Sleeping bag recommendations

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Chris71127

Tenderfoot
Jan 21, 2015
53
5
Ipswich
Please can someone suggest me a really good sleeping bag to go for all year round hammock camping in the uk.

Previously used military bags but would prefer something that packs down a little smaller.

Budget upto the £150 mark.

Many thanks guys
 

IC_Rafe

Forager
Feb 15, 2016
247
2
EU
For a hammock, a quilt would be pretty good. I haven't used them yet personally, but have heard good things about these: http://sleepingbags-cumulus.eu/ (quilts are under sleeping systems). It's probably the next "bag" i buy, even as a grounddweller.
 

Big G

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 3, 2015
3,144
0
Cleveland UK
One of my best investments has been changing from a traditional sleeping bag, to a goose down quilt.

I use mine ground dwelling in a tent, i'm a side sleeper and find it more comfortable, for a good night's sleep.

As rorymax says, do your research before buying, as it can be quite a big outlay, as quality down quilts don't come cheap.
 

fluffkitten

Full Member
Mar 8, 2014
123
1
Nottingham
Depends on the seller, some ship free others charge a fair bit. What bites is normally the time it can take.

I have an Aegismax sewn-through envelope bag that I'm really pleased with. Their new quilt looks ok as well.
 

Big G

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 3, 2015
3,144
0
Cleveland UK
Thanks

Does aliexpress ship to England without big postage costs?

Any particular brands that people really rate?

Shipping times from China to UK, are usually around 2 weeks, with free shipping including.

I've bought quite a few items from China, over the years, every thing turned up in a reasonable time :)

My quilts a USA made, Jacks"R"Better Sierra Sniveller XL.

One of my best purchases for keeping me toasty warm when wildcamping :D
 

Andy BB

Full Member
Apr 19, 2010
3,290
1
Hampshire
A few questions to ask yourself before buying a sleeping bag.

1. How many manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty (and honour it, regardless of age) for loss of loft or structural failure, icluding zips?

2. How many manufacturers recommend frequent machine washing of their sleeping bags to keep it fresh and get rid of body oils, sweat etc? (and still give a lifetime guarantee on retention of loft,,,)

3 How many manufacturers are happy for their sleeping bags to be vacuum packed under tons of pressure for coastguard, military etc, and still retain its loft upon opening?

Only one. Wiggys. (and no, I have no financial interest In them, other than wishing I'd found out about them 40 years earlier!) I've tried all sorts of bags, both down and man-made fillings), including fibre-pile) over that period, from top-of-the-line bags like Ajunkilak (sp?), Snugpak, Marmot etc, to the army arctic bags of various nations, and the Wiggys have been the only bags that have a true temp rating and are just so comfy. (including Norway in January and Lapland in November.)

One complaint against them is weight/bulk, but see above comment re genuine temp ratings. I've found to my cost that most manufacturers temp ratings are totally optimistic, so you need to compare like for like. Pricewise, they are very good, as he doesn't advertise or sell through retail outlets yet still sells thousands each year purely through word-of-mouth recommendations. I guess this is one of those!

Interesting video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD3wA5Wrcmc
 

Chris71127

Tenderfoot
Jan 21, 2015
53
5
Ipswich
Thank you so far for the helpful replies.

Do wiggy's ship to the uk at a sensible rate?

Also any other brands I should check out? Like Nanok etc?
 
Sep 11, 2014
418
33
Maidstone, KENT
Thank you so far for the helpful replies.

Do wiggy's ship to the uk at a sensible rate?

Also any other brands I should check out? Like Nanok etc?

Last summer I paid $80 shipping for 2 large heavy Wiggy's bags..

Also factor in VAT & customs charges.

The quality & lifetime warranty on the Wiggy's made them worth every penny.
 

Big G

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 3, 2015
3,144
0
Cleveland UK
Last summer I paid $80 shipping for 2 large heavy Wiggy's bags..

Also factor in VAT & customs charges.

The quality & lifetime warranty on the Wiggy's made them worth every penny.

Also to be factored in, is the exchange rate at present, which is abysmal!
 

Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
For a £150, you get the Alpkit SkyHigh 700 https://www.alpkit.com/products/skyehigh-700 .
You can't get a decently specced down bag (less than 1300g) for less than that price (£200-260 is nearer the mark) - and well thought of as well, both in terms of the bag http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/gear/4-season-sleeping-bag/37423.html itself, and of the company.

Yes, you can pay more, and possibly get more fill power, but overall, its difficult to go wrong for the money. A decent synthetic wont cost that much less, but will be much bigger to pack. As someone answering a similar question on Outdoor Magic put it:

for comparison purposes----got 2 winter s/bags ---both equally warm---down 1200gms --packs easily into 13 litre stuff sac---synthetic 2350 gms --struggle to get it into 30 litre stuff sac---done week in scotland in january with the down bag with full range wintery weather----over the week the bag had lost a bit of loft but still kept me warm on the last night which was the coldest

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/gear/wildcamping-cooking-kit-and-sleeping-bag-advice/76441-2.html

Everyone has their favourites, but my advice is to get to know the market (get a Cotswolds catalogue), and go into a proper shop (Mountain Warehouse isn't...) and actually try some out and ask questions. What works for one person might not work for another (temp rating is a bit of a guess, even with EN ratings), and the cut, shape etc are all a very individual thing. Please ignore the horror stories of down and moisture - down bags are generally fine as long your careful, and its worth noting that people going up Everest etc dont use synthetic. Just go a try one, with Rab (the 700?) being availbale in most places - even if its out of your budget, at least you'll get an idea if you like down etc.
 

Andy BB

Full Member
Apr 19, 2010
3,290
1
Hampshire
Down bags are great for occasional use, but the simple fact is that, even assuming you have no mishaps resulting in a wet bag and thereby losing ALL insulating ability, the more you use it, the more sweat and body oils get into the down. And that means failing loft and therefore insulation. To quote a specialist down cleaning company (Mountain Designs) .."[h=1]Cleaning Down Equipment - from:[/h][h=2]£35.00 (per item)[/h][h=4]Description[/h]
Avail yourself of this service to rejuvenate your down equipment and where necessary remove unwanted stains and odours. If required, we empty your bag of down and clean the shell and the down separately, then refill the bag. This only applies to bags which have been on expeditions and are heavily retaining, for example, moisture, body odour, grease and cooking fuel. However, the general mountaineer's down equipment can be cleaned without going to this extreme. Both systems are guaranteed not to damage your down.
At the same time you can have any damaged down replaced, or simply have your bag upgraded with additional down.

IT should be noted that they list 8 cleaning categories for down equipment - from level 1 @ £35, to level 8 @ £376................Plus postage both ways... Of course, you could hand-wash it yourself in the bath - but from bitter personal experience over the years I really wouldn't recommend it! And if anything goes wrong during the process - which it will, guaranteed! - it invalidates the very limited warranty down manufacturers provide for the first year of its life.

I'll come clean - I also currently have a top-of-the-range down bag (a Valandre) which I sometimes use as well as my wiggy's bags. The current equivalent is probably the Valandre Thor, costing approx. £800+. Nice bag, equivalent in real-life temp rating to my Wiggys Superlight (current price $150-165). To me, that means sleeping throughout the night - apart from the odd "comfort" break - without feeling cold in base layers. Bear in mind the "extreme" rating often quoted by manufacturers is for fit young soldiers, fully dressed in multiple cold-weather clothing layers, able to grab 2 hours of sleep before being woken up by the cold.

Yet interestingly the Thor weighs 2.9kg, the Wiggys 2.1kg. Sure, the down bag packs smaller, though it is only kept in a stuff sack in transit; at home it is left fully open, as compression damages down. My wiggys bags all store fully compressed.

An interesting factoid. THe warmer you are, the less often you need to get up in the night for comfort breaks - ie to pee. Once the body starts to get cold, it wants to jettison unwanted fluids that it has to keep warm in order to maintain core temp. Hence the midnight trips outside, or inside using a pee bottle. I could tell you the story about an unfortunate lad who had a mishap with a bucket he was using in the middle of the night in a Swedish forest in winter, dumping about 2 litres of urine onto his down sleeping bag, but it'll only set me off giggling again.
 

IC_Rafe

Forager
Feb 15, 2016
247
2
EU
Down bags are great for occasional use, but the simple fact is that, even assuming you have no mishaps resulting in a wet bag and thereby losing ALL insulating ability, the more you use it, the more sweat and body oils get into the down. And that means failing loft and therefore insulation. To quote a specialist down cleaning company (Mountain Designs) .."[h=1]Cleaning Down Equipment - from:[/h][h=2]£35.00 (per item)[/h][h=4]Description[/h]
Avail yourself of this service to rejuvenate your down equipment and where necessary remove unwanted stains and odours. If required, we empty your bag of down and clean the shell and the down separately, then refill the bag. This only applies to bags which have been on expeditions and are heavily retaining, for example, moisture, body odour, grease and cooking fuel. However, the general mountaineer's down equipment can be cleaned without going to this extreme. Both systems are guaranteed not to damage your down.
At the same time you can have any damaged down replaced, or simply have your bag upgraded with additional down.

IT should be noted that they list 8 cleaning categories for down equipment - from level 1 @ £35, to level 8 @ £376................Plus postage both ways... Of course, you could hand-wash it yourself in the bath - but from bitter personal experience over the years I really wouldn't recommend it! And if anything goes wrong during the process - which it will, guaranteed! - it invalidates the very limited warranty down manufacturers provide for the first year of its life.

I'll come clean - I also currently have a top-of-the-range down bag (a Valandre) which I sometimes use as well as my wiggy's bags. The current equivalent is probably the Valandre Thor, costing approx. £800+. Nice bag, equivalent in real-life temp rating to my Wiggys Superlight (current price $150-165). To me, that means sleeping throughout the night - apart from the odd "comfort" break - without feeling cold in base layers. Bear in mind the "extreme" rating often quoted by manufacturers is for fit young soldiers, fully dressed in multiple cold-weather clothing layers, able to grab 2 hours of sleep before being woken up by the cold.

Yet interestingly the Thor weighs 2.9kg, the Wiggys 2.1kg. Sure, the down bag packs smaller, though it is only kept in a stuff sack in transit; at home it is left fully open, as compression damages down. My wiggys bags all store fully compressed.

An interesting factoid. THe warmer you are, the less often you need to get up in the night for comfort breaks - ie to pee. Once the body starts to get cold, it wants to jettison unwanted fluids that it has to keep warm in order to maintain core temp. Hence the midnight trips outside, or inside using a pee bottle. I could tell you the story about an unfortunate lad who had a mishap with a bucket he was using in the middle of the night in a Swedish forest in winter, dumping about 2 litres of urine onto his down sleeping bag, but it'll only set me off giggling again.

Extreme rating is "surviveable without death, for 6 hours of sleep, frostbite may occur", in any kind of actual rating system used anyway. Comfort and Limit are the ones which count (comfort: woman, limit: men, averages ofcource).

You really think you'll sleep well in a wet synthetic bag? Those are just as cold when wet as a down one, they hardly insulate anything and are far from pleasant to sleep in. I've had it happen once when i was a kid, and we were camping in a friend's yard. Started to rain and the tent we used was just a sieve. We quickly went inside because of that. Now however there are good bags (which do cost a bit more). DWR's and different types of shells, mean you have to pretty much try to get a bag wet. Just keep it in a drybag when you have it in your pack.

For keeping it clean, use a sleeping bag liner and base layers. Will do a great job. I also use it in synthetic bags since those you can't actually fluff up in the field, since the synthetic insulation is a sheet, not loose down. Synthetic bags getting dirty by oil and sweat too, and need to be washed too (you shouldn't sweat in your bag idealy btw, that means you're using a too high rated bag for the conditions). And to get my sleeping bag cleaned, i also need to go somewhere else because my washing machine can't handle that load. Many people who can just put their down bags in a normal washing machine too though, and clean it with a special down wash. Relofting it well you do by drying it out, and then putting it in the dryer (MAKE SURE YOU DON'T USE HEAT, COLD TUMBLE CYCLE ONLY) with a couple of tennis balls.

About your choice of storing the bags: long term compressed down gets damaged yes, so does synthetic. Compressing synthetic bags also damages the synthetics, and the loft, and this happens faster than with down. I still use a synthetic bag myself atm, but when i'm replacing my bag, i'm going for a down quilt.

You say your Wiggy's bag with a (supposedly) rating of -17C has as an equivalent the Vanandre thor costing 800? That just looks to me like a terribly overpriced bag (or different construction due to it being an expedition bag, have no idea). You can get a -18C (EN rating tested unlike someone who just guesses a temp rating) bag for about 300 euro, NOT 800 euro, and weighing 1,4kg, not 2,9kg . By your logic i could take the cheapest down bag, and a high cost synthetic bag, and do the same.
 

IC_Rafe

Forager
Feb 15, 2016
247
2
EU
Unless he invents new laws of physics, or completely overrates his bags, i call BS (And if he overrates his bags, it's still BS).

Your video btw, is a standard norwegian cold weather training exercise btw. Get everything soaked in a river while freezing, then set up a tent and get in your bag to dry out your gear and warm up. This works with all synthetic bags. (This is the only time, when down loses to synthetics, other than long term compression, which will kill all bags, unless they are overrated to begin with. Every bag will lose loft, and it's the loft which keeps you warm.)

Note, i'm not saying they are bad bags, not at all, just that you can get better/lighter and several things he uses as advertisement are just lies (such as the compression storage).
 
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