The North Face Women’s Blue Kazoo

Field Notes:

We’ve been testing The North Face’s Blue Kazoo Women’s 15-degree sleeping bag over the past four months, ranging from sweaty backpacking trips in Utah to cold weather car camping trips high in the San Juans, West Elks, and Sawatch ranges of Colorado. Our tester loved the bag’s feature-rich design, the comfort provided by the lofty, water-resistant 700-fill ProDown, and the generous cut of the bag, though she did note issues with the bag’s zipper, which had a propensity to snag.

Pros:

The outer fabric of the bag is durable, the inner fabric comfortable, and the down lofty and warm. Our tester gets cold easily, and she found the bag’s lofty down supplied welcome warmth (though on 20-degree nights it did get chilly). The bag is lightweight and compressible, making it suitable for backpacking, although there are lighter (and more expensive) 800+fill options that we’d rather use for extended backpacking trips. That said, because the Blue Kazoo is stuffed with 700-fill down, it’s more affordable, and is a solid option that’s not as steep as high-end, ultralight bags.

Cons:

Our tester noted that the draft collar could have been stiffer; the hood was floppier than she would have liked and resulted in her head popping out throughout the night. Also, our biggest complaint was that the zipper snags: a stiffer, broader zipper lining would make a huge difference with this design, especially because the lofty body of the bag is so fluffy.

Favorite Feature: The glow-in-the-dark zipper attachment. “When I wake up in the middle of the night having to pee,” said one tester, “It definitely cuts down on fumbling around trying to get out of the sleeping bag.”

Tester Comments: “It feels relatively durable, though I was constantly worried about ripping the fabric around the zipper when it got stuck. I did get a little chilly when it got close to that 15-degree mark. Overall, it’s lightweight, compacts super well, and is versatile for three season use.”

Bottom Line: A comfortable, warm, women’s specific bag with a lofty body with some persistent zipper issues.

Key Attribute: Versatility