NEWSLETTER SIGNUP
Warmth and comfort are simply two of several criteria which make for a great sleeping bag. The Rab Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag has these characteristics mastered and also packs down incredibly small, uses only he best materials such as hydrophobic down and looks as good as it works. For its innovation, design and just getting everything right, the Rab Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag takes home our prestigious Gear of the Year Award.
The Backcountry Skiing Canada Team.
Rab has always produced top shelf products and we here at Backcountry Skiing Canada are big fans. While most of our past reviews have been on their climbing and ski apparel we have previously reviewed one of their sleeping bags, the Rab Neutrino 200 Down Sleeping Bag. While this down bag is ideal for warm summer nights, I wanted to have a look at the Rab Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag, which is an ultra light sleeping bag for slightly cooler summer nights providing maximum warmth and minimum weight. It’s ideal for those that like to travel fast-and-light and don’t need a sleeping bag that’s too warm. At only 656 grams, the Rab Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag is truly “ultra-light”. While down doesn’t weigh much, the fabrics that contain it do. This is why Rab chose to use Pertex Quantum GL for the inner and outer fabrics as it has virtually no thickness and weight but can still stand up to light abrasions.
The Infinity 300 gets its name from the fact that it uses 300 grams of fluorocarbon free hydrophobic 850FP European goose down. This is premium goose down that’s going to repel water vapour in order to keep you warmer, longer, while not harming the environment in the process. Moisture builds up in any sleeping bag given its warm interior and cold exterior; condensation accumulates inside the bag around the insulation. We all know that wet down has little to no insulating properties, so Rab’s hydrophobic 850 fill down minimizes this problem by not allowing the water vapour to hinder the down’s ability to keep its loft, thus keeping you warm.
The Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag uses a redesigned, trapezoidal vertical baffle system called “Insotect Flow” in conjunction with integrated flow gates to prevent the down from migrating throughout the sleeping bag. Insotect Flow allows heat to travel up and down the sleeping bag thanks to the vertical baffles rather than being trapped in one area like in traditional horizontal baffle designs. The Infinity 300 also incorporates an angle foot box so you can sleep more comfortably with your feet in a more natural anatomical state. It also features an anti-snag YKK 1/2 length zipper and of course an internal collar and hood draw cord.
- Trapezoidal vertical baffle system uses Insotect Flow technology (specially customized for Rab) to control the down
- Mummy taper shape
- Proportionally assigned differential cut
- Anti-snag zipper webbing tape
- Angled foot box
- Stuff sack
- Cotton storage sack
- Hand filled in Derbyshire UK
- The well designed hood can be tightened around your head to prevent heat loss and cold air chilling you
- Internal collar and hood draw cord
- ½ length YKK 5 coil main zip with a velcro closure system
Fill - Rab fluorocarbon free hydrophobic 850FP European goose down developed in conjunction with Nikwax.
Shell - Pertex Quantum GL fabric
The Insotec Flow Design with super light Pertex Quantum GL fabric.
If you have a look at our sleeping bag comparison chart over here, you’ll notice that the Rab Infinity 300 is one of the lightest sleeping bags we’ve reviewed to date, relative to its insulation value and pack size. While size and weight are important metrics for rating a sleeping bag’s overall success or failure, I also have to consider the other features and benefits that it offers relative to its competitors. While this is one expensive sleeping bag, it does utilize fluorocarbon free hydrophobic 850FP European goose down and Insotect Flow technology which I discussed earlier. These are two features which are typically only found in higher quality sleeping bags and the reason Rab included them in the Infinity 300.
I have been testing the Rab Infinity 300 sleeping bag on several early season camping trips in warmer than average April weather. This time of year you still require a full-on winter sleeping bag for nights at higher elevation, so I decided to limit my testing of the Infinity 300 to lower elevations where the nighttime temperature hovered between -1°C and +5°C. The Infinity 300 is rated with a comfort level of +3°C and a lower limit rating of -2°C, so I figured I should be able to stay warm and get a good night’s sleep. On all but one night I was proven correct; All but the night where the low was just shy of -1°C. This night I did find that I was cold just before dawn around 4:30 AM. While I didn’t find any cold spots within the bag itself, I was just generally cold, and rightly so, as this was pushing the limits of the Infinity’s 300 grams of down insulation. Overall, the testing that I performed in the field provided comfortable, warm sleeps.
On the down side, I found that the internal collar and hood draw cords were continually in my face and excessively long when synched up. A less rigid and softer cord could remedy this annoyance. The only other issue I had with the Rab Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag was the fact that the 1/2 length zipper did not have a pull tap attached to it. This made it very difficult to find the zipper in the middle of the night when having to answer natures call. The zipper is designed to flip from the inside of the bag to the outside which only exacerbated the issue as it always seemed to be on the outside of the sleeping bag when I was on the inside. A lashing of cord to the zipper pull quickly resolved the problem, but I feel this could be an easy fix at the manufacturing stage for future generations of this sleeping bag.
Overall the Rab Infinity 300 Sleeping Bag offers up a premium design complete with the best materials and down insulation available. If you are looking for a super light and compact sleeping bag to keep you warm over the summer months, then look no further.
PROS:
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CONS:
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Price: $600CAN
Weight: 656g / 1lb 7oz
Colour: Grey/Lime Yellow
Fill Weight: 300g / 10.6oz
Insulation: Fluorocarbon free Hydrophobic 850FP European Goose Down
Dimensions: Max user height 190cm / 6’ 3”, Shoulder width 70cm / 27.5”, Hip width 52cm / 20.5”, Foot width 41cm / 16”
Temp Rating: Comfort 3C/37F, Limit -2C/28F, Extreme -18C/0F
Packed Size: 18x27cm / 7x10.6”
Warmth: 2/2 Compressibility: 2/2 Features: 1.5/2 Weight: 2/2 Quality/Price: 1.5/2 |
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