[Closed] 4 Season sleeping bag suggestions....

What/where is your 4th season and how often do you intend to be in the temp zone?

Surrey Hills or Braemar?

Once a winter or every weekend?

Reason being, for that budget, if you're not going for Alpkit then you'd probably be better with a good three season and then use a cheaper bag/layers in conjunction with the 3 season. Obviously that's not practical if you're using it a lot in winter

Any weight restrictions? Synthetic 4 season are much cheaper but will be around 2kg

I use a Mountain Hardware Lamina 0. You should be able to pick one up for around £125.

It will be mostly used in/around Wales camping pretty much through out the year. I guess it doesn't need to be 4 season.

My existing bag isn't quite warm enough, I have good insulatation underneath, the other option for me is to buy a down jacket to sleep in with the existing bag...

My existing bag isn't quite warm enough, I have good insulatation underneath, the other option for me is to buy a down jacket to sleep in with the existing bag...

Stick the down jacket over the top of the bag, that works MUCH better (the down jacket won't loft properly otherwise).

I've slept in 0 degrees in a +10 degree summer bag with my jacket draped over it and was pretty comfy.

the other option for me is to buy a down jacket to sleep in with the existing bag...

all I use when winter backpacking and/or bivis in the Alps, is a 700gm lightweight bag (admittedly a very good one) and light duvet jacket.

I know nothing about sleeping bags, but I use a website called Sportpursuit. Every morning you get a email with flash sales that last 10 days. Loads of biking / walking / skiing hard wear and clothing with upto 70% off. It's all named gear and sleeping bag are on sale at the mo. some had £300 off RRP.

I'm in a similar situation. My plan is to get a Lamina 20 and supplement with good insulation underneath and a down jacket when it's proper cold.

If you're not desperate for a down jacket you could always buy a [b][url= http://rab.uk.com/products/sleeping-bags/neutrino/module.html ]Rab Module[/url][/b] and use it to boost the performance of your existing bag and as an ultra-lightweight warm weather option on its own.

Interesting. However, I already have a down jacket and I'm partly motivated by the fact that it's dual-use - ie wearing round camp and extra warmth at night - to keep weight and pack size down.

I'm temped by the offer on women's Lamina 20 on Sportpursuit. From the description it sounds like it will be big enough and apparently has extra insulation for torso and feet, which sounds ideal. I don't mind cross dressing when it comes to bedclothes but does anyone know any reason why it won't be any good (eg weird cut)?

Sorry for the hijack

PHD does a similar thing called the Filler, more expensive though at, I think, about £190. If you don't have to carry the bag around, ie you're car camping, just buy a cheap, fat synthetic bag, and use it as a throw-over. Pile liners work well too. And wear a hat 🙂

Cheezpleez unless your mahoosive you'll be fine, I use a Womens Rab bag which I bought for my wife for a trip to the Himalayas. It's the warmest bag of half a dozen I've got. You can do returns to SP too if it's no good.

Be cautios if trying "top up" a bag, unless there's lots of room in it the top up bag won't loft so you'll not get much benefit from it. I've got a rab AR Top bag too, similar to the module listed above. I wouldn't get away with using if in conjuction with any of my other bags as there's just not the slack to let it work. good base layers and a silk liner can do wonders

Great, thanks for the info. I use the down jacket trick with my existing cheapo bag and it's pretty effective but I know it can be counterproductive. I'll try it and see.

If you don't mind a bit of weight and synthetic insulation have a look at the Snugpak website. Their Softie bags are really highly regarded.

Ajungilak bags are also pretty good.

Another vote for the Mountain Hardwear Lamnia 0.

Cheezpleez - Member

More importantly the shorter length means less air to heat with your body warmth so you get warmer quicker

Hmmm ... may be a bit short then. I'm 5 ft 9 and the offer on Sportpursuit seems to be for a regular length bag (although it seems to say it suits up to 6ft).

The women's regular is 5ft8 the mens is 6ft max user height
Click on that link above and look at the size chart .

Sleeping Bags (Feet/Inches)
Short/ Regular /Long
Mens Fits To 5'6" / Fits To 6'0" / Fits To 6'6"
Womens N/A / Fits To 5'8" / Fits To 5'10"

The other option or additional option to consider is adding a bivi bag. Both Alpkit and Rab (Gamma/Survival Zone) do good but cheap bivis which would have a few benefits, adds a few degrees of warmth to a bag when required, keeps your bag clean and dry, gives you a bit of kit with the option/flexibility of actually using it as intended (a bivi trip).

Another vote for Snugpak here. If you're in the Yorkshire (Silsden) area they tend to have a factory sale at the start of December. I got a couple of cracking bags there for £50 a piece last year.

Good suggestion, I have a alpkit bivi bag and I think I have a fleece liner for my bag somewhere, might be worth giving that a go.

Someone I know has told me about his snugpak bag, he cant rate it highly enough!

The lamina looks good too, as per usual....too much choice! 😉

Mounty sent you an email.