Thought i'd say hello and ask for some advice?

[TheDr]

HI everyone!
Thought I'd say hello!
I started enjoying the outdoors camping with my parents, then as I moved through my teens my experiences evolved through Cubs, Scouts, Ventures, and so on.
During my adulthood i've spent years in tents and in some challenging situations roughing it under the stars but loved every minute of it. Now though, I enjoy the outdoors with my friends fishing and the odd trip with my family.

I found this site when looking for a sleeping bag for my daughter who's getting into UK all weather camping. Thought I'd say hello and reach out for advice on a sleep system.
Technology has changed a lot from the down filled bags we had issued.
What MSS would you recommend. She's 6ft

 

[Mesquite]

Hello and welcome to the forum

It might help folks suggesting a sleeping bag if you give a rough estimate you're looking to pay.

 

[Erbswurst]

Buy her the Snugpak Special Forces Sleep System or parts of it one after the other. Also the Snugpak Special Forces bivvy bag.
That is in my opinion currently the best sleep system one can get on the market, and although it is made in Britain and contains a polyester filling that is made in Switzerland it is still affordable. I would call it even surprisingly cheap.

It is very robust, incredibly comfortable and very very handy. That is professional equipment for those who use it very often. They didn't make any compromises when they constructed it.

Larger amounts of it were bought by the British army, British Police, Latvian army, Australian army and even US military although they usually try to buy exclusively from the own country.
German Special Forces also use it, although the German army rather tends to buy competiting products that are made by Carinthia. The stuff isn't issued to everybody there but only to those who need the superior quality and the low weight of the system. Special Forces isn't a PR gag here but indeed the correct description of the targeted users. And they obviously want it.

The summer version Special Forces1 sleeping bag and bivvy bag is very light and very compact packing. I can use it down to the freezing point wearing the clothing of the day without waterproofs, she perhaps down to +6°C if she is used to spend the majority of her time in heated rooms, like most young people are forced to live. But if she spends a lot of her free time outdoors she can perhaps also use it around 0°C.

The SF1 can also be used in Mediterranean summer temperatures. That's pretty surprising. You don't get sweaty because these bags have a superior moisture transport ability.

Convince her that the olive green version is the best choice because the less visible you are outdoors the lower the risk to get any problems with humans of any kind.

Who is invisible is left alone.

The camouflage versions are more expensive though and don't necessarily blend better in British surroundings than plain olive green. They are a bit too bright for my taste, because they nowadays try to issue camouflage patterns that work worldwide everywhere. Surely the higher price isn't worth it for civil use.

The competiting Carinthia offers are also very very good but I think for civil use the Snugpak SF system is the better choice. Especially because the summer version SF1 and SF bivvy bag is so incredibly light and compact, absolutely comparable in size with a cheaper down bag from a usual trekking shop.

 

[John Fenna]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Watch-keeper]

I'm a big fan of the Carinthia Defence range of bags especially for crappy wet conditions.
They are nice and roomy inside so quite good for someone who moves around a lot and there is plenty of room to store clothing inside.
I'm currently running a Defence 4(cooler conditions) and Defence 1(warmer conditions) and am super happy with this combination, I have used them from +15degrees to -15 successfully.
They have an outer layer that is not stitched through which helps with water/wind resistance but I would buy a bivi bag for if real water resistance is needed.
On the Bivi bag front Carinthia's offering is really expensive, I haven't used/seen it as I'm more than happy with my brit mil bivi bag(nice and simple)
The Zip is central and doesn't lock shut so you can rip it open just by pulling it apart from the zip puller end.
Once zipped all the way up there is a small face hole to reduce heat loss and the hood area is a good size.
They make them in different sizes 180cm and for 200 cm tall I have 180 and it works for me at 6 feet tall.
The weight and packed size and price is competitive with the rest of the players in that segment eg Snugpak etc.
I have used Snugpak in the past but the ones I used were quite restrictive which is good for weight and packed size but didn't suit me for comfort as I fidget in my sleep.
I'm happy enough with mine that I am about to buy another Defence 1 for my son.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Hi, welcome and enjoy.

 

[Brizzlebush]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Erbswurst]

Some people think that the Carinthia Defence sleeping bags are too wide.
There is a lot of space to warm up.

Otherwise you can put in there weapon, boots, bottles and electronics and whatever you want. That works with the Snugpak SF sleeping bags too, but surely a bit less comfortable.
The main difference is that the Snugpak SF 2 has a warmth collar around the neck but the Defence 4 hasn't. And you get 4 Snugpak SF bivvy bags for the price of a new Carinthia German army bivvy bag, that's the best available one without any doubt but weighs the double of the Snugpak SF bivvy bag, approximately like the issued British army one, that's surely fine for a teenager and cheap as chips even new.

The Carinthia bivvy will surely last longer than the Snugpak SF bivvy bag but well, if you can buy 4 Snugpak SF bivvy bags for the price and carry half the weight it's worth to consider the lighter version unless you plan to join the next crusade.

I own an older German army bivvy bag, a couple of issued British ones and a Snugpak SF bivvy bag. I prefere the German one but hell is it expensive if you have to buy it new! I fortunately found a nearly unused German one in a German military surplus shop for a very low price. But I still like the Snugpak SF very much because it's also very comfortable to enter due to the central zipper and incredibly light and compact.

The issued British army bivvy bag is a bit acrobatic to enter, no problem for a teenager though.