Any diff? Temp rating on women's and men's sleeping bags

[Dr Nick]

Thanks to the bargain alert thread, and being a short bloke, I'm the happy owner of a mountain equipment women's sleeping bag.

Once again the bargain alert thread has come up trumps and the sea to summit bags look tempting for a winter bag - as I sleep really 'cold'.

The women's bag I'm interested in has a comfort rating of -10 degrees C.

A quick google has left me a bit confused - I've learnt that women apparently sleep 'colder'.

Do I need to adjust the rating to allow for me being a bloke?

thanks all.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Basically (and enough for our purpose), the higher confort rating is that which the average woman will be warm enough to sleep and the lower comfort rating is that where an average man will be. Obviously, many factors effect these ratings so they should only be taken as a rough guide. Even gender specific bags still tend to list both higher / lower comfort rating.

Not uncommon for ladies bags (yes, I'm sure there's a joke in there) to have more down in the foot box and / or across the chest.

Ignore the extreme rating - that's simply an indication that you shouldn't actually die.

[whitestone]

I think it's better to think of the "comfort" rating being for cold sleepers and the "limit" rating for warm sleepers even though the ISO standard uses "standard woman" and "standard man".

As an alternative to a specific winter bag maybe look at a synthetic bag or quilt to wrap your current bag. Very roughly two 5C rated bags/quilts used together are OK to -5/6C, for me that's good enough for most UK nights. Have a look at this article https://support.enlightenedequipment.co ... t-Layering - there's another recent thread about this, Alpinum posted a simple formula to work out loft to temperature ratings.

[Dr Nick]

Thanks both, most useful.

Whilst riding the the ridgeway last Dec with Pickers it was about -1 or -2 overnight - cold enough to have to chip the frozen mud off the bike in the morning.

In my women's bag with a +1 or +2 rating I was just warm enough with thermal top and longs, a thick down jacket and merino beanie and silk inner and merino outer socks! Whilst Pickers was snug as a bug in his thin synthetic bag with minimal layers on!

And yeah I know I should stop being soft, but my logic is a women's bag rated at
Comfort temperature: -10 ˚C
Limit temperature: -18 ˚C
Extreme temperature: -28 ˚C

Should mean I can dispense with the extra layers at the very least, when its a bit below freezing.

I'm not a weight weeny (I ride a fat bike for heaven's sake ) but overall I should end up carrying less! And being snug. Win!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Comfort temperature: -10 ˚C
Limit temperature: -18 ˚C
Extreme temperature: -28 ˚C

Should keep you plenty warm enough in the UK without additional layers even as a cold sleeper ... goes without saying, you need a decent mat too.

[psling]

... goes without saying, you need a decent mat too

Also, get in warm - hot meal/hot drink/a few star jumps! - sleeping bags insulate, they don't heat you up (sorry if teaching granny to suck eggs... )

[Dr Nick]

Yup, bag is an insulated winter Thermarest of some kind that I use year round.
Good reminder point on the being warm - an excuse for even more tea to be consumed! yay!

[RIP]

"hot meal/hot drink". I remember I queried this a while ago and not sure a definitive conclusion was reached. It's quite an important question too, being such received wisdom. I wasn't sure how a few fluid ounces (oh alright millilitres) of hot liquid, say tea at 160degF, could have much effect on, say, a 170lb lump of endothermic body at 98.6degF. This article implies there's a handwarming effect and a psychological effect, but nothing that really raises your core temperature: https://blog.nols.edu/2016/01/11/do-hot ... arm-you-up.

"Even though hot drinks don't greatly affect your internal body temperature, they serve several very important purposes" - "happy campers with hot drinks are nicer than grumpy folks with ice chunks in their water bottle". Amen to that at least!

"Note also that your body's natural efforts to warm up in the cold raise your metabolism significantly. That is, you burn far more calories than you normally do, when you are not trying to warm your body" - implies we're self-regulating within certain temperature boundaries (obviously hypothermia etc are another ballgame).

Physiologists?

Mr Troublemaker Reg (but genuinely interested)

[psling]

Not to mention the subsquent need to crawl out of your bag in the freezing cold to take a pee at 02.43am because of that last hot drink Reg ...

[TheBrownDog]

Whilst Pickers was snug as a bug in his thin synthetic bag with minimal layers on!

Pickers was probably freezing but he's hard as a coffin nail and would never reveal any sign of weakness. Most likely, he spent every night wondering if he could get away with a Star Wars-esque bivvy bag .... lucky at that time of year the farmers take in their flocks and herds.