REASONS TO BUY
Comfortable and warm
REASONS TO AVOID
Not light
Hood draw cords hard to use
Large for a women's sleeping bag
Marmot Angel Fire Review
This bag earns high marks for comfort and is a decent backpacking choice, but has added 4 ounces it the most recent iteration
Credit: Marmot
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Our Verdict
We've met many women on the trail with the Marmot Angel Fire. It is a very comfortable and warm down sleeping bag. It has an additional zipper on the side that opens up the whole top of the bag to imitate a comforter, and it is long enough to fit a 5-foot, 11-inch tester in it. This bag performs near the lower end of the pack, but we think it is a decent bag at a nice price point. It will keep you warm in most Spring, Summer, and Fall temps, but isn't particularly light or compact. We wouldn't recommend it for extended backcountry missions where weight should be an important consideration.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Marmot Angel Fire performs well throughout all metrics and is a decent choice for shorter backpacking trips.
Performance Comparison
The Marmot Angel Fire is a comfortable bag that you can use more like a comforter up top.
Credit: Jessica Haist
Warmth
The Angel Fire's EN comfort rating is at 27 degrees Fahrenheit, which seems right on the money based on what our testers experienced. The Angel Fire kept us warm on cool and frosty nights. It has a 650 fill power down insulation, providing an average level of warmth. We love its cozy draft collar with a drawcord, adding more warmth. This bag feels lofty and warm in most summer and shoulder season conditions. As with most of the other bags we tested, the Angel Fire has water-resistant-treated down insulation to help the bag keep its loft when damp. Its shell materials are not DWR coated.
Weight
This Marmot bag weighs in at 43.6 ounces, which is heavier than we would like our sleeping bags to be for any long trips. It has gained some weight from its previous version, as Marmot has added another small zipper to the foot box and possibly heavier shell materials, adding some weight. Overall, it's not the lightest option out there but still functions well for short backpacking trips.
Comfort
We think the Angel Fire is very comfortable. It seems like Marmot has increased this bag's size and we found it very roomy. Our tester's 5-foot, 11-inch husband tried it out and fit in it just fine (although a little snug in the shoulders). So, if you're tall and narrow-shouldered, this bag is a fine option.
The two zippers on the Marmot Angel Fire allow you to completely free your arms if you feel like hanging out in your bag.
Credit: Jessica Haist
The roominess increased this bag's comfort. However, it does mean more cold air to heat up and therefore potentially less warm. We like the cozy hood. This year the foot box has changed and has an extra zipper to open it for more space. We don't really think this feature adds significant comfort because the area around your legs stays constricted. It also had plenty of room in the shoulders to move around and add extra layers if necessary. We find the Angel Fire's extra zipper unnecessary as it detracts from the comfort most of the time. It is nice if you want to take your arms out of the bag and hang out in your sleeping bag, but we didn't find ourselves doing that much. We also didn't like that the second zipper would poke us in the face when mostly done up.
The Angel Fire's foot box has a zippered extension to make it roomier. We're not convinced it adds significantly to the comfort of the product.
Credit: Jessica Haist
Packed Size
The Angel Fire's packed size is slightly larger than the average down sleeping bag. This is because of all the extra zippers and its lower quality down. The bag barely fits into the provided stuff sack.
The Angel Fire's packed size is slightly larger than the average down product, and barely fits in its included stuff sack.
Credit: Jessica Haist
Features
We like most of the Angel Fire's features. We were skeptical about this bag's giant “zipper garage” and thought it was a gimmick to please people who have complained about the zipper catching in the past. After some use though, we have decided that it works and is probably worth the extra grams it weighs. Many other bags now feature this type of zipper pull, including some of our top award winners.
We like the small interior stash pocket.
Credit: Jessica Haist
We also love the interior pocket that keeps stashed items warm and easy to access while bundled up. We wish the hood's drawcords were different materials so it would be easy to tell them apart in the dark. The addition of the second side zipper and the foot box zipper add weight and are features our testers find they didn't use very much on backpacking trips. If you're planning on spending a lot of time lounging in your sleeping back you may like them.
Value
Marmot keeps the Angel Fire's price at a good value by adjusting the price lower to compete with other similar products, and we appreciate that. The price is right for the performance of this sleeping bag.
Conclusion
The Marmot Angel Fire is a classic option that offers great comfort and warmth at a decent weight. We'd carry this with us for short backpack trips and car camping.
—Jessica Haist
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