Sleeping Bag Sale!

OK... We weren't in a big hurry to buy sleeping bags, then we looked at what we had for car camping this week and one sleeping bag is so old that not much loft is left in the fill.  Who is going to get stuck with that one?  Well, that would be me, because they are both Kathleen's bags.  The older bag is probably 17 years old.  It will be great insulation for our cooler!  Then out of the blue... REI has 40% off the sleeping bag we were looking at starting Friday morning! I'm used to the $25-$30 price range for the camping version -  last one purchased 12 years ago. Its a totally different vibe for the backpacking version! The Editor's Choice on Outdoor Gear Lab is a whopping $540! The low end is $160. Most of those are down. We decided that we really don't want to sleep with down since we both have a bit of an allergic reaction to the feathers, so we settled on a synthetic fill version.  We had our eye on the REI Polar Pod - Short which retails for $79.50 - a price/weight/volume compromise we thought we could live with.  It had good reviews and nice ratings. Road Trip to Kansas City! This bag is a modified mummy bag, another reason we think we can live with it. But can we get by with the short? Will we be comfortable in a mummy type bag? I like a little foot wiggle room when I sleep. We arrive at REI and have a hard time finding the bag.  It looks different. We wait our turn for a store assistant to give us a hand. He gets the bag down and grabs the Regular size as well. They look nothing alike! They still have the old version displayed in the store! Its not a modified mummy. It has a small foot box and none of the new features that drew us to this item. He finds us the new model in both sizes. I try out the Regular... lots of room for feet, hips, shoulders... in fact its a bit too big. I try out the Short and it fits just about right. I felt a little bit like Momma and Papa Bear!  Still roomy enough for the feet, hips and shoulders, just 6 inches shorter and $7 cheaper. We have found our bag!

REI Polar Pod Sleeping Bag