Down sleeping bag?

Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
I might saddle up the unicorn and get down Derby to the Rab Outlet

Still apparently a place of legend, but you could see what Alpkit have as seconds in their warehouse shop, or there is ebay. There is a seller or two offering some interesting deals on Mountain Equipment down jackets, etc, and they do some sleeping bags as well. Just search for 'mountain equipment down', and daz is the seller, plus of course whoever else is out there.
 

Insel Affen

Settler
Aug 27, 2014
530
86
Tewkesbury, N Gloucestershire
Still apparently a place of legend, but you could see what Alpkit have as seconds in their warehouse shop, or there is ebay. There is a seller or two offering some interesting deals on Mountain Equipment down jackets, etc, and they do some sleeping bags as well. Just search for 'mountain equipment down', and daz is the seller, plus of course whoever else is out there.

Well I saddled up Buttercup (my prized unicorn) this morning and bit the bullet, off we went to middle earth and I set forth on my great journey to Alfretonshire!!

Got to the Warehouse about 11am and stood in the queue for an hour, mooched round the shop for a bit and then stood in the queue for the till for another 45 mins! The good thing was that there was an additional 30% off all sleeping bags today!!!!!

Upshot was a choice between an Ascent 500 (marked at £160), and Ascent 700 (marked at £180) and a Neutrino 400 (marked at £220). I nearly bought half a dozen and then thought about how to tell the wife I could make a profit selling them, then again, she used to be a Forensic Scientist, so I put them back.

After much Google I plumped for the Ascent 500 (despite picking the Neutrino 400 first, but then changed my mind). The only drawback is that it didn't have a stuff sack. Still as it only cost me £96, so I thought it was both a bargain and worth the trip!
 

Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
I plumped for the Ascent 500 ....... Still as it only cost me £96, so I thought it was both a bargain and worth the trip!

So still some good deals, but not legendary!
I'd heard it could be a bit of scrum at certain sales, with a lot of grabbing and everyone looking to dump their stuff on Ebay. Glad to hear that it wasn't quite that bad, but 45min is a long time to wait in a queue to just pay!

BTW - are they selling LA stuff in there as well?
 

Insel Affen

Settler
Aug 27, 2014
530
86
Tewkesbury, N Gloucestershire
So still some good deals, but not legendary!
I'd heard it could be a bit of scrum at certain sales, with a lot of grabbing and everyone looking to dump their stuff on Ebay. Glad to hear that it wasn't quite that bad, but 45min is a long time to wait in a queue to just pay!

BTW - are they selling LA stuff in there as well?

Yeah it was pretty civilized, but then again I wasn't there early doors so there may well have been a scrum. There was talk of e-bay, but I didn't see loads of people carrying out 15 bags of shopping. Oh and they are selling Lowe Alpine too, in fact I'd say it was pretty much 50/50.

I was a bit disappointed that they seemed to sell more clothes than general outdoor stuff. If they'd had cooking gear, Tarps or other accessories, I may have parted with much more money.
 

Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
I was a bit disappointed that they seemed to sell more clothes than general outdoor stuff. If they'd had cooking gear, Tarps or other accessories, I may have parted with much more money

Clothes are probably more likely to be seconds, samples, old stock, etc.
 

shovel reccy

Forager
Feb 22, 2007
129
0
53
cambridge
how did you get on with the down bag search? i just picked up the oex leviathan ev hydrodown 900 from go outdoors as its only |£120 at the moment seem to be on par with many more exspensive brands.
 

Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
OEX is Go Outdoors higher level 'own brand' and seems decent. But I notice that the fill power is 600, whereas the Rab Ascent 900 is 650 - although the filling is the same weight, (900g), the Rab has a comfort rating 2 degrees lower ( minus 9 vs minus 11) - thats one reason for the lower price.

But the OEX stuff I've seen seems fine (1.37kg isn't bad at all for that rating), and the clothing looks not dissimilar to some of Cotswolds Ayachuro stuff in terms of quality. For £120, thats a good deal.
 

greg.g

Full Member
May 20, 2015
315
170
birmingham
I have been thinking of a down bag for a while now. I was concerned about how the down was sourced, so in the end deceided on the Rab accent 700.
Taunton leisure are doing them for £180, but I popped down to my local Go Outdoors where they have them on sale for £216! But they do a price match plus an extra 10% saving so I paid £162.
It seems to be a good product, but I have yet to put it to the test outdoors.
Happy New Year all:happy::happy::happy:
 

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