Ultra small packing 3 season sleeping bag - Does it exist without bankrupting me ?
 

Hey there amigos !

I'm going insane looking for a very compact sleeping bag.

I've downsized to a smaller dirt bike and none of my gear fits on it now.

I bought a Vango 2 season sleeping bag which is FREEZING even in June and packs much bigger than its advertised size :censored:. USELESS !!!!!!!!


So, can anyone help me out here with an awesome recommendation ??

I want something packing about as small as my Thermarest if possible.


Thanks in advance, Ted

If you have the opportunity then check out the snugpak sleeping bags. I have not received mine yet, but they are supposed to the offer a pretty good packing size compared to the warmth.

Might be worth a try, if you find something better then please do post! :innocent:

I don't know what kind, therefore how small, your thermarest packs....but if you're really looking for "ultra" in combination with "won't bankrupt me," you should be shopping used, not new.

You're probably aware that you also need to decide about down vs. synthetic fill; finding a down bag which compresses to tiny dimensions isn't really that difficult, although a good one is expensive if purchased new. Synthetics which pack well (never quite as well as down, unfortunately) tend, in my experience, to lose their loft rather quickly under severe use. A down bag which is left stuffed for a period until you need to use it--even if it was slightly damp when you packed it--can be revitalized with a bit of effort. The cutting-edge synthetics can't (again, in my experience).

I'm currently carrying a 3 season mummy bag which served me very well for a couple of months of hard use. Then the loft collapsed, and the bag lost 20 degrees F/10 degrees C of utility. It was never as compact as a down bag anyway, but it does have the advantage of being indestructible. Plus, I don't care much if it's lost or stolen. If I'd paid US$500 for a nice down bag, I'd have far more to worry about.

Anyway, I think you should be buying used, probably through whatever your local climbers and winter sports enthusiasts use to sell their gear. Buying used means you don't get to choose brands freely--you just wait for something more or less suitable to come along and buy it. IMHO it should cost a maximum of half the cost of new--less if obviously worn.

Hope that helps.

Mark

A decent down bag (with liner) plus Thermarest will be fine for most situations. And a cheap inflatable pillow on top of a folded up bike jacket worked well for me.

I stupidly bought a synthetic bag for my Americas trip which was huge in comparison to the down bag when compressed.

£300 :eek3:


I've found something I like in the Cumulus Ultralight 200 but its still too expensive for my liking at £115 lol.

Cumulus Ultralight 200

I'll look second hand but I really don't like the idea of sleeping in someone elses sweat, fart and ejaculate !! LOL :innocent:

Ever slept in a hotel? Just wash it.

If 115 quid is beyond your means, and you really want a down bag of any sort of quality, you're definitely looking at used.

FWIW, synthetic bags are great if they might get wet. Mine always seem to get wet, sooner or later, so I've stopped buying down. Mileages vary, often greatly.

Mark

Just won a £200 Moutain Equipment bag AND Thermarest for £38 on Ebay..

Holey moley..... Good thinking Markhalf

Does it come with any free dubious stains??

I hope so or it's going straight back !!! :rolleyes2:

Good job you didn't follow Bertrand's suggestion, Ted. I've got one of the Rab bags and if you're lucky you'd pack it down to about the size of four Thermarests. Very warm though!

Hope the M.E. bag works out. Which one is it?

A layering principle works as well asleep as it does during the day!
A 2 season bag, plus fleece liner (extra seasons warmth) plus cotton liner (for washability) plus tracksuit or (ahem) pyjamas gives a good deal of comfort over a variety of temperatures. Even socks, a hat and a t shirt that you'll be carrying anyway make a big difference.

Not exactly sure to be honest.
http://my.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...:ME:LNLK:MEWNX

For the price, I can't really complain. Its rated to 0 which is what I wanted.

I guess ill find out when it's delivered.

Temperature rating it a load of bulls. in IMHO.
Don't underestimate the importance of the mat. I'm now using the exped mats and find them sleeping heaps warmer than the thermarest which I'll never use again. Overpriced crap compared to the knockoffs. Dunno what their money gets spent on. The glue on mine separated halfway on my trip.

The exped mats are insulated better, you're off the ground more and you dip into them a bit so you're insulated slightly along the sides as well.

You might even find that you're bag still works with that.

Also, the Sea to Summit Thermolite® Reactor Liner really does add warmth. Makes the difference to feeling the cold and sleeping straight through it without even knowing. Except when you wake up well rested. Buy budget bags on the volume and lofting value of the down filling. The rest (detail on the shell/baffles) is extra and is where more of the money gets spent.

Sea To Summit - Adventure, Outdoor, Camping, Hiking, Gear and Accessories, Perth, Australia

Better save the congratulations until you see what you've really got....but congratulations.

I just sold most of my wall-o-sleeping-bags: kept three, once of which is really just for travel, sold six or seven. I can tell you that the people who bought from me got much better deals than I got when I bought them all new: roughly a quarter to a third of original prices, depending.

Sold a whole bunch of thermarests, going back to the originals with the impossible, freeze-prone metal valves. Plus backpacks, ancient MSR stoves, water filters, a kayak. Made me wonder why I bother buying stuff in the first place.

enjoy,

Mark

+1 for snugpak

they start at a summer bag that packs to the size of a coconut and go up from there, and they can tailor some measurements for you. good value kit.

Sleeping bag ...
 

I hope I am not getting kicked out again for advertising, however, if you are looking for good and reasonable priced stuff, maybe you want to got to the Sierra Trading Post homepage.

I got a North Face sleeping bag there, packs "ultra-small" when using a compression bag (size, well something around 25 ~ 30 cm in hight and 20 ~ 25 cm in width). The price was great, my girlfriend used it during our Hokkaido touring this year and she was more than pleased (of course, using a Thermarest pad, too!) .
http://i.stpost.com/erez4/erez?src=P...ail&redirect=0This is one they got on sale now, $144. You should check every now and then for updates!

Since the early seventies I used a bulky but warm sleeping bag. Two years ago I had to admit it was well past its best and bought a modern 3 season bag. I never got a good nights sleep in it below 15C. So now I have bought a bulky, yet light and warm Coleman Hudson 450. I will live with its bulk and leave something else behind, It is bulk, and not weight. The liner is no size at all. The cost £33

Right..

The sleeping bag came in the post this morning. It's an "Integral 0C". Immaculately clean and looks in very good condition.

Really nice having a built in thermarest. It rolls up with the thermarest and its still smaller than just my other 2 season bag, even when compressed.

BUT !!!!!!!! Its VERY thin. Holding it upto the light, there is practically no down in the bag (theres not meant to be on the bottom) .. I don't know how down bags are meant to look to be honest but i'm a little concerned.

Update: I've just had a 2 hour nap in it INDOORS (11c) and I was cold.. I can slide the shell cover between my fingers and feel no down in there. I think its practically empty..

0c bag !! More like 10c bag.

This is why I hate buying second hand.

No, this is why you hate buying off ebay, sight unseen. It has nothing to do with "used," and everything to do with being too credulous and woefully uninformed.

Ted, I don't want to get all critical on you, but you really need to do some more research if you intend to fulfill your goal of buying a cheap, warm, ultra-compact sleeping bag. Grabbing something you've got no way of checking out in person off the internet just makes it likely you're going to get ripped off. FWIW, you paid a good price for a summer sleeping bag (though personally I don't like the integrated pad systems because they don't permit me to toss and turn at will). Accept it for what it is.

First, all manufacturers exaggerate temperature ratings. Believe it. If Mountain Hardware (or anyone else) claims 0 degrees, that just means that if you wear your long underwear, gloves and a hat inside a small, stuffy tent, you'll perhaps be comfortable down to near freezing....if you remember to drink hot tea with honey before bed, aren't tired in the first place, can maintain proper blood sugar through the night, and tend to sleep warm. And that's brand new, off the shelf.

Second, warmth is directly proportional to insulation thickness. A thin bag will not be as warm as a thicker one. There's no real way around this (except certain reflective liners, which you can research on your own). When you buy a bag, what you want to know is not the manufacture's rating or the claims of the seller, but the actual measurable loft (thickness).

Third, responding to your other post, there's no practical way to re-loft down bags, particularly on a budget--you might do this with a US$500 expedition bag, but not with a thin cheapie off the internet. You can wash them with a certain degree of care in order to fluff them up....but it sounds like this was already done with the one you bought.

Again, you've got a perfectly serviceable summer sleeping bag. Now you can resume researching the bag you really want. You can do this by inspecting--up close and in person--both down and synthetic bags. Go to a few shops. Read a couple of catalogs. You'll catch on quickly.

And don't forget that any down bag, if gotten wet through misfortune or misuse, will be rendered almost useless until you can dry it out and fluff it up again. That means that you've got to take exquisite care of it in use.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Thanks for your advice Mark. I did do a fair bit of research into brands and models and read some forums but I guess its just experience that counts in used bags.

I buy and sell plenty on Ebay, so don't fret , ill get my money back :smartass:

I wouldnt be too bothered if I needed a summer bag, but alas I have 2 already !

I knew I was taking a risk, but thats always the way in the modern age of ebay and forums etc. How often do you get to see and touch the things you buy in the modern world ??

Live n learn I guess.. Definately a double edged sword when prepping on a budget !!

Cheers Mark :thumbup1:

I have four different sleeping bags, none ideal. The reality is, getting a good nights sleep is very important. I sleep cold and hate carrying more weight and bulk than necessary, I also hate wasting money. My favourite bag is an MEC Canadian down bag, like a mummy with no hood. about 1100-1200g and this is rated to 5 degrees c, which is probably more realistic than some claims by manufacurers (but still not warm enough for me).
My next trip I will take a new down mummy bag from a major manufacturer weighing more than I want, being bulkier than I like and costing far too much, but at least I wont be COLD. There are areas where we can all cut costs but riding after a crap shivering night is not pleasant.

The money you talk about looks exagerated to me !?
I had a look the past summer in here Bertoni - campeggio sport - tende - trekking - outdoor - zaini - sacchi letto to buy something for Iceland. The most expensive thing was around 85 euro (we talk about stuff used to camp at 4000 meters!!) I managed with a sleeping bag cover (basically a thin sleeping bag to go over normal sleeping bag) from Decathlon for 14 euro.

All of this stuff is for climbing peoples, they have much greater space problems than us....

2 Oz manufacturers who make sleeping bags that stuff very small.

Might not meet the "don't break the bank" criteria though.

Sleeping Bags | One Planet

Mont Adventure Equipment Australia : Catalog

Ted, did you check Down sleeping bags and down jackets, Alpkit outdoor gear for alpine activities including climbing, camping, mountaineering and trekking This is a British internetshop, designing and fabricating camping and climbing gear.

I bought a down sleepingbag from them last year and was impressed by the price/quality.

Good luck
Ruud

We all seem to be bringing very different ideas about what constitutes "ultra compact," where the line is drawn on "three season," and how to define "without bankrupting me." For example, in my book a three season bag is usable well below freezing, and might be rated by the manufacturer at 10F/-10C. I'd expect it to cost over a hundred dollars on sale, probably over two hundred if it was down, certainly as much as four hundred if it was a really good one.....and upwards from that figure for a true winter bag.

On the other thread there's a corresponding difference of opinion about what constitutes "easy care." From my perspective, "easy" means I can throw it in the washer at will, dry it in whatever manner suits me, don't need to worry about using a liner or special soaps, and can ignore cuts and burn holes in the cover because the filling won't leak out. That means synthetic, not down.

Probably, if the goal was to locate a good deal on a cheap, compact, warm sleeping bag, the OP would have been better served by stating a price point, a degree range, a filling material and a stuffed size. As a means of stirring up discussion while I wait for it to stop raining here in Antigua Guatemala, vague terminology ("ultra compact") seems to serve admirably well.

Someday soon: a return to blue skies and wonderfully twisty mountain roads down the spine of the continent.

enjoy,

Mark

Second that. In my opinion, a good three season bag needs to go down to between -5 and -10°C. The $400 pricetag is very accurate, too. We've just spent 350€ each for two Yeti VIB 600 sleeping bags - 1000g, very compact, 95% down and goes down to -10°C. We spent three VERY cold nights camping in late October and the VIB 600 has passed the ultimate sleeping bag test: it has managed to keep my wife's feet warm at night :thumbup1:

What I'm trying to say is this: you might get lucky and find something sorta decent for $150, but if you want something really good be prepared to spend upwards of 400 bucks. In my experience more often than not when it comes to outdoor equipment every dollar saved is a dollar you'll eventually regret.

Well, I had a budget of about £100.. Looks like im going down the second hand route.

I bought a second hand Mountain Equipment bag which although advertised as -5, in most places it had no down at all.

Through advice of people here, I washed it with "Techwash" and tumble dried it with tennis balls and low and behold its about twice the bag it wasw :thumbup1:.

Still 2 season max though but at least it wasnt a complete waste of money.

If I actually want to get on the road to capetown in 2010, I can't be spending £400 on sleeping bags ! I'll just have to suffer :innocent:.



Thanks.

hundred quid!!
 

£100, Bloody hell that is more than the budget I had for two bags with silk liners!! Seriously "without breaking the bank" is very subjective. nearly everything I have bought has been from the internet because the stuff I wanted was not available in any shops I could find and if I could it was twice the price. This meant buying stuff I could not touch or feel and trusting to the gods and brand names.

My budget for bike and equipment has come in at just under 8k sterling. To some this is extortionate to others it is less than what they spend a year in Touratech! Best of luck!

sleeping system ex MOD
 

just to put the cat among the birds. You should nip down to to your local army suplus store and get the all weather sleeping system. the temp range for this is + 20 to -30... Yes it has a wide range.( I can recomend this system as I have used mine since it was issued to me in 1988.)

The countries I have used it are :-
1. Norway in winter temp -45 Norcapp
2. Canada Nothern ter. Inuvik temp upto -50
3. Middle east temp from -5 upto +40
this was while in the Army and temp is centigrade not farenhight.
Since leaving the army i have taken it to :-
1.Russia Yakust and Magadan coldest it got one night was -65
2.India temp +45

oops to above
 

As you can see I rely on a system that 20 years old. This when new cost about £300 Now you get this system from Army surplus stores for about £80 to £100.
kit inclueded

sleeping bag
Gortex outer bag and stuff sack so can be very small and light-ish.

Bring on the snow and winter biking.

RTW on a Goldwing. I AM MAD:clap::clap::funmeteryes::funmeterno::funmetery es::D

hOPE THIS HELPS YOU ALL

If you live in the uk and thining if going rtw buy all basic equip. from Army surplus could save you a small fortune. Not all military equipment is crap. try the ration packs and for the americans MRE meals ready to eat. these dont take up much room and you get puritabs so you can sterilize water..
I take these with me to Russia and police never batter an eye. If you can look at ex russian militry clothing as its very good for winters.

Oneworldbiker I have to say Im impressed. When I see something that is classed as "Military Grade" or "Army Surplus" it usually means words such as comfort, quality and light weight can be ruled right out. Could it be time to re asses this view?

Ive posted this in another thread about the same stuff....but its worth saying again.

Snugpak

UK company that started up by making private purchased military equipment and proffesional grade mountain gear.They got a lot of feedback from their customers and have modified and designed entire ranges of equipment on that feedback to have a very extensive selection of items.

I have used their stuff is some God-awful places and the gear is still soldiering on years after I originally bought it.

Their main attraction is the compactness of the sleeping bags and jackets when they are compressed in their stuffsacks.....I use a Merlin 3 sleeping bag with a Silk sleeping bag liner....with both combined amounts to a package slightly bigger than a coke can.I use that from spring to Autumn in the UK with no problems at all.

A proven method with Snupaks that came back from the soldiers using their equipment was to use two smaller bags instead of one larger bag for colder weather, due to their size it is practical to carry a Merlin 3 bag and Softie 9 Hawk bag for cold weather ( with a silk liner as well )...you then mix and match as the weather dictates.
Sleeping Bags - Code Green - Military - Leading Suppliers of Clothing & Sleepingbags - snugpak.com

Sleeping Bags - Outdoor - Leading Suppliers of Clothing & Sleepingbags - snugpak.com

3 season bag
 

Hi there ,

I too use a snugpac merlin and a silk liner, which i have used down to minus 6 , with no problems at all. great gear at a good price.:mchappy:

I use a Army sleeping stystem (sleeping bag to non mil bods) + the stuff sack issue with it I got mine issued but lost it in Gulf 1 via a american tanki almost driving over me, so it chewed up my bag,
but you civis can buy on line from silvermans or any army good Army Navy surpluss
DO not get the old type bag as folds up the size of 2 foot balls the new bag
gos down to a football in its stuff sack &

I have a spare stuff sack for my dirty washing keeps them really small tll i get to wash them

Snugpac
 

Another vote for Snugpac.
I bought a Softie (don't remember the number, almost the most expensive one I think) more years ago than I can remember. Maybe 20 years ago if they were made then, but at least 15 years ago.
Used lots since then and still going strong on my current trip.
Use a silk liner too.
Including 3 months continuous every-night use in the Canadian and US Rockies about 10 years ago.
Overall, it's been too hot far more often than it's been too cold (hardly at all).

Ed you still struggling to decide on Down/Synth bags? I've been using a "Stormlite Rolling Clouds 300" (field and trek's own brand I think).. can't seem to find them on google at the moment, probably went out of business. It is down filled, and the first I ever bought. I recommend it for size, warmth and weight. Packed down to the size of insignificance, snag was last summer only pitching the inner in France and then raining that night, got me a tad bit wet/uncomfortable. Ah well.

Not sure about the 3 seasons for Africa, I know it gets nippy at night but how nippy is nippy?

Well, in doubt about the nippiness I just had a google and found this: LifeVenture Downlight 900, hardly breaking the bank at £70 (google around for the spec, but it's 900g and comes in a dry-sack compression bag.

LaFuma Extreme 600 45+ bag. I used this on a Trans America Trail trip last year. As long as it's not going to be cold out, you'll be good. We never had less than 46F nights and I stayed warm in it and my tent.

It packs up to 5x10 inches in it's stuff sack.

$29.93 US at REIOutlet Right now

Lafuma Extreme 600 +45 Sleeping Bag - Long - Special Buy at REI-OUTLET.com

$69.93 for a down 40F bag that packs to 5x11 inches
Lafuma Warm 'N Light +40 Down II Sleeping Bag - Regular - '07 Closeout at REI-OUTLET.com

blacks have a sale on @ the mo a 3 seson bag £29.99, was £59
I got 1 & it squeezes up smaller than my Arm issued Green Maaggot

I spent 3 months touring round Europe camping 99% of the time,it was during the early summer months but I did camp in the mountains quite a bit,I used a Thermarest,worked well,never let me down even though it was supposed to be self inflating which was highly inaccurate,some puff needed too!
I also used a Cumulus Quantam 200 down bag,only used my silk liner about 4 times as it was plenty warm enough,packs down to under half the size of my packed Thermarest. That was nearly 3 years ago & both pieces of kit still going strong & seeing a fair bit of use. The down bag cost well over a hundred notes though I feel it was money well spent,have a look at this lot;
Down Sleeping Bag - Home

Happy hunting
Andy

I have been using the Western Mountaineering Ultralight from MEC:
Western Mountaineering Ultralite Sleeping Bag -7C - Mountain Equipment Co-op. Free Shipping Available
Along with a Thermarest pad. The sleeping bag packs even smaller than the pad, and i use two water-proof bags to pack it in to keep it from getting wet. These have worked very well for me for the last 5 years :thumbup1:
BTW i have always blown up my thermarest until it's full, never had a problem or a puncture. I've also washed the bag a number of times with Techwash for down with great results.

Hi I have 2 suggestons Blacks are selling there 3 seson fart sacks for 29.99 instead of 59.99 they come with stuff sack seems to be quite small.
or go to any very good Army forces surpluss shop like silvermans buy the stuff sack & lob your bag in it see how small it goes, the New Army Fart sack
goes down to the size of a football