3 season sleeping bag - Marmot vs WM can you help me chose?

Fellow Mountaineers,

I'm finally in the market for my first quality sleeping bag, intended for 3 season use.

After extensive overthinking and research I narrowed it down to the following options (all in size large):
- WM Versalite (550 €)
- WM Alpinlite (530 €)
- Marmot Helium 15 (345 €)

I would really love to have a WM sleeping bag but I find myself having a hard time to pay 200 € more for them since I also heard a lot of praise for the Marmot.
Btw the price for the WM bags is very good for german conditions right now, they are never on sale here and usually go for 100 € more.
So can you guys help me out? They share similar specs, the WMs being a bit lighter. All have a pretty generous cut which I like for being a side sleeper and generally a pretty active/restless sleeper.

Thank you so much and have a nice weekend!

I can't comment on Marmot, but I have a western mountaineering winter bag and it is awesome, great for side sleeping and really warm. Compared to other brands that I've used WM puts more down in the bag and are more conservative about temperature ratings. This may explain part of the increased cost. I think you get what you pay for, in short.

For me, a winter down bag will last a decade or more, so it was worth it to spend more and get something good quality. Different metrics may be in place for summer bags, which have a shorter life cycle in my house.

The other brand worth looking at is Feathered Friends.

I used to work in the outdoors year round, with backpacking being a significant component of my job. I still do, but only in the summer now. I've slept outside a lot, is what I'm saying.

 The consensus among my coworkers is that Western Mountaineering bags are the tippy top notch. The same goes for Feathered Friends. Really high quality and craftsmanship. Everybody who has one of those bags always raves about them, and finds every opportunity to talk about their bag. I believe them.

I don't own those bags myself. I have a Marmot bag. It's either the Helium or something close to it. I bought it in 2013 as the lightest and best bag I could afford. I lived in it for like 150-200 days a year for four years, then something like 30-50 days a year for the last two years.

 I think you can probably get like 1000 nights or more out of the bag. Most people don't sleep that many nights outside in their whole lives. Seems legit to me.

It kept me warm when I was cold and wet, and it's still in great shape. The bag is super functional and the build quality is really high.

It was much cheaper than WM. I think the performance differential is probably fairly small, though I believe that the WM and FF bags are probably marginally better. Again, going off the opinion of my coworkers.

WM is a smaller, more specialized company. If you like supporting those kinds of companies, it might be worth the extra bucks. When I was 23, I just didn't have the money to choose which companies to support. I do now, and I might choose a WM or FF bag when I replace my Marmot, but I don't think I'll have to for another couple of years. That's a testament to how awesome the Marmot bag is, in my opinion.

I own a WM VersaLite and a Marmot Helium. For the overnight temperatures in the mountains around here, the VersaLite is closer to a winter bag than a 3 season bag, while the Helium is a little light for a 3 season bag. I've also owned a couple other Marmot bags over the years. As Danny says, Western Mountaineering seems a bit more conservative in their temperature ratings than other companies. Both companies make excellent products, but Western Mountaineering seems to make the best product they can without worrying about cost. Marmot bags are very nearly as good, for distinctly less money.

I’ve owned both and used both extensively. The WM are worth the money in the long run. They hold their loft much longer. Just really good quality in all the materials . And as mentioned when they say a bag is good to such and such a temperature they really are. Marmot bags are nice without a doubt but WM bags are just better in my experience.

Thanks for your input guys much appreciated!
I guess WM it's gonna be then. It's my dream bag for a long time and I saved up for one so I think I'll go for it! FF is not available in any german shop unfortunately.
Which of the two bags would you recommend for me? 3 season use should be true, winter use is unlikely. I'm a skinny guy btw with 5'10 and 140 lb but as I said I am a side sleeper and value a bit of extra room.

I have an alpinlight and a mega light. Both are nice, very  roomy and light. Mega is perfect down to freezing but the alpin works for the shoulder seasons when it dips a bit below freezing.

Hey everyone,

Just this morning I saw that Globetrotter is doing 20% on all sleeping bags, including WM. So I pulled the trigger on an alpinlite for 480 € which is kind of a steal. Pretty stoked to get it! They did not have the Versalite so I did not have to make this decision but also an Apache MF, might order one as well and compare them side by side. I'll report back, cheers!

Danny F wrote: I used to work in the outdoors year round, with backpacking being a significant component of my job. I still do, but only in the summer now. I've slept outside a lot, is what I'm saying.

The consensus among my coworkers is that Western Mountaineering bags are the tippy top notch. The same goes for Feathered Friends. Really high quality and craftsmanship. Everybody who has one of those bags always raves about them, and finds every opportunity to talk about their bag. I believe them.

I don't own those bags myself. I have a Marmot bag. It's either the Helium or something close to it. I bought it in 2013 as the lightest and best bag I could afford. I lived in it for like 150-200 days a year for four years, then something like 30-50 days a year for the last two years.

I think you can probably get like 1000 nights or more out of the bag. Most people don't sleep that many nights outside in their whole lives. Seems legit to me.

It kept me warm when I was cold and wet, and it's still in great shape. The bag is super functional and the build quality is really high.

It was much cheaper than WM. I think the performance differential is probably fairly small, though I believe that the WM and FF bags are probably marginally better. Again, going off the opinion of my coworkers.

WM is a smaller, more specialized company. If you like supporting those kinds of companies, it might be worth the extra bucks. When I was 23, I just didn't have the money to choose which companies to support. I do now, and I might choose a WM or FF bag when I replace my Marmot, but I don't think I'll have to for another couple of years. That's a testament to how awesome the Marmot bag is, in my opinion.

I don't know who Danny F is, but he is exactly right. I made the same decision between Marmot and WM at about the same time, and my Helium is still going strong.