a new tesimonial an and other thought

ANOTHER WONDERFUL REPORT

Slept in an SUV at -20°F

This past January I took a road trip with my brother in law from Seattle to Anchorage. We slept in the back of his SUV at night on a camping pad. I took an Antarctic bag with overbag just to be safe. Up in the Yukon Territory the temperature in the morning was -20°F according to the cars on board temperature reading. I was toasty warm. My brother in law had two super lights doubled up and he said he was warm too. The ends of the bags were touching the inside of the lift gate and there were two perfect circles of frost on the plastic where the bags were touching. This validates the claim that these bags draw moisture out. The trip was epic and I was super happy to have a Wiggy bag to keep me sleeping like a baby!

– Jeff

Thank you Jeff

-For years I have sold people who drive extensively sleeping bags that they keep in their vehicle for potential survival situations. Every once in a while they will spend the money ($175.00) to have the bag(s) vacuum packed. Personally I think just keeping the bag in its compression stuff sack will get it small enough and then it can be used even in none survival situations. Breaking the blister packing means the bag cannot be put back in it.

-This morning while working out I had my TV tuned to the History channel and they show a trailer for the Alone program. They showed a woman lying on her Wiggy bag near the water’s edge. The report I received about two weeks ago of a guy using one must have been her partner, or more than one pair is using them, I hope so for their sake.

-Not long ago I wrote about the supposed new fiberball polyester fiber insulation being made by the Freudenberg Company (a German company that produces non-woven materials).

The fiberballs were originally a product of the DuPont Company of the 1970’s I believe. The product was of no value so they never did anything with it. About 3 or 4 years ago Primaloft resurrected it and The North Face Company offered jackets with it. At the time I wrote about these jackets being good for bone fishing off of Key West Florida in July. I am not sure but I think they dropped the Thermoballs product that the received from Primaloft and I do not know if they even offer it any longer.

Of course Freudenberg really hasn’t any knowledge of insulations and is jumping into the market place with a product they call fiberball comfortemp thermal insulation. They refer to it and I quote; “The real alternative to down”’, as if there weren’t real alternatives in existence which there are and have been since 1960. They will be promoting this product at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in July. I guess they believe there is a big market for bone fishing jackets.

Polyester fiberfill has since 1960 been an alternative to down and as far as I am concerned continuous filament polyester fiberfill (Lamilite/Climashield) is and has proven to be not only the real alternative to down, but it is the real alternative to any insulating material that has ever been marketed for sleeping bags or any form of outerwear; regardless if it is jackets, snowsuits, mittens, footwear or headwear.

The next time you are looking for a warm summer jacket there are several insulations that companies are using that fill the bill. Primaloft, fiberball comfortemp, powerfill from Polartec, and probably dozen more bogus polyester fiberfill insulations. They all have some aspects that are identical; all are chopped staple fiberfill products, all must be quilted so they are stabilized for cutting, sewing and laundering and of course every last one will flatten more than they are to begin with. And finally they all will trap water in their structure. In the warm situation that you are wearing these garments trapping the moisture would be a good thing since it will cool you.

These same garments worn in cold weather will function the same way, once wet they will further cool your body.

This fall when winter (?) garments start showing up in the retail stores throughout the country just examine the thickness of the insulation and if it is less than 3/8^th of an inch it will be good for Key West.