Warmth
I generally stay very warm (I “run hot”) when sleeping. I’ve been comfortable in a 20° Mountain Hardwear Spectre sleeping bag in temperatures dipping in the single digits, so, maybe not surprisingly, I’ve found the Zissou to be quite warm. Apart from the issue with the bag’s draft collar, mentioned above, the Zissou stays very warm and I didn’t feel any cold spots in the bag. On a winter camping trip to Indian Peaks in Colorado, when the temperatures dropped into the low teens at night, I was near the point of overheating wearing only boxers and a thin fleece top in the Zissou. My tent-mate was wearing Patagonia Capiline 1 bottoms and fleece pants, a Patagonia Cap 4 top, R1 base layer and a beanie and was chilly in his 15° bag.
I’ve yet to see how the Zissou 6 does in temperatures hovering right around its 6° rating, but I can say that the bag’s 19° EN rating does seem perfectly accurate, and perhaps a touch high. If you anticipate sleeping in temperatures in the low teens, the Zissou ought to keep you nice and warm. (For some insight into what an EN rating is, again give Eric’s “Sleeping Bags 101” section in his Kelty Ignite review a read.)
Wetness
I was most excited to test out the Zissou 6 in the wet, cold environment of the White Mountains in New Hampshire in January this year. Unfortunately the polar vortex had other ideas, and it seemed like a bit much to ask of the Zissou 6 to keep me warm at 40 below zero. I had to settle for some desert camping in Utah and California and winter camping in Colorado in the early spring.
I tried my hardest to get the Zissou 6 wet during a ten-day climbing trip to Joshua Tree National Park, but again I was thwarted by the biggest drought in California history. Sleeping outside, I put the Zissou inside of a barely breathable bivy sack from the 80’s, and slept with more layers on than usual. Even so, I wasn’t able to get the bag wet, or if I did, it dried fast enough that I didn’t notice it.
Later in the spring, on a trip to Indian Creek, I was more successful—I slept in a four-season tent with all the vents closed in order build up condensation on the outside of the bag, and it worked. I woke up each morning with the tent walls covered in water and the bag itself noticeably wet. I didn’t notice any loss of loft, warmth, or comfort with the Zissou 6, and no moisture had seeped to the inside of the bag. My tent-mate (who wasn’t too thrilled with my little backcountry sweat lodge experiment), couldn’t say the same of their untreated down bag. It looked like a limp, deflated fish next to the Zissou 6, which was still lofted up nicely. And once the sun came up and I was able to hang the Zissou 6 out in the sun, it dried surprisingly fast, significantly faster than my friend’s down bag.
The last trip I tested the Zissou on was a spring skiing trip to the Indian Peaks in Colorado. Sleeping in a Black Diamond Megalight tent, I was hoping we’d again generate a lot of condensation and I could get the bag wet. But while there was some heavy condensation on the inside of the tent, the Zissou seemed to stay dry through it all, or dried before I noticed it was wet.
I can’t say if a DriDown bag would feel as warm as a synthetic bag if really soaked with water, but with some light moisture and dampness, the Zissou seemed to do just as well. And sleeping in a soaking-wet synthetic bag is absolutely miserable in the first place, so in that respect, I’ll still try to avoid getting stuck in the Zissou 6 in a rainstorm. I never got the Zissou 6 wet enough make the DriDown fail, but there has to be a point where the treated down won’t hold its loft anymore.
Even so, though I haven’t used the Zissou 6 while the bag was sopping wet, it certainly seems appropriate to use the bag anywhere you’re expecting more moist, wetter conditions. I’m inclined to agree with Eric Melson’s description of DriDown as “the holy grail of down technology.” In my experience, normal down loses way more loft and warmth with a little bit of moisture, while DriDown still retains significant loft and warmth. Yet DriDown bag provides all the same awesome insulating qualities of untreated down.
Breathability
I am going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the advantages of DriDown go beyond just retaining loft with moisture and faster drying. DriDown seems like it breathes better than normal down. In my experience in other down bags, even if wearing nothing but a pair of underwear, I sweat out on most nights unless the temperature is very close to the rating of the bag. In the Zissou 6, on all but the warmest nights, I stayed sweat free and dry inside. Perhaps because the DriDown itself stays drier for longer, moisture is able to pass through it more readily, so less sweat is allowed to build up on you inside the bag.
Durability
A properly-stored down sleeping bag should last for years. I’ve had a 20° down sleeping bag that I’ve used for nearly seven years, and I haven’t noticed any appreciable loss in loft or warmth with it. I don’t think four months is enough time to determine whether the DriDown retains its loft over the long run like normal down. But so far, I haven’t had any issues with the Zissou in the four months I’ve been testing it. Only a few feathers have leaked out of the baffles, and the shell fabric is holding up well to use with no visible scuff marks.
Weight / Price Point
The regular length Zissou 6 weighs 3 pounds, 1 ounce so, like the Kelty Ignite 0, it isn’t an ultra-light bag. Some ultra-light bags, even multi-season ones, can weigh under 1.4 lbs, but cost about twice as much as the Zissou 6. Like the Ignite, at $340 the Zissou is geared more towards the average, “recreational user” than the ultra-light enthusiasts of the backpacking world.
Bottom Line
The Zissou 6 does have a couple drawbacks with its design (the lack of a good draft collar and its roomier width) that probably make it less suitable for frequent use in seriously cold, single-digit conditions. Its weight may not be that attractive to the ultra-light, enthusiast crowd either, but for the average user looking at a comfortable, mid-range down sleeping bag for use in a humid or wet environment, the Zissou 6 could still be a great choice.
Is this sleeping bag available for sale?