kind words

THREE RESPONSES TO TUESDAY’S ARTICLE

Bravo to you and your company for sticking to your values!!!

(That’s all too rare in today’s society!!!)

Dennis

It is easy to stick to one’s values when you know what they are; in word “honesty”!

Jerry, I was on the therma-rest website and looked at their cots mainly. But also surfed the sleeping bag section. Proudly stated "Made in China" with hydro-phobic down fill. Good luck with that in an extreme situation.
All being at least twice as expensive as your current specials.
It is a sad state of affairs in that outdoor industry...

Regards
Roland

Therma-rest or Cascade Designs have not one person in their employ that has ANY KNOWLEDGE of insulation. Hydro-phobic down does not work any better than non-hydro-phobic down which doesn’t work anyway. As for the “proudly” made in china is an insult to the American workers. They should be boycotted!!!

Hi Jerry,

At the end of the email you said "Wiggy's products may not be less money". I hate to correct you, but unless you're comparing Wiggy's bags to the bottom end of the price scale you're wrong. At the full price of $225 the Wiggy's Nautilus FTRSS is on the low to low middle price range. I checked REI, who are decently priced as far as "reputable" retailers go and they have a fairly large selection. For 30 to 39 degree range the bags range from $79.99 to $499.95. The only choice a person has with the bags at REI is how tight you want the mummy style bag. The midpoint of this price range is $289 give or takes a few dollars.

When looking at the 0 to -50 ranges at REI the bags range from $119.95 to $925.00. At that $925.00 bag is only "rated" to -22. Compare this to the Hunter Antarctic at $365 with a lower rating, and again Wiggy's is in the low to low middle. And again the only option available is how tight you want your mummy style bag from REI. For this (huge) temperature range the midpoint of price is $522 give or takes a few dollars.

Using the mid-price point for the two temperature ratings from REI a person would be forking out $811. Buying the FTRSS Nautilus overbag and the FTRSS Hunter Antarctic bags from Wiggy's would be $590 at regular prices. My math says that buying from Wiggy's is cheaper.

Go to any "reputable" outdoor store and talk with their sales people and you'll likely end up buying something in the mid-range for price. For their top dollar cost of $1424.95 I can get two, maybe three, more Wiggy's bags to have one for every temperature range. At the very least I could get two sets of Wiggy's bags.

Sure there are cheaper bags out there, but we can discount them right off the mark. Nobody who is semiserious is going to buy their sleeping bag from Walmart or Target. If they're serious they'll go to an REI or similar. I also didn't compare apples to apples; I compared used Wiggy's most expensive bags. If I was comparing apples to apples I would have compared the Wiggy's mummy bags which are actually cheaper than the rectangular bags.

I remember at least one comment from a customer talking about getting an extra-long bag made, you can't get that from other manufacturers.

Wiggy's sleeping bags- Extreme sleeping bags for extreme conditions. Extremely well made. Extreme warranty. Average price.

Jack W.

As you have just read Jack went to great lengths to offer support for me valuing my bags. What he did I would never have given thought to doing.

A few comments. Since he “reputable” and rei in the same sentence when the subject is sleeping bags I disagree. Since rei does not have any person in their employ that has any knowledge of insulation just like Cascade Designs they are therefore incapable of knowing how or what to use to make sleeping bags.

Jack states he didn’t compare “apples to apples” which I agree with. There are no sleeping bags made in any location in the world that are comparable to the Wiggy’s sleeping bags. If you read my description of my sleeping bags in the June 25, 2019 article and can present to me a comparable sleeping bag I would like to see it.

All of the different “no sleep sleeping bags” Jack has noted do not perform at the temperatures rei has noted on their web site which means they do not perform when sold in any store so all the other stores that offer these same bags are no more reputable as retailers of sleeping bags than rei. The really dangerous one is the one noted for -50 F I guess. That statement from rei is as much a lie as bobby gores saying gortex is water proof and breathable. Maybe bobby should be the poster boy for the big lie of the outdoor industry.

So based on Jack’s assessment of the selling prices for Wiggy’s sleeping bags I am at the low end of the spectrum. I did not realize how good a deal I was offering. Now that I know how good a deal I am offering I realize how bad a deal is available from the rest of the retailers out there. I can only reemphasize that anyone looking for a sleeping bag find out if any other brand offers the life time guarantee to begin with as well as all of the other attributes that come with my bags.

All of the attributes that come with my bags should be studied and learned by those in the military who are charged with looking for sleeping bags. Keep in mind that all of the other “no sleep sleeping bags” that have and are being purchased have one thing in common; they all use chopped staple fiberfill as a form of insulation which is NOT, that’s right it is NOT Berry Amendment compliant versus what I use is Lamilite/Climashield made in America. I am also quite sure the nylons that are used for those “no sleep sleeping bags” also comes from Asia, imagine that. Yes folks our tax dollars purchase trash bags for those who chose to defend our freedoms and issue them “no sleep sleeping bags” that are potentially as I see it life threatening.