Sleeping Bags???

[superstealth]

Hi all!!
Im new to the site and very immpressed by it.. :happy-clapping::happy-clapping:

What are you recommendations for a good light weight warm sleeping bag?
When i was in the forces i used to have a snugpac softie 3 hawk, used with a gore tex bivvy bag. It packed down nice and small but it was a little too narrow down near the legs.
There are so many out there, without trying them out it is hard to know where to start.

It has to be small enough to fit in the rukka without filling it and not leaving room for anything else. Not too lightweight that i freeze my nuts of if it drops below 5 deg, like it often does on Dartmoor. O and not too expensive!!

[Martin]

Oh god!!! Don't get me started on this one.

If I understand you right, you want a lightweight, pack small sleeping bag that will keep you warm down to below zero degrees celcius and you don't want to spend much money?

I can exclusively reveal that such a bag doesn't exist. :( Believe me, I've been looking for the same thing myself to no avail. You can have two of those things but not all three and you can take your pick which two.

Basically, the choice comes down to down or synthetic filling. Down is very light for its volume but very expensive whilst synthetic fillings are comparatively heavy but come in relatively cheap.

For the record, I currently have a Snugpak Elite 4 which has a synthetic fill, weighs virtually 2kg, fills a third of my 58 litre rucksack and cost well under £100. I also have a very light weight down filled bag (Argos special I believe) which weighs under a kilo, packs down to the size of a couple of oranges, cost very little but wouldn't be comfortable much below 10 degrees. Clearly both ends of the spectrum with the exception of the price.

You haven't told us what your budget is, or what you consider to be lightweight/low volume. I'm currently looking to spend up to £250 on a new bag which I want to weigh in at around 1kg to pack down nice and small to say 40cm x 20cm and to keep me comfortably warm in my underwear at about -5 degrees. For this specification, I have seen the Golite Adrenaline 3 Season which seems to tick all the boxes. Much outside of this price bracket, you are either going to compromise on comfort or you will have to settle for synthetic fillings and that will mean heavier pack weight and larger volume. There is an alternative which is the Alpkit Pipedream range but they are currently out of stock and are quoting 2012 as a time when they are likely to be able to guarantee reliable stock levels.

Good luck in your search, and please let us know how you get on.

Martin

[The Big Lebowski]

Just looked on the Alpkit site, and they are out of bags, full stop :shocked:

I only have the Skyehigh 600, but it packs down well, has plenty of room to stretch out at night and has handled -5 so far, all be it in the Hunka bivi.

They are due new stock at the end of January for the Skyehigh range, something to consider maybe. They are superb for the money if an affordable down bag is required.

I will be investing in the 1000 for next winter, just for the very extremes.

Regards, al.

[hoppinmad]

Hi
I can second Alpkit sleeping bags, very well specified for the price
Regards
Stu

[superstealth]

Thanks for your input!!

The Alpkit gear does look the very good, I think if i was out on the moor every weekend then I would definitely be spending my well earned pennies on the Alpkit website.

As i rarely get out I'm looking in the lower price range.

I have been looking at some of the other snugpak softie bags, I like the size and the price of them.

How do you rate your elite 4 martin?

I do like the size the down bags pack too, but I'm not a great fan of them unless you are in a water tight tent.

A friend of mine once used one on an exercise on Dartmoor, it was torrential on Friday night and he didn't realize his bivvy bag had a tear in it, the bag got wet and stayed wet all weekend. kinda put me off down bags.

I'm going to keep on searching for a while , I do need one by the end of the month tho as i am going for a weekend walkabout on Dartmoor. hopefully give the new bag a thorough testing.

[Martin]

How do I rate the Snugpak Elite 4? Hmm, well it's warm down to -5 degrees C but you really pay for that insulation in pack size and weight. It doesn't compress down enough to make it easy to pack and it consumes half of my bag.

When I bought it, about 18 months ago, it cost the better part of £100 and if I was in the market for another bag I wouldn't buy another.

My next bag will be a down bag, which will be placed in a waterproof stuff sack when I take it out. I'm prepared to pay over £200 for a sleeping bag because the pain of paying all that money will be forgotten once I've covered the first 20 miles of a 50 mile walk. On the other hand, if I had no intention of walking any distance with my sleeping bag in my pack, I would seriously consider the Snugpak range but a bag that weighs the same as 2 litres of water is just too darned heavy to seriously be considered for hiking and camping.

Martin

[comanighttrain]

dudes, the alpkit guys are due some bags at the end of next week...got a reply when i enquired about a bag... I know ill be ordering one

[Adam Savage]

I picked up a couple of challenger lite 200s for 31.50 each, they pack down way smaller than they state on the specs, weight 1.5kg and have a comfort rating of -7 to +12 and an extreme rating of -12. spent a night out in february with just a tarp over my head and was really warm

[jikido]

I want to throw in my 2p worth. I work on a budget. I have two bags both from tesco. One is a three season bag I think I paid £20 for it and the other is a one season bag which I paid £14 for. In the summer months I sleep in just the one season, and I wear a softie suit as my PJs.

Spring and autumn I use the other bag, and a warm PJs setup. And I haven't tried it yet but in the winter I believe that both bags will keep me toasty.

Now I do use a gortex bivi bag and this does make a difference

Now, I am a wimp when it comes to being cold, and wouldn't use this if I thought even a slight chance of a shiver.

[Adam Savage]

I want to throw in my 2p worth. I work on a budget. I have two bags both from tesco. One is a three season bag I think I paid £20 for it and the other is a one season bag which I paid £14 for. In the summer months I sleep in just the one season, and I wear a softie suit as my PJs.

Spring and autumn I use the other bag, and a warm PJs setup. And I haven't tried it yet but in the winter I believe that both bags will keep me toasty.

Now I do use a gortex bivi bag and this does make a difference

Now, I am a wimp when it comes to being cold, and wouldn't use this if I thought even a slight chance of a shiver.

I have a few of the various Tesco sleeping bags, all of them have done me proud. They are cheap, light, well made, warm and more comfortable next to the skin than my USAF bag. Haven't tried them in extreme conditions yet, but that's why I bought the Challenger Lite 200 (copy of the snugpak softie 4, but lighter), which has been so warm, I've had to un-zip it.