Sleeping advice please

[chilly]

Hi , I'm planning on starting some wild camping next year and also the family want to do some normal camping also so I'm planning on getting some kit after Christmas ,

I'm looking for a good sleeping bag the will see me thro all British seasons packs down small and is not going to cost a fortune , I've been looking at army surpluss bags , snug packs etc but don't now what to go for , any advice appreciated thanks

 

[raskusdrotti]

Hi Chilly,

Welcome to the forum.


You are after the holy grail of sleeping bags I think. It's quite difficult to get one sleeping bag to do the job all year round. I personally dont rate the snugpak bags as I find they sleep cold, although they are quite well put together. If you want a small pack size, then you will need a down bag but they tend to cost more than synthetic.

I use two main sleeping bags - an alpkit down bag and a woodlore synthetic. For the money, the Alpkit down bags are hard to beat - most of my mates use them too...

 

[PDA1]

The first thing to think about is what you put under you. At least half of the warmth, and all of the comfort, is from the pad on which you lie. One or two UKP 5 Closed cell foam pads will give you the warmth, but for a bit more comfort you will need something like a 5cm self inflating pad such as Thermarest or an insulated air pad such as Exped. These are very good, but much more expensive than CCF pads. Not knowlegable about sleeping bags available in the UK, but I have seen good reports on these forums for inexpensive down bags at Tesco. Down gives the best weight/warmth ratio, but is more expensive than synthetic filled bags.

 

[Outdoordude]

I have an alpkit pipe dream 600. I love it but in the summer it is too hot. For the summer I have a Vango planet 600 rated down to 7 degrees celcius. This system works well.
Thanks
Jacob

 

[Ben98]

Hi there
Have you looked into the Buffalo sleeping bags, with the 4s inner/outer/liner + the lightweight outer you will be kitted for all occasions
Its not to everyone's taste so try before you buy, but I love my 4s outer so I'm waiting for Christmas to get more layers

At
Ben

Sent using the force

 

[brambles]

Buffalo is'nt exactly going to "pack down small" though , is it?

 

[Ben98]

That's why I mentioned the LW outer


Sent using the force

 

[Graveworm]

I'm like the others not sure one bag will do all you want. I have a fair few bags for various occasions. Last year though I put together a kit to keep in the car for when I got "unexpected opportunities". For that I was mostly able to use redundant kit but for the bag I did buy a Vango Venom 300. I threw in a silk liner as well. The kit turned out to be a great idea for me, and the bag, whilst cheap and cheerful, has managed pretty well; out of the hills it seems that it seldom gets down below freezing these days so I haven't even needed the liner. It packs down easily into a 7L dry bag.

 

[Gray]

Im not into spending a fortune on kit, i try and do it as cheaply as poss. Now if you think along the lines of the US modular sleep system, its a spring summer-bag inside a autumn winter bag inside a bivvy bag. In the summer it packs light, in the winter it doesnt. Anyway, using this method i bought a xl single envelope sleeping bag with hood from tesco, this has a minus 12 c extreme rating, this cost me £15 in a sale. Inside that i put a single envelope sleeping bag, from tesco witha minus 12 extreme rating, that also cost £15. I then put both of these inside a belgium army syntex bivvy bag from military mart which cost me £7.50. I first used this in Sennybridge 2 years ago ish, minus 8 c and 2 foot of snow. No word of a lie, i was peeling layers off, sweating my nuts off. Im never likely to camp out in worse/colder weather than this, this system is therefore the best for me.....at £37.50.

 

[Elen Sentier]

What sort of weight and pack down are we talking here, Gray?

 

[widu13]

Family camping and wildcamping are TOTALLY different. You can get a bag to do both but it will be compromised.

Buy something like a Softie 6 for wilding (with a softie or down jacket if really cold) and a square footed warm sleeping bag from Argos or the like for family camping.

 

[Gray]

I've utilised family camping kit for wild camping, cheaply. No good for hiking etc far too big although it does fit in a bergen. If you want one bag that packs small and lightweight, Ive got to agree with Widu and the softee 6

 

[Gray]

Have a look at andyc's review of the eurohike 500, looks good

 

[chilly]

thanks for all the replies every one , so from what you have all said i will be better of getting a 3 season bag and then adding a liner bivey bag to it at a later date if require a lower temp rating yea ?? yes i would like to keep the pack size nice and small if i can so any reasonably priced


as for the family on the spring , summer , autumn trips to the parks , there does seem to be some decent looking bags at tesco with quite low ratings that im sure will be fine

 

[Gray]

The answer for me is in layers, you can always add a liner or a bivvy bag to improve or reduce temp ratings

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

Hi Chilly, Are you going to be ground dwelling or in a hammock. If your swinging you could look at underquilts and top quilts which are designed around hammocking.
If your going on the floor there are various options. Im not saying it would be right for you but i use the following and seem happy with it.
Survival blanket from ebay(orange one side silver the other) this i use folded in half with silver side up and down.
Bivvybag with vango self inflating mat inside.
Lastly is my sleepingbag, i have several to choose from but at the moment using a Nanok 0 but if the weather gets any colder i will swap to an issue arctic bag.

Like i aid there are many alternatives and you really need to find the best for yourself.

 

[chilly]

the softie 6 looks good , would i be right in thinking that the softie 6 , with an added bag liner and bivey cover at a later date would cover a uk winter ?

im prity sure i will be on the ground , i have never been in a hammock but i have always had motion sicknes and dont fancy the idea of swaying in a hammock while trying to get to sleep lol lol

 

[widu13]

Yep, that set up seems to serve most people well. Don't forget a decent sleep mat too.

 

[Ben98]

Hi there chilly
What is your budget? This will make a big difference to what people can recommend
As I have already mentioned, the whole buffalo system would fit your requirements but it is really guite costly for all the layers
For a tighter budget something like a warmish snugpak softie
http://www.snugpak.com/index.php?MenuID=93-101&ItemID=229

And with that add this
http://www.snugpak.com/index.php?MenuID=114-119&ItemID=149
Together they will be warm enough for most things
Individually they do spring/autumn plus the other doing summer

Hope this helps
Ben

Sent using the force

 

[Thoth]

Just to echo some earlier advice, a good sleeping mat is essential and will make a huge difference to both your general comfort and your warmth. I also agree that it's difficult to find a single bag that will tick all your boxes. There has also been much discussion about what to wear inside your sleeping bag Personally I use a synthetic Snugpack SF1 in the warmer months and a down bag in winter, wearing nothing or a merino base layer (sometimes plus really warm socks), depending on the weather, inside the bag. What suits one person is not always what works for someone else, but you ought to get some good advice on the general build quality from the folks here.