Kelty Cosmic 20 Sleeping Bag Review:
A cold spring drizzle was coming down, and against all logic, I laid the Cosmic 20 sleeping bag — filled with Dri-Down — out in the open for it to get soaked. For good measure, I poured 3 liters of water on it and rubbed it into the down the best I could.
I gave it a good shake to remove the water, tossed it in the tent, and climbed in for bed.
I wasn’t prepared for how bad wet down smells — think wet dog. But despite the dank cocoon, I stayed warm until around 4:00 a.m. With an air temp of 28-degrees (and a ‘feels-like’ temp of 22-degrees) I grabbed my puffy and was warm the rest of the night.
For a true temp test, I slept in it under the stars on a night with an 18-degree windchill and light snow. The heavy-weight wool top kept me toasty warm all night but my bottoms failed me and I dealt with cold legs for a few hours in the early morning.
Fitting sleepers up to 5’8”, this Kelty bag is a little longer than the others and definitely felt roomy.
What I Liked
As advertised, the DriDown kept me dry on several chilly spring nights. This is a standard down bag with everything you’d expect at the $150 price point. The water-repellent down is a definite upgrade and makes it a solid buy.
When packed into a compression stuff sack it’s noticeably smaller than synthetic bags similar in temp and price.
What I Didn’t Like
Overall, it’s a great bag and functionally I didn’t find much to gripe about. Being 5’4″ I would have preferred it fit to 5’6″ and not 5’8″.
Who Should Buy It?
The Kelty Cosmic 20 is a solid 3-season bag. If 20-degrees is the lowest temperature you would plan to camp, this could be the only bag you need. At 2 lbs. 9 oz. it’s not ultralight, but would be great for any camping trip.
Kelty Cosmic 20 Specs
- Degree Rating: 19 degrees
- Weight: 2 pounds 9 ounces (1165g-33g)
- Insulation Type: 600 fill down, treated with DriDown
- Fits to: 5 foot 8 inches
- Fill Weight: 19 ounces
- Outer Fabric: 50D down proof ripstop polyester
- Inner Fabric: 50D polyester taffeta
- Price: $150