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The original was posted on /r/Ultralight by /u/RightCalligrapher942 on 2024-09-12 11:44:26+00:00.
After much thinking I decided to buy a Pajak radical 12z as my winter sleeping bag, and given that there is so little information about it online I decided to make a post here so everybody interested can have a look. I´ll try to go to the point and don´t write too much, if there are questions or comment´s I´ll answer or add more info if needed.
To begin with I have to say that this was a very odd sleeping bag to me; according to data it weighs 1.300 gr has 880 gr of 900 fp polish down, has a IRR layer that reflects body heat, has a wide cut and a weird looking hood. It´s a direct competitor to the WM kodiak, but more expensive (940 euro) and oddly the temp ratings wer worse. -7ºC comfort -14 limit vs -10 comfort -14 limit for the kodiak. Note that WM uses an older UN method to rate their bags than pajak, but who knows wether that affects or not, apparently not.
I will upload photos comparing to toher sleeping bags (WM alpinlite and cumulus panyam) so that people can have a reference, but they are not direct competitors. Take in mind the panyam in photos has pertex shield on the outside (heavier) is size S (up to 176 cm person) and it´s overfilled up to 635 gr of down. WM is 6 foot or 180 cm version
MEASUREMENTS
This is a big bag, according to my measurements it´s wider on the outside that the alpinlite which is also wider than the panyam, so it´s a very wide bag. The biggest difference IMO is that it tappers down slower and into a bigger footbox, so if you sleep on your stomach or sideways you can spread yor legs better.
To measure it in the inside I inflated a ballon until it was not possible to close the zipper tried several times for each bag on the chest and on the feet area. This is what I got.
Circumference in chest:
Pajak: 175cm
WM alpinlite: 164.5 cm
Cumulus panyam 600: 160 cm
Circumference feet
Pajak: 108cm
WM alpinlite: 102 cm
Cumulus panyam 600: 95 cm
Neither of them feel constrictive of narrow. To give you a refence I feel like Cumulus Lite Line 300 IS narrow. Pajak is a palace, the hood is impressive, as good as WM or better (more later) Foot box on the cumulus is the best one, followed by pajak and then WM, although neither is bad or even good, all are excelent but cumulus footbox just feels better for whatever reason while cumulus hood is the worse of the trio.
Pics for you to see about measurements here
LOFT
That´s where we are here for no? I will say very little and will urge you to look at the pics, where there is also a table with the loft of each bag at different places of the bag. To measure this I used a laser leveling too, measured height to the floor, and then measured from the laser to the bag. Sustraction of both measurements gives me actual loft without compressin anything. Conditions of measurements where at 70% ambient humidity so not perfect.
To sum up average loft on pajak is 23.25 cm (9.15 in) wm alpinlite is 15.75 cm (6.2 in) and cumulus is 15.5 cm (6.1 in)
Loft is impressive, it´s somewhere between a kodiak and a puma, closer to the puma, which is really surprising, and imo makes lees understandable the relatively bad temp rating of the bag.
Pics here, the toaks you see in some of the pics is a 550ml one
ABOUT THE BAG ITSELF
What do I think about it? I think it´s a wide bag, with excelent loft and probably very nice behaviour although i´m yet to test it. Details I´d like to highlight:
Fabric is Toray Airtastic, very breathable and very light, but on the hood and feet it has a stronger and semiwaterproof fabric to deal better with moisture. (darker fabric in photos)
It has a lot of places to hang it from, on the feet, on the side, on the inside… nice feature for the mornings (see photos)
It has a big pocket for storing things inside it. It can fit no problem a couple of smartphones (Sony xperia V in photo)
It has no velcro (aleluya) just a clip button (don´t know the name of it in english) this solves several problems, velcro freezes in very intense cold, making it useless sometimes, velcro can stick to your face, your hair, and your expensive merino clothing, I don´t like velcro. This is a very nice feature to my eyes.
The zipper works better than that on the alpinlite, no kidding, and I never thought I would say sth like this, it opens just by pulling from both sides of the zipper, you don´t need to grab the puller itself, this makes it easier to open. There is a video on the following link showing it.
The zipper has double baffling system, like WM does on the puma, byson and so on.
Baffling of the neck, not the same as WM, but look at the pics, it´s by no means far away.
Hood is weird looking, but once you are inside the bag, and you close the zippers, the end of the hood (the opening) is quite far away from your nose, which gives a very good sense of protection, also the baffle around the opening has synthetic insulation to deal better with moisture from breathing, nice touch. The hood is huge, I´d say even too big it´s designed so that the opening sits around your mouth and your eyes sit behind the insulation, but even when cinched there is a lot of room in the hood, maybe is a good place to put some clothing or they designed it thinking on using a pillow. I´m not sure about this, but hood is big big. I will comment on this on a review after the winter.
And that´s it, I´d say you should look at the pics there are a lot of pics, the video using the zipper and detail pics trying to show the reflective layer which is behind the inner fabric in an effort to sepparate that layer from direct contact with the body (I think)
All in all this has been one of those purchases that I was not very sure because of the price but after looking at the product, all the details it has are aligned with my preference, and the bag has surpassed my expectations, although is very expensive I´d say it´s as well made as WM, materials are top notch, and some details of design like hood, zipper and lack of velcro are a bit better resolved than on WM or cumulus. The same small difference that can be between cumulus and WM you can find it between WM and pajak in terms of comfort, all of them are little touches and details that in the end add up in the perceived quality of the product and of course the price. Now let the snow and low temps come to me so I can test it properly
Pics here
P.d. I have yet tu test it, but given what you are seeing, do you believe that this bag is not at least as warm as a kodiak? It´s a pitty I donñt have acces to one so I can compare them.