It all started last year when I bought the PHD Minim 300 sleeping bag for solo trips, its fluffy lofting down felt so light that our ME Lightline Spring/Autumn bags seemed decidedly tired and saggy by comparison. They have never been cleaned, indeed we had deliberately avoided it: the washing of down bags is not a process to take lightly, and if not done with great care it can do more harm than good. It can be done at home in the bath with a proprietary down wash product, but the result will be less than optimal and drying is a real problem: domestic driers are really too small and the large ones in launderettes are far too hot.
I find it interesting to read forum posts about sleeping bags becoming smelly, sometimes within a relatively short time: what, dare I ask, are they doing with them on their camps?. Our ME Lightlines have been used for years and years on frequent backpacks and there was no trace of odour. Nevertheless the side-by-side comparison with the PHD showed that the down must be in need of attention.
We entrusted the job to W.E.Franklin, a well known and trusted service with many good testimonials. Using the postal service they have a fixed price per item of £33.50 at the time of writing, and we sent them in a cardboard box compressed in their small stuffsacks.
We received the cleaned bags very speedily, half-compressed in larger sacks, and… oh my word, what a difference!. It was hard to believe they were the same bags, and the improved lofting of the down was really striking. The W.E Franklin website says that their ‘precision drying system revitalises the down and gives a new lease of life with even distribution’, and the claim appears well substantiated.
If your bag hasn’t been cleaned for ages and you have any doubts about the process, fear not!.
5 Comments
Quite agree about Franklins. I sent my 15 yrear old RAB something or other to them, few days later returned to me and had to lift the roof when it was unpacked. You just don’t realise how much down collapses. Well worth the £40 to have it cleaned.
It was a bit embarrasing really, they have obviously needed cleaning for a long time. We’ll probably have them done every couple of years now.
What do you reckon to the Minim 300? it`s rated down to 0C, is that realistic?
Shuttleworth,
Well it is for some people!. It depends more on the person than the bag and a whole range of factors are involved, notably age.
I must be getting old, I regard the Minim as a summer bag. If the temperature was predicted to be 0C, as can often happen overnight in Spring and late Autumn, I would definitely take my ME Lightline, but judging by the many comments I’ve read on the forums about people generally ‘running hot’, I’m sure they would be perfectly OK taking the Minim at 0C, especially if they kept a fleece on, say, for some extra insulation.
Cheers, I`m definitely more of a cold person, so perhaps it`s not for me.