Mountain warehouse Everest Down Sleeping Bag

[philipb]

http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/ca.../everest-down-sleeping-bag-p12038.aspx?cl=Red

I do need a new sleeping bag and today spotted this in the shop and seemed a good buy for £129

Anyone have any experience or views on this bag before I but one?

 

[copper_head]

I'm all for a bargain but beware the build quality of mountain warehouse gear. I'd trust them to make a fleece but not much else, for £129 you could get something from Alpkit. Excellent company to deal with and you can be sure of ethically sourced down.

 

[carloscastinda]

Hi copper_head, I bought a synthetic winter bag from MW, the quality of the outer was low, ripped on the first trip out. I agree, try Alpkit they have nice gear around that price.

 

[Trig]

Yea, i bought a pair of "waterproof" "boots" from them when i was first starting out. Threw them out after my first or 2nd trip, absolutley useless both at the waterproof part and boot part.

Plenty other good makes out there worth a shot id say.

 

[philipb]

"The comfort temperature of the Everest is -3C to - 9C"

this is the comfort temp range from the website but I am not sure if I am reading it correctly is it rated to minus 9 degress comfort or -3 to +9

 

[Trig]

Id say they mean -3 to -9. Though i would doubt it personally.

 

[philipb]

http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/snugpak_black_tactical_3_sleepingbag/?SelectedItem=657654

this might be a better option maybe?

 

[MikeLA]

All but one of my bags are snugpak, good bags given a lot of usage

 

[rorymax]

I reluctantly make a general criticism of a traders products.

Mountain Warehouse, in the most part, I avoid.

 

[philipb]

having done some more research and read a lot of reviews it seems the MW bag is warm enough but is not very breathable and therefor can get a little uncomfortable

I been looking around and have decided to go for a snugpak tactical sleeping bag but im now trying to decide between the 3 or 4 variants.

 

[Old Bones]

Its Mountain Warehouse...

This bag has been mentioned before, although I can't find the link at the moment. I compared it with a decently reviewed down bag, and it looked very dodgy. That fact that it its temp rating is so vague is a red flag in itself. Its also quite bulky for a down bag, which makes sense when you look at the fill power of the down - look at a Robens bag from Cotswold and you will see that even that scores far better. I remember one person commented that a mate of his had bought one, and they had to get him out of it about 2am and make him do star jumps, etc, because he'd gone hypo.

You get what you pay for, and remember that Mountain Warehouse staff get a 50% discount on all stuff - so that bag is £65 at most without markup. If you want a decent down bag for a relatively low price, then, like Copperhead, I'd recommend looking at Alpkit - the Skyhighs https://www.alpkit.com/sleeping-bags are the ones I've got my eye on. I hear good things about Mountain Hardware for synthetic, but I have to admit that when I tried one yesterday at Cotswolds, I found the foot pretty tight - but thats a personal thing.

Avoid pretty much anything by Mountain Warehouse - cheapish stuff with high markup. If you look at the reviews of that bag on their website, think just how many people actually know anything about sleeping bags. There are loads of sleeping bag threads on this site, and on Outdoor Magic, and they all seem to be along the lines of get the best bag you can for your money. This wouldn't be it.

 

[fenrir]

I'm also in favour of Alpkit gear

 

[Barney Rubble]

While I can't speak of the everest bag I felt it fair to come to MW defence. If your in search of a budget sleeping bag then the Mountain Warehouse synthetic bags aren't that bad in my opinion, just don't be mistaken into thinking they're as good as the big name brands. I used their summit 250 3/4 season bag (£25) for a couple of years and had no issues with it, it's still in great condition and I still keep it as my back up. Admittedly I'm a big bloke (17st) and consequently a fairly warm sleeper but I had no qualms in using it in all four seasons (lowest temp was -1) mostly in my hammock and twice in a small tent. I also have two of the MW ventura 40ltr hiking rucksacks which my wife and I have used for hiking the SW coastal path and also to carry clothes, binoculars, flasks and photography kit when my wife and I frequent nature reserves. While I'd never dream of using them for bushcrafty wild camping adventures, the rucksacks are otherwise proving to be more than adequate.

I did however receive an alpkit mountain ghost bag as a christmas gift and can thoroughly recommend that too, it has a similar comfort limit to my old MW bag (-1) and I have used it comfortably at that temperature (wouldn't want to go any lower with it though!). The Everest bag seems to be a bit of an anomoly for MW as it sticks out by some margin compared to the other more reasonably priced bags in their range. I believe you could buy a RAB bag for a similar price! and my alpkit bag is much less too.

 

[philipb]

I went ahead and ordered a snugpak tactical 4 sleeping bag. I have used snugpak bags before so I know what I am getting (both good and bad points). I did like the look of the Robin's Hunter down bag but I decided that was a little too expensive for me.

 

[Fiona1]

My first down bag was the Mountain warehouse Everest, it did me fine for 4 years just doing normal camping, a bit tight around the shoulders and the zip was a bit of a pain came apart a couple of times, but at the time I thought £129 for a bag was a lot of money,but started to go camping all year and it didn't seem to loft as well, so treated my self to an Alpkit Artic Dream 1400.

Boy what a revelation it's like a cocoon, Zips right up, it's amazing, now when I compare the 2 I can see what you all mean they just don't compare, I would never have paid £300 for a bag back then, but you really do get what you pay for and its worth spending as much as you can on a good bag.

 

[Old Bones]

Boy what a revelation it's like a cocoon, Zips right up, it's amazing, now when I compare the 2 I can see what you all mean they just don't compare, I would never have paid £300 for a bag back then, but you really do get what you pay for and its worth spending as much as you can on a good bag.

Thats excellent advice. There are certain things which its worth doing right, and spending a reasonable amount. Boots, Sleeping bag, pack and jacket are all things which have to work, because if they let you down, your going to have a miserable time.

That doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune, but the difference between a £60 sleeping bag and £160 sleeping bag can really count. I always advise people to get the Cotswold catalogue, because its free with an Explorer Card (always handy anyway) and you can sit down with a coffee and actually look at what a bag weighs, what its fill is, how it packs down, how warm it might be , and of course how much it costs (and that goes fro other kit). You don't have to ever buy anything from them, but it does make it a lot easier to see what the market is like. And then get the best you can for your money - good kit is worth it.

 

[Rabid]

Thats excellent advice. There are certain things which its worth doing right, and spending a reasonable amount. Boots, Sleeping bag, pack and jacket are all things which have to work, because if they let you down, your going to have a miserable time.

That doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune, but the difference between a £60 sleeping bag and £160 sleeping bag can really count. I always advise people to get the Cotswold catalogue, because its free with an Explorer Card (always handy anyway) and you can sit down with a coffee and actually look at what a bag weighs, what its fill is, how it packs down, how warm it might be , and of course how much it costs (and that goes fro other kit). You don't have to ever buy anything from them, but it does make it a lot easier to see what the market is like. And then get the best you can for your money - good kit is worth it.

That is very true but I always err on the side of caution when looking at manufacturers weights etc as they do sometimes tend to be conservative with the truthbut it is a good way to while away an hour and a good starting point.

 

[philipb]

good kit is worth paying for. but just because it is expensive does not always mean it is good or suitable for your type of activity

 

[philipb]

my first week of use for my new snugpak tactical 4 sleeping bag.

very pleased with it so far although it was not particularly cold last week. I did have initial reservations about the velvet feel lining as it seemed to catch the rough skin of my hands but after sleeping in it a few nights I am a convert it does give a luxurious feel almost like being in your own bed at home.