New law on sleeping bags

[jakunen]

A new European law is being introduced to stop all the confusion regarding what actually constitues a 'season' rated bag.

From now on ALL manufactureres will have to submit bags for independent external testing and rating and the 'season' classification will likely be dropped.

All bags will have to show two REALISTIC ratings for 'Comfort zone' and 'extreme use'.

Now how long have we been campaigning for this???

 

[Squidders]

12 minutes and 48 seconds?

 

[leon-1]

Jak, I would imagine that this will be quite a lenghty process as we all know that for some we can get by with a slightly lighter bag.

They will have to test over a group of people and then take the worst case scenario of each or a percentile down at the lower end / higher temperature for each bag. This in turn would mean that for the average person the bag may be warmer than they were expecting.

 

[tenbears10]

who will foot the bill for all this extra testing? You guessed it the people buying the finished product......you and me. Comfort is subjective just ask my wife when I am turning the heating down and she is taking a hot water bottle to bed.

It is good in principal but I can't see you can put exact figures on comfort. Next thing will be people returning bags because they were cold and it said they would be comfortable. Can of worms if you ask me

Bill

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

suddenly all those bargain bags will not seem such a bargain me thinks! :shock:

 

[jakunen]

Yes, it will take a while to some through, for those manufacturers that don't already do it, but it will standardise things.

One company's idea of what a '2 season' or 'autumn' bag is wildly different from anothers.
And by giving the temperature ratings you will have more of an idea whether a bag will be hot or cool for you.
Ok, so you still won't be able to please everbody (especially as there is no such thing a 'normal' or 'standard' human being, I'm a 'normal' size but still find most thermal tops too short in the sleeve...), but it will, or should, eliminate a lot of guess work when you want a new bag.

 

[jack29g]

This is great news, but has anyone heard of the en13537 test? It talks about in the trail gear guide, even though the test is new trail says it has already caused lots of problems, is this the universal test you are going on about?

 

[hootchi]

This is great news, but has anyone heard of the en13537 test? It talks about in the trail gear guide, even though the test is new trail says it has already caused lots of problems, is this the universal test you are going on about?

Yep your right mate. :biggthump

Here is a little article on the subject:
http://www.escape2.co.uk/advice/advice_en13537.htm

 

[arctic hobo]

If it's the same one I posted here, then great is the last blimmin thing it is
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showthread.php?t=4173

 

[R-Bowskill]

This is a good move as the seasons in the EU are so varied:

Do they mean a Greek or Spannish winter or one in the new Eastern European EU countries? When you ask a question like that about 'season' ratings for the EU it becomes obvious that a more accurate method of rating is essential. I suspect that this came from Germany, they tend to classify things by scientific principles eg their wines are graded by percentage sugar before and after fermentation while the French decide that on where it's grown.

The main confusion I can see happening is that some people use a liner and others don't which adds a layer and traps more air so making it possibly rate differently. 'Comfort' is a subjective experience, the same bag in the same conditions will change the ammount of comfort it gives dependant on the degree of acclimatisation the person has.