The North Face Green Kazoo sleeping Bag is a spacious and more affordable zero-degree winter sleeping bag insulated with 700 fill power water-resistant down. It has a beefy draft collar and hood, a two-way zipper, and an internal draft tube. Weighing 3 lbs 5 oz, it’s surprisingly compressible for a 0-degree bag, providing a warm haven with plenty of internal gear storage space for water bottles, electronics, and boot liners on those cold winter nights.
Specs at a Glance
- Type: Mummy
- Temperature Rating: 0*F
- 15*F/-10*C Comfort
- 1*F/-17*C Limit
- -38*F/-39*C Extreme
- Insulated: Hydrophobic 700 fill power RDS
- Zipper: Left, Full length and a Double Zip
- Weight: 3 lbs 5 oz
- Shell: 20D nylon ripstop
- Liner: 20D nylon taffeta
- Length: 72″
- Girth – Shoulder/Hip/Feet (64/59/NA)
- Compression sack: Included
The Green Kazoo is a well-appointed and spacious 0*F men’s sleeping bag designed for winter use. It is insulated with 700 fill power water-resistant down which helps keep its price lower without a significant weight increase over comparable sleeping bags. The North Face also sells a women’s version of the Green Kazoo rated for 5-degrees.
The Green Kazoo is on the large size in terms of the shoulder (64″) and hip (59″) girth which is good if you want a sleeping bag that has more internal space so you can store damp boot liners and water bottles inside, so they don’t freeze overnight.
I’ve owned other high girth sleeping bags like the Western Mountaineering Puma -25*F and the Nemo Sonic 0*F and the TNF Green Kazoo 0 feels considerably larger in the chest than both of those great sleeping bags, although the specs say they’re nearly the same.
The Green Kazoo has all of the features you expect on a cold-weather sleeping bag. It has a well-stuffed mummy hood, a wrap-around draft collar to cover the neck and upper chest, and a two-way zipper with a draft tube alongside. Let’s take a closer look at these while I explain their significance for cold-weather camping and backpacking.
Draft Collar
A draft collar is a tube of goose down that drapes across your upper chest to seal in the warm air inside the sleeping bag. It prevents what’s called the “bellows effect”, which causes warm air to be being pushed out the top of a sleeping bag when you move around at night.
Draft collars are commonly found on winter sleeping bags but what you want to look for are bags that run the collar for 360 degrees behind your neck, upper back, and over your chest so it does not let warm air sneak out when you toss and turn or sleep in your side.
The Green Kazoo has a beefy draft collar that runs 360 degrees around your upper torso. The front and back sections meet over your left shoulder and connect up with a large velcro patch. There’s also an elastic cord on the right side of the collar that is used to tension it and seal it in place.
But for the draft collar to be effective, you need to zip up the Kazoo’s side zipper fully and crank down the mummy hood so that it creates a good seal around your face. Getting all those components secured and working in tandem can be a bit of a struggle, noticeably more so than other sleeping bags I used in the past. It’s worse if you have to do it multiple times at night. However, once you have sealed everything up, you’ll be very toasty.
Draft Tube
The Green Kazoo has an oversized down-filled draft tube that runs the length of the side zipper. When you zip up the sleeping bag, it covers the zipper on the inside so your legs don’t come in contact with it or cold air that might leak through the teeth. The Kazoo has a full-length zipper that runs from the foot box up to the hood and then continues along the bottom of the hood.
Zipper and the Zipper Guard
There’s a stiffened black piece of fabric tape that runs along both sides of the Green Kazzoo’s zipper that’s designed to prevent the zipper from getting stuck in the shell fabric. I’ve ripped the shell fabric of sleeping bags made by other manufacturers that don’t have this feature. Unfortunately, it’s mediocre on the Kazoo and you still have to pay attention when zipping up the bag to prevent it from snagging. That’s not always so easy when you’re lying on your back.
The Green Kazoo has a double zipper, which is a nice feature on a 0-degree bag because it lets you vent your feet, waist, or torso if you get to warm or want to use the bag in warmer temperatures. The zipper pulls are large so they’re easy to find by touch in the dark. The zipper pulls are also glow-in-the-dark, although you’ll probably never see them if you have the mummy hood closed up.
Other Notable Features
There’s a small chest pocket along the draft tube that’s large enough for an iPhone or a headlamp, so you can find them at night. The bag has an oversized vaulted foot box so the tops of your toes won’t get cold if you’re lying on your back. There are also small webbing loops on the bag of the bag that could be used to attach it to a sleeping pad.
Recommendation
The North Face Green Kazoo 0*F is a good value when compared to other zero-degree bags that cost significantly more. While it’s insulated with 700 fill power down instead of a higher grade, it still compresses well and provides an impressive amount of warmth. It’s very well featured and functional with all of the technical features you’d expect on a more expensive sleeping bag and quite roomy inside, which is a definite plus if you want to sleep with some of your gear to keep it from freezing in the cold.
Disclosure: The author purchased this product.
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