When camping in temperatures below 20 degrees F, you generally don’t want to take too many  chances with your gear.  Cold nights without the right gear can turn cold into freezing and well rested into restless sleeping.  This season, Sierra Designs has come out with a 6 degree F sleeping bag called the Sierra Designs Zissou 6.  The SD Zissou 6 uses SD 700 fill DriDown and is sure to keep you warm on those cold nights.

So what is DriDown?

By now, many of you might know about Sierra Designs DriDown or its counterparts/competitors.  Sierra Designs DriDown uses a hydrophobic finish on the down feathers that keeps them from wetting out, or loosing their loft.  As down compresses and looses its loft, the effective warmth and temperature ratings decrease.  According to the SD website, a sleeping bag in an environment with 80 degrees humidity will lose 30% of its loft which would turn a 15 degree sleeping bag into a 30 degree sleeping bag.  While this isn’t as big of a deal in the dry climate in most of the western U.S. states, it can come in handy for many of you east coasters and northwesterners.  This doesn’t mean that if you live in the west DriDown won’t be helpful, but you should get my drift.  To learn more about SD DriDown, check out https://sierradesigns.com/dridown

Sierra Designs Zissou 6 Performance

Over the course of a few months, I’ve had the opportunity to test out the Sierra Designs Zissou 6 sleeping bag in a number of different camping environments.  Living in Colorado, spring and summer can bring 20-25 degree nights as well as 80 degree nights.  I like many others prefer temps to be a little cooler because sweating and sleeping doesn’t mix well.

I’ve taken the Sierra Designs Zissou 6 on approximately 6 camping trips including a spring camping trip to the Grand Canyon, a trip to Moab, UT, and a number of local camping trips in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.  Temperatures dropped down between 20-30 degrees on some of the spring camping trips and I am happy to report back that the sleeping bag kept me plenty warm and comfortable.  While this sleeping bag is generally meant for men due to its shape, my wife who sleeps very cold and usually likes a 0 degree bag has started to steel this sleeping bag from me on our trips because it keeps her warm and is super comfy with the 700 fill loft.

Important specifications

The Sierra Designs Zissou 6 sleeping bag rates down to 6 degrees Fahrenheit.  In short, it holds true in real world testing and it’s also EN rated which is the trusted global rating system.  I tested out a size regular sleeping bag and found it to truly fit a person who is 6’0 tall.  In the past I’ve tested bags that claimed they work for someone who’s 6’0 tall and they sometimes stretch the truth.  In the case of the Sierra Designs Zissou 6 sleeping bag, it does indeed fit someone 6 feet tall with an inch or so of room to wiggle your feet and move around.

Sleeping comfort

As far as total comfort, I found the Siera Designs Zissou 6 to have enough room to role over in without flipping the sleeping bag over.  I am pretty restless sleeper and being able to flip from my stomach to my back is something that I do 10 plus times over the course of the night.  The Zissou 6 had enough room for me to flip with ease.  For those who end up with the top of the sleeping bag on the bottom no matter what the sleeping bag, the sleeping bag comes with pad lock loops that will prevent your sleeping bag from moving around too much.  For those with big feet or just like to be able to wiggle their feet while sleeping, the Zissou 6 has a total of 40 cubic inches in the footbox of the sleeping bag.  With size 12 feet, I found this section to be plenty big and bet someone with size 14 feet would be just as happy.

The total trail weight of the Zissou 6 in a size regular is 3 lbs, 1 oz. which is pretty light for a 6 degree sleeping bag.

Features worth noting

While this isn’t new to the world of sleeping bags, it’s a feature you’ll typically see on higher end sleeping bags and with companies that pay attention to the small details such as Sierra Designs.  What is this you might ask? It’s a snag free zipper track that keeps the zipper from getting caught on the outer layer nylon shell of the sleeping bag.  The last thing you want on a camping trip is your sleeping bag to get snagged and start to lose down because you go a tear in the outer material.

To keep warm in extreme cold temperatures, there is a draft tube along side the main zipper to keep cool air from entering your sleeping bag.  There is also an option to cinch the head of the sleeping bag to prevent your head and face from getting too cold.

Final Thoughts

Continuing with my high level of expectations for Sierra Designs sleeping bags, the Zissou 6 does not disappoint.   At a price point of $319 for a 6 F degree sleeping bag, the Sierra Designs Zissou 6 is a great value and is sure to keep you warm and comfortable in the appropriate conditions.  For more information, please visit SierraDesigns.com