Nemo Equipment Men's Forte Men 35 Sleeping Bag

Product Information

Hot sleepers take note: the Disco 15’s temperature regulation designs are unique to Nemo and you won’t find them anywhere else. Marmot is a well-known brand outside the US that has making headway here recently. They’re a solid company that makes good gear at an exceptional price point. As we said before, down is warmer than synthetic insulation gram for gram. As the fill power (also called CUIN) rating for down climbs higher, so does the price. A 950-fill down does a much better job of trapping heat than a 600-fill down. Its 650 fill-down lofts to 5.5 inches and is protected by a DWR (durable water repellent) ripstop nylon shell. The 20-denier shell holds up well to abuse, and the 30-denier liner is soft against the skin. At two and a quarter pounds, this bag is an average weight for its class.

NEMO offers an excellent warranty on its products, so if pieces of this bag fail, like the zipper, get in touch.

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Comfort Limit Rating: This is the lowest temperature at which an average male should experience a comfortable night’s sleep whilst laid down in a curled up position. The highly successful Nemo Forte 35 Sleeping Bag has been updated for 2023 with new insulation and fabrics. It retains the comfortable and spacious 'spoon' shape so it is still wider at the elbows and knees, meaning you can toss and turn as much as you want, without the bag restricting you. And after 15 different prototypes, it had created a fully recyclable, mono-polymer sleeping bag made up of 90% polyester without sacrificing any of the durability and performance its products are known for. Same Well-Loved Bag, New Features, Different Impact (Photo/Gabriela Daugherty) The women’s version of the Forte bag has a comfort rating of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and the men’s is rated at 32 degrees, so as long as the temperature is above that lower limit, you should sleep comfortably through the night. The bag features “gills,” which are two ventilating zippers over the torso area for warm nights that provide extra breathability without letting too much heat escape from inside the bag. You can also open the zipper around the feet to let heat escape. In the heat-retention test that I conducted on all 13 sleeping bags, the Forte was one of the top performers, so once it’s warmed up, it stays warm. Moreover, Disco and Forte differ in their weights, like in their dimensions. Disco weighs only 1.2 kg, while Forte weighs 1.65 kg.

I took the Forte to the West Texas desert on a climbing trip in the early summer. The nights were cooler, but not that cool. So, the ability to unzip the gills in the middle of the night was a saving grace. The Thermo Gills on an Endless Promise Sleeping Bag; (photo/Mary Murphy)

That is not to say that a higher value will be warmer; the amount of insulating material is also a factor. For example, a bag with twice as much 600-fill down can maintain heat as well as a bag with half that much in 950-fill, but it will consequently be markedly heavier. Admittedly, since I was testing this bag in freezing temperatures, I did not make proper use of the Thermo Gills. That said, in the morning when I woke up, I had the Gills open for a few minutes and could notice a difference. For use in warmish summer alpine climates, keeping the Thermo Gills open throughout the night is much more practical. Plus, the signature Blanket Fold feature helps regulate the temperature and optimum comfort while sleeping.