[pct-l] Western Mountaineering

[Jim Keener]

Hi Len,

I like Western Mountaineering and their bags. Have for years. And I  
want accurate information. I understand your frustration about the bag  
and its advertised weight. Feathered Friends makes what I consider a  
custom bag. You might want to contact them. But it takes time - two  
months in 2004. I did not like the head opening on the FF bag and that  
is one of the reasons I am getting the WM one. No compromises on the  
bag for me. And I am counting partial ounces, too. I got a  
gossamergear Miniposa in the mail today. Fine. I saw the tiny box and  
thought, "That cannot be the pack. It must be the pad they send along  
with it. Very light, though I have not weighed it yet. Let's see if  
Glen Van Van Peski is accurate. It is a beautiful pack.

Good luck with your decision.

Jim Keener ( J J )
http://oldmanwalking.net

On Feb 19, 2008, at 3:28 PM, Len Glassner wrote:

> I called WM today.  The guy asked me how often my scale is calibrated.
> Hmmm...how often should one recalibrate one's kitchen scale?  Fellow
> said they make stuff to pretty close tolerances, shouldn't  be off by
> more than an ounce or so...maybe the down is damp?  I could send it to
> them and if it was overfilled they'd take out the extra.  I said I'd
> go to the San Diego A16, they have a hanging scale, if that validated
> my kitchen scale measurement we'd figure out where to go from there.
>
> Took the bag down to A16.  Christo, the manager, weighed the bag, came
> up with the same weight I did.  We weighed two more Ultralites, same
> result, three ounces over.  Christo called WM.  (WM provides neither
> an email address nor a phone number on their website.  Christo said
> that when they did provide that info, they couldn't turn out product
> because of the interruptions. WM is a three-person operation.)  He was
> told that they've made various changes to the product over the years
> and hadn't weighed the bags in a while.  The WM dude was going to look
> into it further.  I hope they update their product info if they find
> it is out of date.
>
> I wonder how accurate the listed weights are on their other products?
>
> I still have the bag, may keep it just out of inertia.  But I probably
> wouldn't have bitten if I'd been given the correct info.
>
> It's a nice bag.  Full zip, my current bag has a partial, so I'd have
> more flexibility. I can lie sideways in it and not turn the bag.  And
> this is a narrow cut.  What I really need is a custom one that matches
> my thin dimensions.  I might try to make one out of grommets, a trash
> compactor bag, and duct tape.  Anyone have a pattern?
>
> If one is trying to evaluate an item marketed as lightweight, it is
> helpful to be given an accurate weight.  Truth in advertising is a
> good thing, IMHO.  I thought shining a light on this situation, in a
> forum with millions of participants, might be helpful to those
> considering a WM bag.  And there's the fun part, where you get to hear
> from all those who say  'HYOH...maybe...but the way you go about it is
> crazy wrong.'.
>
>
> On 2/15/08, Len Glassner <len5742 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I just bought a WM Ultralite 6' bag.  Marketed as 20 degrees, 1 pound
>> 10 ounces.  It  replaces my 6'6" 15 degree 2 pound bag.  Saving 6
>> ounces and giving up only a slight amount of warmth looked good to  
>> me.
>>
>> Thing is, the WM bag weighs one pound, 13.3 ounces. Less than half  
>> the
>> weight savings I expected.  This pisses me off.
>>
>> So the moral is:  Don't trust; verify.
>>
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