zip together bags
 

can anyone recommend a good synthetic sleeping bag that can be zipped together that is both warm and packs as small as possible. Must be synthetic as my girlfriend has asthma but still has romantic ideas of cuddling in a tent (bless her). We're not expecting to be camping in sub zero temps but who knows. If she likes the bike touring we may head to cold climes one day

I'm not sure if you have ever tried sleeping in a sleeping bag with someone else? In my experience it guarantees a poor nights sleep, for more than the one reason :innocent:

Me and the wife gave that idea up along while ago. I can't comment on freezing cold stuff as it just don't appeal to either of us. But we have camped when there has been frost on car windows.

We both use a vango bag, which can zip together, has a comfort rating of 0degs which has been fine for all our trips which packs reasonably small. We pack 2 bags and 2 mats in ortlieb roll bag on the rack. no real weight just size. I think they were about £30? Most of our trips have involved sleeping on it rather than in it!

Nice to see a local, not far away... in Halstead :thumbup1:

Thanks Tim, we've done the sharing thing and got on ok but i do know what you mean. it does cause problems with the middle of the night toilet break lol.

You mention requiring synthetic because she has asthma. Most people do not realize this, but very few people are actually allergic to down, what they are alergic to is the dust trapped in the feathers.

If you get a quality down bag that uses down and not feathers she will be fine.

Remember, down is NOT feathers. Down is the fuzzy fur on the skin of the goose, not the feathers. Cheap "down" includes feathers, expensive down does not.

But to answer your first questions, any two rectangular bags that unzip to form a blanket that use the same zipper will connect to one another. If you get two of the same rectangular bag it will fit best but it is not necessary.

Before my home burned down a few months ago I used a cheap slumberjack sleeping bag, it was a nice wide 36"x 82" bag. To supplement it's warmth I bought a 35x80" fleece sleeping bag. It was a Kelty travel liner. Both the Kelty and the Slumberjack used a #8 or a #5 YKK zipper. And they zipped to one another beautifully. Fleece size down with the sleeping bag on top for cold weather, the other way around for warmer weather.

My reasoning for this setup was to have a mild weather bag and doubling up the two would be great for severe cold weather while not being inside a claustrophobic mummy bag.

If I happen to come across a lady who would like to spend the evening in my tent I can utilize the liner along with the bag to create a double bag.

Me and the wife have RAB goosedown sleeping bags which zip together. Only tried it a few times as usually too hot and sweaty to sleep that way, good for cold weather I guess.

Jack Wolfskin SKYRANGER
 

I got myself a synthetic Jack Wolfskin SKYRANGER and have been very pleased with it. Might be a bit hard to find but it's possible (got mine in Austria) and around 50 Quid or 80 Euro I think it's reasonable value and quality for fairly cold weather. -5C and comfortable for someone from the tropics, alcohol helped!

It opens right out so I can use it as a blanket in warmer weather, so I imagine they would zip together. It would pack a lot smaller in a compression bag, but I had the room travelling solo so it wasn't an issue for me. With an XPED and a cotton sleeping bag liner/sheet that I put the EXPED in, to stop it slipping all around the tent. The hood in the sleeping bag is great for use as a pillow stuffed with clothes but mostly my riding jacket.

I found a store in Germany, not too far postage wise who has them for 76.50 Euro.

Jack Wolfskin Skyranger Regular right tango red | campz.de

Good luck with the search, cheers Dave.

When it gets warmer I'll be testing this setup, a Thermarest Vela™ Double Down Summer Camp Blanket | Therm-a-Rest® and a couple of Neoair Dreams. I've already bought them so there's no turning back, I'll post again if they seem suitable for couples touring. Sorry Gimli, they only do synthetic blankets as singles at the moment.

:oops2: I forgot to mention that the Vela is a technical blanket with baffles and likens the top half of a sleeping bag, If you think that when you lie in your sleeping bag you flatten all the insulation under you which greatly reduces it's insulation value then combined with a good mat the Vela kinda makes sense.

Together Bags!
 

some 27 or 28 years ago, Lida and I purchased top quality Down Sleeping bags which zipped together. Over all those years of extensive bicycle and more recently, motorcycle touring, we only ever zipped them together once where temp was below -5° C and, we were on Thermorests. They worked, but, usually too hot and now with Cots as well as Thermorests, zipping together is not an option. A recent trip to Darwin and return saw us actually carry a very lightweight summer MACPAC synthetic bag as well as the down. And,...we used both in different parts of the country!

I've only tried zip together bags a few times but that was enough. It doesn't really work for me. My other half doesn't do cold weather camping any more so if the weather's anything other than scorchio I just chose whatever single bag works best for me.

On the odd occasion when it is warm enough to tempt her out we've often abandoned sleeping bags and used a cheap double bed size duvet. Down(ish)ones aren't that expensive (compared to two sleeping bags anyway) I think the one we use at the moment came from Ikea. If you're too hot you can kick it off and if we're not too hot the chances are I'd be on my own anyway.

The err... down side is that you have to be quite brutal to compress it small enough to fit it onto a bike and we could never do that with the synthetic fill one we originally tried. It wasn't a problem in a car and we used it for car camping a few times before trying a bike trip but it needed a down (or feathers or whatever they put in it) one for that. We just use the regular inflatable mats underneath.