The Marmot has come out with a new version this year of their classic Angel Fire sleeping bag. We've seen many women on the trail with this product. It is a very comfortable and warm down bag, and think it deserves a warmer EN rating than its 30.4 designation. This year's version has a new additional zipper on the side that opens up the whole top of the bag, and it seems to be much larger than previous, fitting someone who is 5'11 in it. We think this bag is pretty middle-of-the-road, it will keep you warm in cold temps, but isn't particularly light or compact.
Marmot Angel Fire Review
A favorite of many trail ladies out there, the Angel Fire earns high marks across the board and would be an excellent addition to any backpacker's kit.
Price: $240 List | $179.21 at Backcountry
Compare prices at 4 resellers Pros: Comfortable and warm
Cons: Not light, hood draw cords hard to use, large for a women's sleeping bag
Manufacturer: Marmot
Compare prices at 4 resellers Pros: Comfortable and warm
Cons: Not light, hood draw cords hard to use, large for a women's sleeping bag
Manufacturer: Marmot
By Jessica Haist ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ Nov 19, 2018
RELATED: Best Sleeping Bags for Women
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Angel Fire performs well throughout all metrics and is a decent choice for shorter backpacking trips.
Performance Comparison
The Marmot Angel Fire is a great choice for tall women.
Warmth
We are surprised to see that the Angel Fire's EN comfort rating at just 30.4. The Angel Fire kept us warm on cool and frosty nights and think it should be rated much warmer than that, maybe in the '20s. It has a 650 fill power, providing an average level of warmth. We love its cozy draft collar with a drawcord, adding more warmth. This bag feels lofty and warm in most summer and shoulder season conditions. As with most of the other bags we tested, the Angel Fire has water-resistant treated down insulation to help the bag keep its loft when damp. It's shell materials are not DWR coated.
The Angel Fire is only EN Comfort Rated to 30 degrees, but we think it is actually much warmer than that!
Weight
This Marmot bag weighs in at 39.8 oz. We're surprised it is lighter than the previous version, as Marmot has added another small zipper to the other side, adding some weight. It's shell materials must have been slimmed down. Overall, it's not the lightest option out there but still functions well for short backpacking trips. One of the lightest bag we tested was the Rab Neutrino, tied with 2 other products.
Comfort
We think the Angel Fire is very comfortable. It seems like Marmot has increased this bag's size and we found it very roomy. Our tester's 5'11 husband tried it out and fit in it just fine (although a little snug in the shoulders). So, if you're a tall lady, this bag is a fine option.
Jessica Haist zipping up the Angel Fire's small additional zipper. We don't think this zipper adds much additional benefit to this bag.
The roominess increased this bag's comfort. However, it does mean more cold air to heat up and therefore potentially less warm. We like the anatomical foot box (although this could be sized down as well) and the cozy hood. It also had plenty of room in the shoulders to move around and add extra layers if necessary. We find the Angel Fire's extra zipper unnecessary as it detracts from the comfort most of the time. It is nice if you want to take your arms out of the bag and hang out in your sleeping bag, but we didn't find ourselves doing that much. We also didn't like that the second zipper would poke us in the face when mostly done up.
If you will be spending lots of time in your bag, but want your arms to be able to move around freely you may like the additional zipper feature.
Features
We like the Angel Fire's features. We were skeptical about this bag's giant "zipper garage" and thought it was a gimmick to please people who have complained about the zipper catching in the past. After some use though, we have decided that it works and is probably worth the extra grams it weighs. Many other bags now feature this type of zipper pull, including our Editors' Choice, the Egret.
We like the interior stash pocket and the warm neck baffle seen here on the Angel Fire.
We also love the interior pocket that keeps stashed items warm and easy to access while bundled up. We wish the hood's drawcords were different materials so it would be easy to tell them apart in the dark. We didn't think the extra zipper was necessary and seemed too short to fully serve the purpose of freeing your arms, instead just making things more awkward and heavy.
The Angel Fire's snaggles zipper does help to avoid most - but not all fabric snags.
Best Application
The Angel Fire is a good introductory backpacking sleeping bag that will keep you warm on any camping trip and cozy on short backpacking trips. We wouldn't recommend it for extended backcountry missions where weight should be an important consideration. It's a good choice if you want to have a bag that two different height people can use since it really fits someone who's 5'11".
Value
The Angel Fire got bumped back down twenty bucks to $240 this year. That is just a decent value, however, we'd probably splurge on something that performs at a higher level, or consider the Kelty Cosmic 20 - Women's.
The Marmot Angel Fire is very comfortable, however, it is much larger than a standard women's bag, including the articulated foot box, which could be much smaller.
Conclusion
The Angel Fire is a classic option that offers great comfort and warmth at a decent weight.
— Jessica Haist