Western Mountaineering Versalite 10 Review

Likes
The Versalite ties with the Valandre Bloody Mary as the warmest bag included in our backpacking sleeping bag review. This bag is toasty for three-season use and will keep even the coldest sleepers warm on frosty spring and fall nights at elevation. This ten degree bag is much warmer than the average ten degree bag we've tested. It uses the highest quality materials and best down available, and is constructed to Western Mountaineering's exacting standards. This a tried and true performer for cold sleepers and people who want one bag for all three-season and light winter conditions.

The Versalite has continuous horizontal baffles that allow you to move down from the top to the bottom of the bag, and vice versa. This increases versatility because it lets you sleep on (compress) unwanted down in warm conditions and shift most or all of the down to the top of the bag when the temps really drop. Continuous horizontal baffles are a common feature found on top-tier three season bags --Western Mountaineering's Ultralite, and all of Feathered Friends' 3-season bags have them, and the vast majority of the bags tested in our ultralight sleeping bag review.

Dislikes
The only design limitation to the Versalite is its neck baffle Velcro closure, which we've found comes undone easily. Other than that, the bag is exceptionally high quality.

At 32 ounces, it's on the heavy side for three-season camping. For most people, we believe that the additional warmth will be unnecessary in the vast majority of situations. However, if you sleep cold, this bag could be a great choice. For some people that want one bag for all three-season applications and light duty winter use, the extra warmth might make this the ideal do-it-all bag.

Several other top-tier super warm for their weight bag encroach upon the Versalite's space. Most notable of the lot is the Katabatic Gear Sawatch, which is nearly as warm and 7 ounces lighter, and the Katabatic Gear Blackwelder, which is considerably warmer and only two ounces heavier. These two bags fall into our ultralight sleeping bag review, which houses all of the hoodless bags we've tested. If you prefer a hood attached to a bag then the Versalite can't be beaten. If you want to save a bit of weight without reducing warmth consider an ultralight bag. Believe it or not, the quilt style bags found there are more versatile than the Versalite.