Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15 Review

This well-designed, high-quality, and lightweight sleeping bag is just what many ladies have been waiting for from Mountain Hardwear. The 850 down fill is combined with thoughtfully placed baffles and a large hood that easily cinches into place and releases, creating a warm and cozy environment for a good night's sleep. The 15D ripstop nylon and beefy zipper will keep this bag functioning for many high mountain adventures to come. If you're after a lightweight and easily packable down sleeping bag, the Phantom is exactly what you are looking for.

Warmth

Although the Phantom's EN Low-Temp rating is 15°F, our testers believe a few key features help enhance its overall warmth and function in high alpine environments. In fact, this bag scored among the warmest in our lineup. Its mummy design has a relatively svelte shape that eliminates extra space around your body for “dead” cold air to linger. “Due to its snug fit around the hips — measuring 4 inches less than most other bags in this zone — I found the Phantom 15 kept me much warmer than other bags in the lineup during cold alpine nights,” says one tester. While its shape will not be ideal for everybody, especially if you prefer wider dimensions at the hip for a comfortable fit. But if a narrow cut works, you will benefit from the warmth produced by this slim design on chilly nights throughout the year.

In addition to its fitted cut, the Phantom features a four-chamber hood, baffled neck collar, as well as an insulation “tube” (another baffle) that covers the length of the zipper to prevent cold drafts. Designers also included a 15D nylon ripstop interior fabric in black to intentionally take advantage of the sun throughout the day to dry the bag more quickly in humid climates and thereby provide even more warmth. The hood on the bag is also deeper than others in the lineup, providing ample space to place a pillow without giving up the option to easily cinch the hood tightly around the face when the temperatures plummet. Overall, the Phantom is designed to maximize warmth without adding a ton of extra weight by avoiding unnecessary features.

Weight

This bag is one of the top contenders in weight, sliding in right at 2.05 lbs. Its lightweight shell materials, high-quality down, tapered mummy shape, and essential design features work well to ensure this bag is easy to carry and doesn't become a burden when on your back. While features like the beefy zipper and glow-in-the-dark zipper pull tab do add minor amounts of weight to the design, the smart and sturdy design ensures confidence in the bag's durability and ease of use when the sun goes down.

Although we are happy that Mountain Hardwear included a compression sack with the bag to deliver space savings when you pack up, we found it a bit heavy, weighing in 3.2 ounces. This additional weight is marginal, overall. But there are much lighter compression sacks available for those who are truly counting every ounce.

Comfort

The Phantom features a performance mummy cut with a tighter fit surrounding the hips and shoulders. This may take some getting used to, especially if you like to reposition throughout the night. While our lead tester prefers the tighter fit to eliminate cold air and drafts within the bag, some may find it claustrophobic or prefer wider dimensions in strategically placed areas — this comes down to body shape, personal preferences, and sleep style. In contrast, the footbox is more of a square design that features ample room to move your feet, with space to spare if you want to stuff a few extra layers in there as well. The high loft and plush interior built of 15D ripstop nylon also increases the comfort of this bag, along with a deep-fitting, four-chamber hood that allows plenty of room to settle your backpacking pillow and still easily cinch down on colder nights.

Our testing team loved the snug fit around the hips to increase overall warmth around the core, an area of women's bodies that is often more suseptible to cold drafts. But, while we love the deep hood, we found cinching it all the way down left us feeling a little claustrophobic. To remedy that, our testers went with a looser fit that still provided reasonable warmth and comfort without overly restricting movement. Thoughtfully-placed baffles, including along the zipper line, ensure maximum comfort. Between each of these smart design choices, the high loft down fill, and the soft and cozy fabric of the shell, we think there's a lot to love in the Phantom 15.

Packed Size

The Phantom is built of 800 fill down and lightweight shell materials that together crate a very compressible package, easily squished into the included storage bag or compression sack. This is an important feature for those seeking to maximize the space inside a backpack or haul bag, freeing up more space to pack food and other essentials.

While there are four other bags in the review that feature a lighter weight, it's difficult to get a bag to compress into a smaller size than the Phantom. For this reason, it's easy for us to recommend it to those seeking to lighten their load and carve out more space inside their pack for other essentials. This makes it an excellent choice for three-season backpacking, big wall climbs, or any night camping under the stars.

Features

As with many of the high-end sleeping bags we've tested, the main feature of the Phantom is its high-quality materials and thoughtful construction. We love its lofty 800 fill down material protected by a 10-denier shell and 15-denier ripstop nylon interior for additional comfort and durability. The black interior is smartly designed to trap body heat and dry quickly, but it's worth noting the DWR does a decent job of protecting the down interior against moisture (unless, perhaps, you find yourself without shelter during a significant rain event).

We were really impressed with its beefy, two-way, anti-snag zipper complete with a glow-in-the-dark zipper pull. That sturdy combo builds confidence in the overall durability of the zipper and expectations that it is ready to deliver through the life of the bag. “While some lightweight sleeping bags intentinoally include an ultralight zipper, I'm in favor of adding an extra ounce or two to be sure your zipper will last,” says lead tester Trish Matheny. No one wants to deal with the headache of a broken or faulty zipper. Small features like a baffled neck collar and four-chamber hood also make a huge difference when retaining warmth inside the bag. Overall, we like the minimalist design of the Phantom to limit weight and increase packability, but we also appreciate the smart integration of design features that work — making this an easy-to-grab sleeping bag for climbing, backpacking, or camping.

Should You Buy the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15?

There is no doubt, the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15 is an upfront investment that won't be right for everyone. That said, it is a high-quality sleeping bag built for long-lasting use and three-season conditions. At a weight of only 2.05 lbs, the warmth-to-weight ratio of the Phantom 15 is tough to beat, thanks to its slim-fitting mummy shape along and 800 down fill. The minimalist design also compresses more easily than most to maximize available space within your backpack. If you're interested in a top-performing sleeping bag that's built to last and will keep you toasty warm, we highly recommend the Phantom 15.

What Other Sleeping Bags Should You Consider?

Our testers love the latest iteration of the Phantom 15, now in a “short” unisex size within a slim mummy-style fit. If you're curious about other options of similar quality and price range, but you don't want such a slim fit, we also love the Feathered Friends Egret UL 20. This super lightweight women's-specific bag features 950+ goose down with a luxurious all-around feel, but it supplies over four more inches in the hip area for those who prefer a little extra space inside. The Western Mountaineering AlpinLite is another top-scoring goose down option that balances an excellent fit and high loft for well less than two pounds in your pack. IfWe the Sierra Designs Get Down 20 is the down bag we'd direct you to for a comfy night at camp if you're trying to stick to a tight budget.