Gear Review: The North Face Blue Kazoo Women's Sleeping Bag

The Bottom Line: At the ultralight weight of just over 2 pounds (for the regular), The North Face's Blue Kazoo sleeping bag delivers a comfortable, toasty night's sleep without breaking the bank. It doesn't skimp on important features, and it even comes complete with a compression sack to fit it into your backpack more easily.

The North Face Blue Kazoo. Photo by Emily Pennington.

The first thing that wowed me when I took this bag out of the box was how thin and light it felt. I immediately double-checked the tags to ensure that it was, in fact, a 15-degree sack. It's stuffed full of 650-fill hydrophobic down, meaning you save weight and can compress it smaller than a 600-fill counterpart, while getting the same warmth value. At about $300, this is an excellent price for a solid three-season sleeping bag with this temperature rating.

Even at this price, The North Face didn't skimp on the features, either! The Blue Kazoo comes complete with a vaulted foot box for ergonomic comfort, a drawstring around the head to seal in warmth, and a draft collar around the neck to feel cozy and tucked in at night. Like most sleeping bags, it also has a double zipper system in case you want to vent around the foot area or connect a friend's second bag to make a big tent bed.

The bag's inner lining of 20D nylon taffeta will have you feel like you are slumbering in fairyland. It is ultra soft and breathable. The outer shell is a 20D nylon ripstop that'll stay sturdy should you roll off your pad in the night.

Speaking of rolling off pads - you won't have to! The Blue Kazoo has pad loops to attach a sleeping pad to its bottom so that you don't suffer from migrating around your cold tent when you're trying to catch some Zs.

The only consideration I had about this bag is that it's a mummy shape. If you're a side sleeper like me, it's a bit tricky to get comfortable when your feet feel tangled up in the bottom. A little fidgeting with the full-length side zippers helped alleviate my problems, but had it been a colder night, this might have been an issue. I also would have loved to see a neck pocket for a pillow or snack and chapstick.

If you're looking for a similar bag but with a slightly warmer or cooler comfort temperature rating, The North Face actually makes an array of other Kazoo bags (like the Green Kazoo) with similar pricing, weight, and features. There's something for everyone!

If you want a warm, lightweight women's sleeping bag for high alpine objectives or backpacking at altitude, and a standard 25- to 30-degree bag isn't going to cut it, then definitely consider the 15-degree Blue Kazoo from The North Face. It has all the features you would want from a mummy bag plus a lifetime guarantee, all at a totally reasonable price.