REI Magma 17 Women’s Sleeping Bag Review

REI’s women’s specific sleeping bag, the Magma 17 meets all of my standards for an excellent women’s backpacking sleeping bag:

✓ Lightweight

✓ Down insulated

✓ Rated to 17 degrees

✓ Neck Guard

✓ Packs Small

✓ Not Pink!

I got the Magma 17 for a winter backpacking trip to the Peter Grubb Hut in the Sierra Mountains. You can read about the trip here.

Watch the video, or check out the full written review below!

Comes with a large storage bag

Dog Approved!

Narrow Hood

Fluffly and also, my favorite color

Overall excellent design and Comfortable fit

TL;DR I think this sleeping bag is great for a lot of reasons, but there are a few things I would change. Here are my full thoughts:

Sleeping Bag Weight

Regular – 2lbs 4 oz

Long – 2 lbs 6 oz

Fluff

Weight is one of my first considerations when looking at a sleeping bag. For a women’s sleeping bag rated to lower than 25 degrees, I consider anything less than 3lbs to be astounding. Remember — women typically sleep cold and need more insulation. For that reason, a women’s bag will weigh more than a men’s bag of the same temperature rating.

Temperature Rating – 17 degrees

Temperature Range

I tested this sleeping bag in 20-25 degrees and was able to stay comfortable all night. That is impressive because I am terrible at generating heat. Use of an insulated sleeping pad is paramount for staying warm. I use the Klymit Insulated Static V Sleeping Pad.

Packable Size

Regular – 7.3 liters

Long – 7.9 liters

Super Small Hood

The Magma 17 comes with a 7.5 x 15-inch stuff sack, but I ditched it for a Sea to Summit eVent Compression Dry Sack. Compression sacks are great because they help squeeze all the extra air out of the sleeping bag for a nice small fit in your pack. Because of the down insulation, the Magma 17 can compress smaller than other similar sleeping bags with lower quality insulation.

Comfort and Fit

Dogs love this sleeping bag

Inside the sleeping bag, I was very comfortable. I opted for the large as I’m taller than 5’6″.

The width of the bag was just right for me, but I could see it being snug for some folks. It is important to not have too much extra space, however. If the sleeping bag is too large, you won’t be able to warm it with your body heat and you’ll be cold.

The toe box is roomier than many similar sleeping bags, which was noticeable and cozy.

High Quality Down fill

It’s super fluffly and blue

The Women’s Magma 17 uses 850-fill goose down.

The higher the number (i.e. fill-power), the greater the loft (puffiness!), and therefore the less down it requires to provide warmth. Typically you will see 600-850 fill power for a sleeping bag.

One of the drawbacks of down is that it loses loft if it gets wet. To combat this, The Women’s Magma 17 has water-resistant down. The outside material is also water-resistant but I haven’t had the luck to test that out yet.

Long Awaited Neck Guard

Neck Guard on the right

I am so happy that REI chose to include a neck guard with the Magma 17. My previous sleeping bag (an older version of the REI Joule) was missing this extra but important piece. Without a neck guard, cold air would enter the sleeping bag when I rolled over.

The neck guard prevents this by adding a cozy down filled flap that sits along your collarbone and blocks the entrance to the bag.

The placement of the neck guard seems a little off. Since the zipper extends inwards (see below), the neck guard isn’t fully attached to the right-hand side. While it still did a decent job of keeping cold air out, it constantly made me feel like I was positioned incorrectly inside the bag.

Zipper Design

Magma 17 Zipper

The Zipper design on the Magma 17 is unique. Near the top, it curves in towards the center of the bag. I am not a huge fan of this design. I always felt like I was positioned incorrectly in the bag, and it was easy to get the zipper in my mouth. The Zipper also interrupted the neck guard.

A big bonus is that this is the same type of zipper that REI uses on most of their sleeping bags, and I was able to zip right into my husband’s REI Flash sleeping bag.

Pull Tabs

Pull Tabs

You’ll notice that the hood of the Magma 17 is pretty narrow in comparison to other sleeping bags. I think this is great because it’s another way from stopping cold air from getting inside.

Around the hood of the sleeping bag are two pull tabs to tighten the top and bottom portions of the hood. They are made of two different types of string so that you can tell the difference in the dark. The thin flat one will easily pull lose if you put light pressure on the hood. That was disappointing, but I found the same problem with the REI Joule.

The REI Women’s Magma 17 Sleeping Bag

Overall I think that this sleeping bag is one of the best women’s specific bags around. Not only is it not pink by default, but it also has many, if not all of the qualities a serious female (or male for that matter) backpacker would look for.

Have a question about the Magma 17? Ask me in the comments below and I’ll answer.