I have tested at least 60 different sleeping bags, including six Feathered Friends bags, watched the Spoonbill in production at Feathered Friends’ Seattle factory, and feel it’s their best product. If you’re serious about saving weight for colder weather backcountry trips, the Spoonbill is an essential purchase. Next to another person, and with the right clothing, the bag can be used in the coldest winter conditions. Compared to bringing two warm winter bags, it can save four pounds! Since 2012, my Spoonbill has been used on trips of all types by ten people. The best test was in 2014 when Zeb and I used it at 17,700 ft on the third night of climbing Denali’s Cassin Ridge. I’ve also used it on Mt. Huntington’s Harvard Route, a climb-ski-packraft trip out of the Alaska Range, and on a lot of shorter hiking and skiing trips in Alaska and the lower 48. This is one of my alltime favorite pieces of outdoor gear.
WHAT’S THE BEST TWO-PERSON BAG FOR YOUR NEEDS?
I’m fortunate to own the three best two-person bags on the market:
FEATHERED FRIENDS SPOONBILL REVIEW
PROS: Super light, incredibly warm and compact.
CONS: Top hood adjustment can be uncomfortable when pulled tight, burly zippers add unnecessarily weight.
BEST APPLICATIONS: Colder weather backpacking, climbing, skiing, hut trips, etc.
KEY STATS:
Available in two fabric options (see Versions at the bottom)
$750-$840
41 oz. - 45 oz.
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| Credit: Feathered Friends |
Motivation for this review
This review is an update to the one I wrote in 2013 for outdoorgearlab, which hasn’t been revised in three years. I’m adding my long-term experience below. If you find this review useful, and click through to make a purchase, I’ll receive a small portion of the sale. Since it will likely take you a while to save up for the bag, or decide to get it, would you swing back here and click through to Feathered Friends site? That would help me fund future trips and the many hours spent writing thoughtful reviews. Thank you :)
What’s sleeping in a bag with another person like?
I’ve spent about 60 nights with five different people in four different double bags. If you’re snuggling with your sweetie, it’s much more comfortable than being in your own bags. If you’re with another sweaty dude, it’s not as nice, but you’re both warmer and better off by saving weight. The good thing about the Spoonbill is it’s wide enough for two 170 ish lb. guys to lay on their backs with only their shoulders touching. More on comfort below.
History
The sleeping bag is one of heaviest items we carry and we often travel into the backcountry with other people. For a long time, both for backpacking and high altitude mountaineering, people would share a single bag, which crams your feet together and doesn’t cover both of your shoulders. Other companies make two-person quilts for warm weather. But when it gets cold, what’s the best way to seal the gap between two people’s shoulders and necks? Colin Haley, a Patagonia climbing Ambassador who grew up in Washington state, helped Feathered Friends with the original prototypes. Since it’s release, the Spoonbill hasn’t changed at all. They nailed it.
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| Zeb Engberg prepares to climb into the Feathered Friends Spoonbill, Cassin Ridge, Denali |
TESTING AND ANALYSIS
Warmth
The Spoonbill works well for everything from casual backpacking to the world’s most serious alpine climbs. Mine has been used car camping in the Utah desert, winter hiking in New Hampshire, the climbs I mentioned earlier, and on a casual overnight hut trips in Alaska.
The key feature that differentiates the Spoonbill from other double bags (from ZPacks, Nunatak, Enlightened Equipment,and even the Feathered Friends Penguin) is the hood and and neck baffle design. Sealing your head, neck, and shoulders is what makes it suitable for cold weather use. Brent Zwiers, Feathered Friends’ former production manager who helped design the bag, told me the hardest part was figuring out how to arrange the hood closures such that when one person adjusts theirs, it doesn’t jostle or close the other person’s.
Two half-length zippers on the sides release heat on warmer nights. I guess it’s too warm for use above 50 degrees. Thus, it works great for summer use in higher elevations throughout the West.
The night at 17,700 ft. on Denali was the coldest I’ve used the Spoonbill. We were deeply exhausted from three days of climbing in bad conditions and despite wearing insulated pants and parkas, we were chilly. But can you ask for a better testament to the bag’s ability to work in very challenging, frigid conditions?
Though I’ve only done it a couple times, the warmest way to use the bag is to spoon with the other person and tuck the top edges of bag underneath your bodies. This eliminates dead air space--it’s toasty warm.
Sleeping Pad Straps
Like all ultralight sleeping bags, the Spoonbill doesn’t have insulation on the bottom. If it’s cold winter and you’re sleeping on snow, it’s important to have a warm sleeping pad. The Therm-a-Rest Neo Air Xtherm is the best available and the XLite works fine for occasional winter use. I’ve used the bag with and without sleeping pad attachments. Unless what I’m doing is very challenging for me, and every gram counts, I bring three ZPacks pad attachments to secure our pads. This creates a very comfortable mattress for two people and it keeps us warmer by sealing the gap between the bottom of our two pads (NeoAirs have a tapered shape).
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| In the Spoonbill at 17,700 ft on Denali's Cassin Ridge |
Weight and Packed Size
The size Regular Spoonbill UL weighs 41 oz. on my scale. If it wasn’t already obvious, the bag has a FANTASTIC WARMTH TO WEIGHT RATIO!
An excellent one-person bag capable of being used in the same conditions, e.g. the Feathered Friends Widgeon -10, weighs 52 oz. Thus, compared to bringing two bags, the Spoonbill saves two people almost four pounds!
The Spoonbill packs down to the size of an expedition down parka. This saves a lot of space in your packs. It has allowed me and various adventure partners to use smaller packs, which are more comfortable and weigh less.
Feathered Friends uses burly #5 zippers for the Spoonbill. These are so tough they stand the test of time on tents, where they’re exposed to high stress, sand, and ice. There’s no need for them on a bag like this. I think they should switch to a lighter #3 zipper.
Would a two-person quilt be better for you?
Many two-person quilts weigh less than the Spoonbill, but none come close to being as warm. I own the 10-degree ZPacks Twin Quilt and have used it in, quite unsuccessfully,on one winter trip in Utah (temperatures in the low 20’s F). Since a lot of cold air comes in at the shoulders and neck, and there’s no hood, we both brought parkas and wore warm hooded mid-layers (like the old (warmer) version of the Patagonia R3 Hoody)). If we were in the Spoonbill, we would have saved close to two pounds by bringing lightweight down sweaters and a light fleece shirt. Another, perhaps more significant, problem with super light quilts is their fabric, which isn’t as water resistant as the Spoonbill’s. On that Utah trip the ZPacks Twin Quilt lost so much loft that by the fourth day we decided to bail--getting up at 4 AM for a 25-mile slog out :)--because the bag was soaking wet and wouldn’t keep us warm for another night. Thus, you can get by with a super light two-person quilt for a night or two in winter, but you’ll carry a lot more weight in clothing and, depending on your tent setup, the bag might lose loft quickly. The Spoonbill UL’s fabric has a light polyurethane coating on the inside that provides some water resistance. The super light fabric ZPacks uses, on the other hand, has no water resistant coating.
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| The Feathered Friends Spoonbill at The Nose bivy, Harvard Route, Mt. Huntington, Alaska. |
Comfort
The Spoonbill gives two people plenty of space. This is essential when you have four boot liners, four water bottles, gloves, and cameras inside. I think the size and shape are excellent. I’d be tempted to make the footbox smaller, but it’d be too small for the nights when you need to put boot liners inside.
Both people have hood and neck baffle closures. For maximum warmth, snap the closure above the zipper and then on the neck baffle. These snap closures are great--much better than the velcro that Western Mountaineering uses on their bags.
The only thing I’d change is the design of the top hood cord. This should be moved farther back on the hood such that down cushions you face when it’s pulled tight. This is minor drawback, but I’d like it if Feathered Friends addressed it.
Versatility
If I were to have one two-person bag, I’d choose the Spoonbill. I think it’s performance in colder temperatures make the 5 oz. weight penalty, compared to the ZPacks Twin Quilt, worthwhile. If a night is too warm for the bag, we stick our feet out or use it as a quilt. Though I’m privileged to own a fleet of sleeping bags and don’t use the Spoonbill in in the summer, I’ve seen a lot of people use who use it as their go-to backpacking bag.
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| The Spoonbill is great for trips to backcountry huts and cabins. This one is in the Chugach mountains outside of Anchorage. |
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| Playing games in the cabin with the Spoonbill behind. |
Durability
Why does Feathered Friends have a cult following? Because they build great products with above-average durability.Their parkas, for example, have some of the toughest fabrics on the market (with massively tough reinforcements to boot). The Spoonbill is made to be light, but they could save even more weight with less durable fabrics and lighter and shorter zippers. I’m confident the bag has above average durability for an ultralight bag. After lots of use, mine developed a tear in the hood, which I easily patched with a piece of Tyvek tape.
Value
A two-person sleeping bag is one of the most cost effective ways to save weight. Some people spend hundreds of dollars upgrading a new stove or a new jacket, only to save a few ounces. The Spoonbill saves pounds!! I think it’s a fantastic value.
Versions
Spoonbill Nano $750
This is Feathered Friends’ budget but still excellent fabric option. It uses a 20 denier by 20 denier 1.1 oz/yd nylon.I’ve used this fabric in three Feathered Friends sleeping bags and one jacket. Feathered Friends uses 900-fill down in this version.
Spoonbill UL $840 saves 4 oz.
This uses an ultra premium 10 denier x 10 Pertex Endurance fabric and very pricey 950+ fill down. Is it worth spending $90 to save the weight of two energy bars?
Where to Buy It
Feathered Friends products are not carried by major online retailers. (This reduces the middleman and keeps prices a lot lower.) Get the Spoonbill straight from the source--their website.
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