warm sun.
Value
The Feathered Friends Snowbunting is competitively priced with similar bags. Feathered Friends offers a detailed explanation of their excellent warranty policy on their website.
Conclusion
Feathered Friends has been constructing handcrafted, high-quality down bags like the Snowbunting in Seattle, Washington since 1972. They've been gradually improving the materials of the tried-and-true design of the Snowbunting for years. This bag is an efficient alpine insulator, at home in the mountains, like an experienced alpinist.
—
Matt Bento
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