Thermarest Questar Sleeping Bag Review
When it comes to picking a sleeping bag you can’t go wrong with the Thermarest Questar. This sleeping bag has recently landed on the shores of good old South and Africa and we were lucky enough to get our hands on one of them a few months back from Drifters in Johannesburg. The Questar has been my bag of choice for most of the winter season and I have personally tested it in some pretty harsh conditions in the Drakensberg mountains on a few of our tours. From camping without a tent in harsh winds and I’m talking a solid 70km winds, to tented evenings in snow this bag has definitely outperformed all of my expectations.
There are three variations of the Thermarest Questar sleeping bag however in this writeup we are just going to focus on the one we have available here in South Africa, the -18C.
Technical Specifications of the Thermarest Questar
Weight: 1.21kg
Comfort Rating: -10C
Transition Rating: -18C
Extreme Rating: -26C
Fill: 650 Fill Power Duck
Length: 80 inches
The bag is also filled with a bunch of unique features, especially for us neanderthals here in South Africa. Such features include:
- Toe box – a small compartment for your “dogs” which keeps them nice and tasty, I mean toasty. I sometimes add a boiled Nalgene for extra comfort.
- SynergyLink – this is a clipping system which attaches the sleeping bag to your sleeping mat which will stop it from moving around at night.
- Chest Pocket – personally I’m not the biggest fan of it but I can see it being a nice added bonus for most.
- W.A.R.M FIT – this stands for “with additional room for movement”, pretty much extremely warm with plenty of room for multiple sleeping positions.
Fit/Comfort
The bag is mummy shaped that has ample space throughout the whole bag. I am generally a side sleeper and I like to have one knee bent in the shape of a 4, and this is generally an issue for most bags but not this one. I can comfortably sleep in any position I want.
The Thermarest Questar features more of a “human-shape” with a tapered width in the chest area which I find perfect for tossing and turning. Not to mention the SynergyLink which attaches to your mat, a true work of art.
I’m also quite a big fan of the extra large hood design which has enough room for me to stuff my inflatable pillow into for extra comfort.
Personal Thoughts
I have spent nearly 150 nights in the Thermarest Questar, winter only, and honestly it has exceeded my expectations.
PROS:
- Spacious – the bag is quite big and honestly I could fit 2 people in it.
- True to temperature ratings.
- No odor – not a big thing but I have found that some bags carry oder more than others.
- Toe box – keeping my babies nice and warm through the night.
- SynergyLink – sleeping bag attaches to a sleeping mat to stop it from rolling around, great for us tosser and turners.
- Packs quite small – for the warmth it produces and the amount of space available in the bag it really does still pack quite small.
CONS:
- The stickers on the inside are highly susceptible to heat and will wear off the sleeping bag within the first few uses. Was quite annoying peeling all the negative degrees off my jacket and found a wild “questar” in my cup the one morning.
- synergy clips are quite difficult to clip and unclip.
- Chest pocket can get annoying and droops the bag to one side if something “heavy” like a cellphone is in it.
