Sierra Designs Arrow Rock 30: Compact N’ Warm

In reviewing any significant piece of gear, we try not to assess any product from just one trip in the field. While evaluating the new 2010 Sierra Designs Arrow Rock 30 down sleeping bag, it was used for five backcountry trips. These trips were mostly backpacking hikes in the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino mountain ranges of California, and the Gila National Forest of southwestern New Mexico.

Elevation for all of these trips ranged between 7,000 feet above sea level to more than 11,000 feet. Fall nighttime temperatures at these altitudes varied from lows of 40° F to less than 30°, where overnight frost would settle on the tents and forest floor.

The Arrow Rock 30 is a cool to moderately cold temperature sleeping back filled with 600-series down insulation. Sierra Designs rates this as a three-season sleeping bag, but it seams well suited for all seasons depending upon your shelter types and geographic region.

When the mercury dropped below 30° in high elevation conditions, there was never a sense of chill or lack of warmth. Most nights, my shelter was either a Hilleberg Kaitum 3 or a Kelty Foxhole 3 four-season tent that would provide a conservative 5° of warmth as I was the only human sole in these three-man tents. Some cool nights, I’d wiggle into the Arrow Rock 30 with my Mountain Khakis flannel-lined pants on simply because it was cold and windy outside — and there was no question I’d be scooting outside before sunrise to break down camp and fire up the MSR Reactor stove for coffee and oatmeal. So for folks who tend to sleep with pants and foundational torso insulation on, this Arrow Rock 30 can keep you warm well below its rating.

On nights where the temperature did not drop into the low-40’s or mid-30’s, the Arrow Rock is a roaster! There were several nights where I’d heat up in the middle of the night and zip the sleeping bag open almost the full length of the Large (for people taller than 6-foot), and just use it as a quilt since the temperature was too cold to lay on top of the bag.

For this reason, and speaking for myself, this is an ideal sleeping bag for so many kinds of high-elevation or cool weather scenarios, since I could merely adjust my sleeping arrangement depending on the overnight temperatures. However, my confidence for staying warm was never shaken regardless of how cold it got under the conditions I used the Arrow Rock 30 for. This is just one of several primary qualities I valued about the Arrow Rock 30; it kept me warm in the fall, at upper elevations.

A chest pocket is built in for your wallet and keys at night. The left-hand side zipper is sturdy and non-binding. Upper torso and hood offer lots of room to toss and turn.

It made no difference to my perspective that 600-series down fill is used in this sleeping bag rather than the commonly regarded superior insulation capabilities of 750-to-850 premium down fills that might have been considered for this sleeping bag. The initial price (MSRP $219.00 U.S.) of the sleeping bag would have been much greater if the higher-order down fills where used. But there’s an even more rational reason for using 600-series down insulation for the Arrow Rock 30…you don’t need any more insulation than the 600 fill provides.

Another instantly recognized quality this down sleeping bag manifested soon as it was pulled out of the stuff sack was the lofting capability. Regardless of how long the sleeping bag was packed away on a trip, within a few minutes of setting up the tent and unfurling the Arrow Rock 30, the down insulation would loft-up to its full “puff.” That right there tells me, the bag is worthy of keeping me warm. The baffle-technology and the overall bag construction are design details that vary from bag to bag, and manufacturer to manufacturer. But if your down insulated sleeping bag can’t loft up within minutes of taking it out of the stuff sack, it’s a bad omen for warmth, and a confidence crusher for quality of the down fill.

As a person who weighs more than 200 pounds and stands more than six-feet tall, the Sierra Designs trademarked technology called “Flex” allowed me to curl-up or stretch out in a myriad of ways without the sleeping bag binding me in. Flex allows the bag outer shell and liner material to move with the sleeper by eliminating constriction and forming to the body when lying still, thereby continuously providing warmth and maximum insulation. With it’s “mummy” style shape, the Arrow Rock 30 never presented the sense of claustrophobic restriction traditional mummy-style sleeping bags are sometimes known for.

Housed in its stuff sack, the SD Arrow Rock 30 fit easily into the sleeping bag section of the Lowe-Alpine TFX Cerro Torre 65:85 backpack along with the new Therm-A-Rest NeoAir sleeping pad.

Just as valuable a consideration when observing the qualities the Arrow Rock 30 offered was the pack size and weight of the sleeping bag. Mercy! Since many modern backpacks include a bottom compartment just for the sleeping bag, the Arrow Rock 30 simply rocks. No kidding here. Backpacks such as the Lowe/Alpine TFX Cerro Torre 65:85 and the more traditional Kelty Trekker external-frame pack accommodated the Arrow Rock 30 (in its stuff sack) with enough additional room for the NeoAir sleeping pad, two pairs of gloves, and a Gerber short-handled camp ax. At 2lbs, 9 ounces, the size and weight of this sleeping bag in its compact form is, perhaps, the coolest single thing about the Arrow Rock 30 if you take the warmth out of the equation.

While living with the SD Arrow Rock 30 on backpacking trips, the sleeping pad that was used is the new Therm-A-Rest NeoAir. This combination of sleeping bag and sleeping pad could not have worked out better. One of the features modern down sleeping bags tend to provide are retaining straps on the underside of the sleeping bag, and the Arrow Rock 30 accommodated the Neo-Air sleeping bag as if the two were designed by the same product planning team. The Arrow Rock 30 retaining straps kept the Neo-Air sleeping pad under the bag throughout the nights, and there was never an issue with having something between my body and the floor of the tent.

In writing third-party product reviews, our experience in the past 25 years has taught us that readers don’t need to necessarily want to know the technical engineering details of a product so much as they want to know if it worked, and whether there are any significant weaknesses they should consider in making a purchase decision. With the Arrow Rock 30, the overall impression is that this is a sleeping bag I’d take on any trip whether it be backpacking, four-wheel drive camping, horse back trip, or foreign travel. There were no significant drawbacks I would have you consider. So there you have it on the Sierra Designs Arrow Rock 30.

Review and photos by Rick Shandley

Specs:

Men’s Long
Price Point: MSRP $219.00
Temperature Rating / 30 F/ -1 C
Trail Weight: 2 lbs 9 oz
Zipper Side: Left
Stuff Size: 7″ x 17″
Insulation: 600-Fill Goose Down
Shell Material: 30D Polyester
Liner Material: 40D Polyester

Features:
Chest Pocket
Continuous Baffle Construction
Flex Technology
Tuck Stitch

First off, the NeoAir is compact. It rolls up small and fits into the Cordura stuff sack tight enough to share the same space with your sleeping bag in backpacks that offer sleeping bag compartments such as the Lowe/Alpine Cerro Torre TFX series packs, the Kelty Trekker, and several other high-end backpacks. Secondly, the NeoAir weighs less than one pound at 14-ounces, and because of its small pack size, you don’t have to lash it down to the outside of your pack.

If small pack size and light weight where all the NeoAir had going for it, that’s reason enough to give it serious consideration. The NeoAir mattress we tested was only available to us in regular size measuring 20 inches wide and 72 inches long.

Compact and light, the NeoAir is shown next to a Sierra Designs Arrow Rock 30 down bag; also very compact.

Although we wanted a longer version for our test (to fit the person testing it), we were informed by the folks at Cascade Designs the manufacturing machines were running at full capacity just to keep up with the demand forecasts for NeoAir. And that’s good news for any outdoor gear manufacturer in this, or any, economic circumstance. No worries with us, we were happy one was available to review.

Once you’re ready to deploy the NeoAir at the campsite, you merely roll it out, open the air-valve and inflate the mattress. The air valve worked fine, and the time it takes for the mattress to inflate didn’t take long at all. If you want more firmness, increase the air volume. At higher elevations, such as anything above the 7,000 foot level, you might consider taking your time adding air to the mattress.

Therm-A-Rest NeoAir mattress and Sierra Designs Arrow Rock 30 down sleeping bag with retainer straps to keep pad beneath you.

On one trip, above 11,000 feet elevation, the task of blowing full, repetitive, breaths to get a firm mattress was enough to get a bit dizzy. But that’s a human function, and everybody has different levels of acclimation and physical response to altitude. To dial-in the right firmness, we’d get the NeoAir fairly full of air, lay down on it, then let air out until it reached that sweet spot with enough give to feel cushioned, and enough firmness to keep the body off the tent floor.

When you set up camp, just roll out the NeoAir, open the air valve, and inflate.

The ability of the NeoAir to quickly inflate is impressive. However, if you plan on any extended trips where freezing conditions will be the norm, then keep in mind that the moisture in your breath will tend to collect within the mattress and freeze, scrubbing away some of that ever so highly valued light weight. In really cold weather, it’s a good idea to transport the mattress in your pack where it is close to your body heat.

Essentially the NeoAir is considered a three season sleeping pad. It is uninsulated, but uses patent-pending reflective barrier to minimize heat loss. Because this reflective barrier reduces heat loss and permits warmth to return to your body, it registers an insulation rating of R-2.5 out of a maximum R-8. This insulation value can be increased to 3.8 by using a Therm-A-Rest Z-Lite mattress underneath the NeoAir.

Like the weather in general, changes in outside temperature and barometric pressure will affect the inflation of the mattress. When you’re base camping or leaving the mattress inflated during a hot day it’s a good idea to partially deflate your mattress so your NeoAir doesn’t fall victim to expanding warm air and become over-inflated. On every trip we used this mattress it was inflated at night and deflated the next morning for another day on the trail. To its credit, the NeoAir took no extra time or thought packing it up for each day. The Cordura stuff sack is sized just right, even allowing you to goof up on a couple roll-ups and still be able to get the mattress into the stuff sack. Let the air out, fold into thirds lengthwise, roll it up, and slip it into the stuff sack. Nothing more, nothing less; you are done with it.

Really...check out how small the NeoAir packs out to. It literally fits in the pocket along with the sleeping bag, and then some.

The small size of the rolled up and packed NeoAir makes it easy transport in your backpack with or without a designated sleeping bag compartment. It’s just as convenient to pack the NeoAir in your main backpack compartment along with your stove, cooking kit, clothes, and food.

Because the NeoAir is constructed of super-light materials, human carelessness or an undetected sharp object may occasionally result in a puncture. Stuff happens. The good news is that a Therm-A-Rest Fast and Light Series repair kit makes any patchwork relatively trouble free. We did not experience any failures, punctures, or lack of comfort in our nights in the field with this sleeping bad. The perceived characteristics of a very-light and compact sleeping pad capable of provided good support and comfort over quite a few nights in tents consistently held true for the NeoAir.

We’ve heard some concern’s from people who thought the NeoAir is too narrow. Certainly this may be a valid criticism in a subjective context. Again, each person is different. Yet, we were using a Sierra Designs Arrow Rock 30 down sleeping bag with mattress retainer straps on the bottom of the sleeping bag. The NeoAir fits perfectly with a sleeping bag using retainer straps. We did not experience rolling off the mattress, and found the mattress itself provided plenty of support and comfort. Sure it would be great to have a few more inches of width and length, but that also means a tradeoff in weight and compactness. At retail, the Therm-A-Rest NeoAir is available in long, medium, and short lengths with the price ranging from $120 to $170 depending on the length you choose.

Stuff sack is made from Cordura fabric; containing the little sleeper until needed.

Overall Assessment:

On a trip to REI to pick up some gas canisters, it was inevitable to take a few laps of the store and check things out. Knowing the NeoAir was on the table for a review, we strolled over to the section where all the sleeping pads lurk, hanging full size or rolled up and vacuum packed.  When a REI store associate came along to see if any help was needed, we just asked if they had any of the new NeoAir mattresses we might take a look at. He pointed to the bottom bin of one of the display racks, and there sitting all by itself was one unit of the new NeoAir looking small and bright yellow. When asked how much it costs, he went over to the computer and looked it up. “That’s about $149,” he said. “And I guarantee you it won’t be there after this weekend. It’s a great little sleeping pad and I’m interested in getting one for myself.”

Well, after using the NeoAir and sleeping on it enough to know whether it will do the job in comfort, it’s a sure bet that good things do come in small packages. Usually, there’s not a ton to say about a sleeping pad. But the NeoAir is a transformative little cushion that serves its purpose while taking up minimal space in your pack. We liked it a lot.

By Rick Shandley

Cascade Designs

4000 1^st St. Ave. South

Seattle, WA 98134

1-206-505-9500

www.thermarest.com

• THERM-A-REST NeoAir
• Cordura – Fast and Light Stuff Sack – regular size.
• Part of Fast and Light Series
• Regular size as tested: 20×72 inches
• 2.5 inches thick (or 6.3 cm)
• Warmth Rating: R-2.5 out of R-8.0 maximum rating
• Recommended: Three Season sleeping pad
• Weight: 14oz (410 grams)
• Innovative materials create an ultralight, ultra-compact mattress.
• Warmth: Three times warmer than other uninsulated air mattresses due to patent-pending thermal (yellow) barrier.
• Superior stability and comfort using patent-pending Triangular Core Matrix.
• Made in U.S.A.