Feathered Friends Petrel 10 UL Sleeping Bag Review

The Feathered Friends Petrel 10  UL is the nicest sleeping bag I own. This is a women’s sleeping bag packed with 950+ fill goose down, made in the USA by Feathered Friends in Seattle, Washington. It weighs 32.3 ounces and is rated down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The Petrel 10 UL has a thick draft collar, mummy hood, and anti-snag protection on the zipper. It also has extra down insulation in the chest and footbox, a common construction design for women’s sleeping bags. While the price may give you pause, this bag is nice enough it might be the last sleeping bag you’ll ever need to buy.

Specs at a Glance

• Gender: Women’s
• Type: Mummy sleeping bag
• Zipper: Full length
• Weight: Small 30.2 ounces, Medium 32.3 ounces
• Fill weight: Small: 20 ounces, Medium: 21.3 ounces
• Insulation: 950+ RDS-certified, trackable goose down
• Length: small fits 5’3”, medium fits 5’9”
• Girth: 54″ / 56″ / 38″
• Shell: Pertex Endurance UL
• Lining: Flite 15 denier ripstop nylon
• Packed size: 11 liters

Draft Collar/Draft Tube

It might seem minor, but a thick draft collar is one of the main differences between this sleeping bag and my “less luxurious” bags. A draft collar is a down-filled “tube” that is connected to your sleeping bag and wraps around your chest and neck. It acts as another layer of protection against wind and gaps. As soon as you zip up this bag and the draft collar settles around your neck, you feel far more protected from the elements. It’s also easy to rearrange around your neck to fully block the wind.

The draft tube is similar. It is a tube of down running the length of the zipper, preventing wind from coming through the gaps in the zipper teeth.

Mummy Hood

This is one place where the Petrel 10 UL falls somewhat short. I find the hood to be on the shallow side, and awkward to keep in place. If the hood was more pronounced, or deeper at the back, it would feel more secure. As it is, it works great if you cinch it, but it can be hard to fit it correctly over your head. I also find the drawcords a little awkward to maneuver, but that is somewhat typical of wiggling around in a mummy bag. The Feathered Friends Murre Ex 0 has a more contoured, deeper hood, which is more along the lines of what I’d like to see with the Petrel. Read our review of the Murre Ex 0 here.

Trapezoidal Foot Box

This foot box is almost three dimensional, which allows for more varied foot positions. Some people find mummy bags to be confining, which a narrow foot box can contribute to. If a foot box is “flat,” it reduces the number of positions for your legs, can compress the down insulation, and reduce its insulating properties.

Usage

Despite this being my nicest (and favorite) sleeping bag, I do not take the Petrel 10 UL on every backpacking trip. I have lighter bags that pack down smaller. But whenever I do take the Petrel, I’m reminded of the difference that higher quality construction, loftier down, and thoughtful details make. I sleep better in this bag, stay warmer, and feel more secure.

I have had this sleeping bag for two years and haven’t had any issues with durability. This bag might be expensive, but it’s built with care. The stitching is even, the zipper is smooth, and the DWR-treated face fabric is lightweight but not prone to tearing. The bag also comes with removable “anti-snag” caps over the zippers, which work great but can feel clunky if you wake up with your face pressed against one of them. They keep the face fabric and lining fabric out of the zipper teeth though, which has been the cause of tears in other sleeping bags.

Temperature Rating Accuracy

Feathered Friends doesn’t denote whether this 10-degree rating is “comfort” or “lower limit,” but I’ve used this bag for the past two years in all seasons, and I am comfortable down to 10 degrees. If it gets colder, I sleep in a jacket and a hat. This is one of the warmer sleeping bags I own, and it can feel more comfortable than my zero-degree unisex bag. This is partly due to the fact that the Petrel 10 UL is sized smaller than my zero-degree bag, thus takes less thermal efficiency to keep warm.

This sleeping bag has continuous baffles, which means you can shift the insulation around to where you need it. I’ve never done this. It seems like too much work and I have never had an issue with how Feathered Friends put this bag together. The continuous baffles do mean less air permeability though—always a bonus for sleeping in colder weather.

Comfort and Fit

This is where a women’s sleeping bag really stands out for me. Oftentimes, considering “fit” comes secondary when shopping for a sleeping bag—it’s not apparel after all. But a correctly sized sleeping bag is really important. If the build is more conformed to a woman’s body, it takes less energy to heat up, and the smaller size means you can keep the whole interior space warmer than a larger model.

In this case, a smaller sleeping bag doesn’t feel constricting, rather it feels more comfortable than having an extra foot of space flopping around at the bottom of the bag. I am 5’5”, so my unisex bags have an extra 10 inches or so of empty space at the bottom of the bag, which can feel like an absolute icebox.

Recommendation

The Feathered Friends Petrel 10 UL women’s sleeping bag is incredibly warm, well built, and accurately rated. The women’s-specific fit makes a huge difference in temperature rating accuracy, and the thick draft collar and high-quality materials make it a reliable bag that will last years and years with the right care. The price point might be a shock, but you’re paying for the quality and the thoughtful details, materials, and build that Feathered Friends is famous for.

Disclosure: The author owns this product.

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