TETON Sports Deer Hunter -35F & 0F Extreme Cold Weather Sleeping Bag - Warm Comfortable Camping Sleeping Bag with Teton Tough Canvas Shell - Perfect for Winter Camping, Hunting, Backpacking & Outdoor Adventures

My family and I go camping about four times a year and I freeze my butt off if the temperature drops below about 45 F. In the past I have tried several different bags promising to keep you warm at 20 F or 0 F only to find I am still shivering at 40 deg F. And when my sleep is miserable then so is my trip. Decided to give this Teton Sports DeerHunter model a try because I like rectangular bags (especially the rare ones that have drawstring curved hoods) and this bag has a survival rating of -35 F. The bag is also not crazy expensive like many expedition rated mummy bags that advertise terrific warmth at very low temperatures but weigh only five pounds and cost $300 plus. Amazon delivered the DeerHunter to me a week later and I unfolded it from the supplied carrying bag. My first impression was that it was thick. Very thick. And it weighs about 16 pounds (7.3 Kg), so definitely more of a bag for car camping or longer term hunting trips than for the expedition style camper. The bag also has heavy duty zippers and inner and outer pockets to hold cell phones,wallets, etc.. A great mummy style hood with drawstrings that can be pulled up tight around the head. This bag is hand wash only (and Teton recommends watching the video on their website first if you plan to hand wash it) which at first seems like a deal killer but the reason is that any washing machine will compress the synthetic insulation too much, causing the bag to lose a bit of its heat retaining characteristics. The same is true of storing the bag too tightly compressed for many months. Crazy as it may sound, upon receiving the DeerHunter, I took it to my friend's cousin who owns a meat packing shop with large walk in style freezers. I asked him if I could try the bag in the freezer overnight. He said something in Italian about me being crazy but made sure the door could be opened from the inside and set up the temperature control to begin at 0 F and then move slowly down to -20 F over the next five hours. (we could not set the temperature to -35 F which is the survival rating of this bag - the freezer only went to -20 F) I made sure I had adequate oxygen in the room and then set up my cot at 11 PM and went to sleep. (When I camp, I use a cot about 8 inches off the ground, a closed cell foam sleeping pad and then my bag on top of that) At 0 F, this bag worked excellent and I was still warm enough with my long underwear, blue jeans, flannel shirt and jacket on. By the time the temp got down to -20 F, I felt pretty chilled (not enough to be truly miserable but enough to affect sleeping). I slipped on my two extra layers of fleece I had in the bag beside my body and went back to sleep. It was not great sleep, but I did get back to sleep (the air was so cold that I did notice it at my throat but I still went back to sleep). I don't know how well this bag would work on frozen soil without a cot or sleeping pad, but for my style of camping, I was pretty impressed that it allowed sleep at -20 F. In short, this bag probably does live up to its claims which is that if you are warmly dressed in multiple layers, you can survive the night at around -30 to -40 deg F. It is well built and includes a nice carrying bag with handles. For the $135 I paid for it, excellent bag and highly recommend. Five stars.