My bro inlaw has one he swears by,but if I remember correctly yer gonna need a draft horse to pack it cuz they wiegh up about the same as a quarter of a moose..
Older ones had a wool liner and dome fastners. Very 19th century. Also warm and effective but very heavy. New ones have a fleece liner and a zipper and are no longer made in Canada.
Too expensive unless you get them on sale. I have an Old 3 Star and two new 5 stars (bought on 50% off sale) . Use them as emergency overnight gear in the truck. We live n the Yukon. They are warmer than the loft indicates and easily comfortable to -30C. with good under-padding. With clothes to supplement -40C is doable.
Been using the same old 5 Star since I was young boy when I deemed it mine from my dad. The bag must be 50 years old........I still use it at moose camp and for my wall tent camp in the mountains durin sledding season. I still to this day sleep with the bag not zipped up as it gets warm and I like to han g my feet out or just open the bag completely.
Mine weighed 27 pounds with wool liner. No kidding!
I've had one for over twenty years. Definitely a truck camping bag but a very good one. I will be sleeping in it next week on my elk and moose trip in a tent.
Coldest I've slept out in was in a lean-to near Cold Lake Alberta with that bag and another down bag inside it. I don't know how cold it was at night but it did warm up to about -35F during the day.
What are some other good bags?
http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/SleepingBags/DownMummyBags/PRD~5025-628/mec-aquila-wide-sleeping-bag-7c.jsp
I have thye older version and have taken it down to -20C with comfort. It's big enough to allow insulation to be worn, and so used I have been down to -30. Very good value.
Are the Woods Bags still being made?
Are the Woods Bags still being made?
yes but they are made in China under the Woods name, not the same quality as the original.
Made in China, not the same quality. a lot of that going around.
The new ones have similar duck down quilts to the old ones but a polyester rather than a wool liner. The outer doesn't drapes as well and they have zippers instead of the dome fastners. They are made in China..not as rugged as the old Canadian build but likely as warm.
I have seen the new ones discounted to 50% that never happened for the old ones. I bought two on discount one for work and one for the truck. Still good gear, but not worth the retail.
21 pounds for a 5 star.
I have a couple of the old ones here that will probably not be used again by my family. Let me know if you are interested.
Ted
Love my 3 Star. Every night is a cozy night.
Found this reply on another site, should clear up the confusion on where these bags are manufactured, Buy North American
Thanks for your review. As the General Manager of Woods, I thought that I would let you know that we still do produce the original 5 star and 3 star bags in Canada. They have changed very little from the original 5 star sleeping robes which the company has produced since the late 1800s. They still come with the snaps to attach the two inner down quilts. Over the years the bags have evolved to reflect progress in materials - The main innovations over the years have been the use of a very durable size 10 YKK zipper to close the outer bag, and the replacement of the original woolen liners with a washable fleece liner. The outer fabric is improved from the original Woods Canatite canvas shell to a more breathable and fire resistant canvas fabric.
I wish that we could still make all of our sleeping bags in Canada, but as you point out it is difficult for many customers to justify the $750.00 price point, so we have also begun to produce some similar products in Asia. These get better each year and for Fall 2013 we will have some improved Asian made versions which are more realistically priced - close in quality to the Canadian made products but at around the $400.00 price point. IN addition we have some synthetic filled versions at the $250.00 to $350.00 price points (hooded) which some find to have some advantages over the down filled models. We will still continue to make the 5 stars in Canada but will brand the Asian versions as 3 Stars to clearly show the difference.
Again, I appreciate your review and I hope that you continue to enjoy the 5 star for many years.
WHY, would anyone waste money on something like this, given the superb bags now available?
Some of the finest sleeping bags made anywhere and I have or still do own bags from almost all the top makers, are made in Calgary and weigh about 4 lbs or a bit more for an "expedition" grade model.
These, are "Integral Designs" bags and their XPDII "Himalayan" model, a custom version of which I currently own, will work in severe cold and weighs about 4 lbs.
Bags, by Valandre, Feathered Friends, Western Mountaineering and the famed British maker "Peter Hutchison Designs" ( this one I have not had, but, PHD certainly has the "rep" in mountaineering-exploring circles) will do anything that the Woods sacks ever did and much more.
Yes, I have used them, back in the mid-60s and in the cold, but, I soon learned that a "better mousetrap" was available and would never actually spend money on one.
I have an older Woods sleeping bag myself. It's down, and 44" wide.
When I moose hunted from a tent, it was the cats ass, even the year that the tent leaked and it got soaked, it was still warm. Now, as I've gotten old and soft, I hunt from a cabin. It's too hot. I sweat the early part of the night, and wake up with a damp sleeping bag when the fire is out in the stove. Solution of course is to leave the bag open when I go to bed, and I never zip it up.
Some years ago my well meaning wife decided to wash the bag. I've been trying to get the lumps out of it ever since. Fluffing it in a giant sized dryer at the laundromat helps a great deal.
What kutenay says above is really worth looking at.
My wife has a sleeping bag of only slightly smaller proportions, of the same age. Hers is filled with Dupont Hollowfill II. It never lumps, is machine washable, can be compressed to tiny proportions, and is apparently as warm as mine.
you can search it
http://www.aliexpress.com .good luck.