Sleeping bag recommendations

[duncdan]

Hi

Looking for a 1kg bag at £100. Any recommendations?

Thanks

[Lazarus]

down or synthetic
temp range

Going to be hard to recommend without knowing these factors

[Cheeky Monkey]

Quilt or bag?

What mat are you using?

[RIP]

Quite a precise spec - 'sleeping bag, 1kg and £100' .

https://rockrun.com/products/mountain-h ... f-0-c-long

£99.95 (50% off!!) - five pence to spare, and 900g - admittedly not maximising the weight but what a fab colour scheme

[RIP]

Or

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/mountain-hardw ... eping-bag/

if you prefer a more precise weight (995g) and a less precise cost (£89 - 40%off!!). -1c covers most outings and it's even named after me ('Reg'). A more sensible colourway which is a shame though.

[duncdan]

Thanks for the links. I'm order to maximise performance and weight I thought down would be best but not essential. Is down still best at this price point? Those synth ones look good!

Maybe I should have written about 1kg and about 100£?

I'd love a personal recommendation as bags seem to vary massively and I don't believe most of the temperature claims.

[redefined_cycles]

I've got the yellow bag. Its lovely. Not as packable as my PHD minimus (now sold on) but with only an extra 200g in weight on the down bag and similar temo ratings, am hoping it might just be ok for this winter.

Its an A* from me (at that price) for the 9ne Stu endorsed below

[Bearbonesnorm]

You'll be very hard pushed to beat the first bag Reg posted for £100. Nothing man-made yet fully compares to down. However, the price of down has risen a lot over the last few years pushing the minimum price point higher - obviously cheaper down bags are available but IMO you'd be better served by a quality synthetic bag than a cheap (poor quality) down bag.

[duncdan]

Good advise, many thanks, what do you think the tipping point towards a down bag would be? I did look at the Vango venom 200 at £130 but i dont think that its much better than the synthetic bag suggested? an alpkit bag would be nice but more again....

[whitestone]

Good advise, many thanks, what do you think the tipping point towards a down bag would be? I did look at the Vango venom 200 at £130 but i dont think that its much better than the synthetic bag suggested? an alpkit bag would be nice but more again....

Note that European manufacturers should be complying with EN13537 which deals with temperature ratings of sleeping bags so should be close to their stated rating. Whether that rating applies to you is another matter: cold/warm sleeper; well fed/hungry; tired/fresh; etc. A particular bag might be fine one night and not the next.

As Stu says, the price of down products across all manufacturers has increased much more than the rate of inflation over the past four or five years, that's regardless of down quality so it's not as if it's just the high fill power items have gone up more than everything else. Quite why I don't know, it doesn't seem to be a regional thing, usually increases like this are due to either an increase in demand or a restricted supply.

The tipping point probably depends on your priorities. The usual criteria are: weight; packed size; cost; damp resistance; and to a lesser extent product longevity. The first three are the usual suspects and you'll often see something like: lightweight, minimal bulk, cheap - pick two, which basically means you've got to compromise.

I think that once you get away from "summer only" bags then down becomes increasingly attractive mainly due to the much lower level of compression in synthetic insulation. One problem with cheaper down bags is that they use a fill with a lower down to feather ratio so they can feel "itchy" when the feather quills poke at the material.

A quick look around shows something like the Mountain Equipment Helium 400, rated to -3C, about 100g lighter than the Lamina and packs smaller but is £220. If you get on with quilts then the Cumulus 250 weighs 490g, rated to 0C and costs £170 (but I think the price has just gone up to around £190), the next model up, the 350, weighs 600g and is rated to -4C. So you see lots of choice. (How can the Cumulus 350 be rated warmer than the ME Helium? Well the Helium uses 700fp down and the Cumulus 850fp, plus it's a quilt which will be around 100g lighter anyway)

Sorry, all that probably wasn't much help For me, once you get to the £150 - £200 sort of mark then you should be into the better quality down bags/quilts.

[Bearbonesnorm]

The Skyehigh 500 from Alpkit represents good value at £155. However, it's not much lighter than the Lamina although it will compress more. A quality down bag is best considered a long term investment as if cared for, it should last a very long time.

Do you want it for year round use or just the warmer months?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Are you a member of Sports Pursuit? If so, these are a bargain and will do everything you need and more ... and under your target budget.

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/pr ... Jwb3MiOjd9

[duncdan]

this would be a spring and autumnal bag, was about to pull the trigger on the mountain hardware bag but the down bag looks better, exactly what i hoped there might be, guess ill try that one!

Again thanks, saved me from another ebay mistake!

[redefined_cycles]

Are you a member of Sports Pursuit? If so, these are a bargain and will do everything you need and more ... and under your target budget.

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/pr ... Jwb3MiOjd9

Stu... I dont know why I didn't take this more seriously before. Just pulled the trigger with a link from elsewgere and was just coming here to serenade my bargain and put a message in the 'bargain alert'thread... But now realised you had mentioend it here already. Hopefully it'll keep me warm for the next few months in the cold bivvys

[composite]

Are you a member of Sports Pursuit? If so, these are a bargain and will do everything you need and more ... and under your target budget.

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/pr ... Jwb3MiOjd9

There's a lot of pillows on SP at the moment Stu, I bet you're spending a fortune.