To replace my Vango Nitestar 250 http://www.vango.co.uk/adventure/nitestar-250.html which is too bulky. Max budget £50 for use May to October time, was looking at the following;

Snugpak travelpak extreme http://www.snugpak.com/index.php?MenuID=114-119&ItemID=152

Not going to save a lot of weight or bulk…save a bit more?

Ooh – good thread. I was just thinking about this earlier. I’ve always used down bags for low weight/bulk but I realise I’ll need to compromise if I want to go down the bivi route. I’d be happy to pay a good bit more for the right bag though.

I got a down Vango last year, 800gm odd, £90 RRP IIRC, it seemed the more you spent the warmer (not lighter) the bags get.

Snugpak packs down considerably smaller cynic-al

Fair enough.

Those Snugpaks come with a “mosquito” net – does anyone know if this has a fine enough mesh to keep out the dreaded midge?

i’ve got one of those snugpak bags – its ok, nothing amazing but i was in a similar situation to the OP and had a budget to stick to. it does pack down reasonably small and i’ve used it for 2/3 day bivi missions before with no real probs. i bought a compression sac to go with it which gets it down much smaller than the original bag which was pretty useless for that. i ended up cutting the mosquito net out as it was very annoying/more of a hinderance and tbh i don’t reckon it would keep midges out as the mesh wasn’t fine enough. iirc i got mine from tiso in a sale for about £35. i’ve since upgraded to a mountain hardwear down bag mainly for space saving and i’m working now but still use the snugpak in summer for camping/festivals and i’m sure will last for a few more years too

just checked the pack size on that vango yes the snugpak is definately much smaller!!!

EDIT: just checked and its a 10L lifeventure compression bag that i have – seems to match the volume of the sleeping bag perfectly

I’ve got the exact snugpak sleeping bag,
i would say it was max a 2 season bag
i used it to tour denmark/sweden/norway in late summer early autumn and found it slightly uncomfortable

sorry I’ve just seen that some websites list it as a 2 season and some 2/3 season bag, so there we go 🙂

but didn’t find the quality that great on mine the stitching came undone(had to sew it back up) and also the compression sack it came with was terrible, the buckles broke on the first go,
fair play to snugpak though i contacted them and them sent me another stuffsack free of charge, but twas expecting a bit better,
i suppose for £40 it’s about right.

but would i recommend it,
probably not, I wish i had spent a bit more and got something else.

sorry I can’t recommend an alternative though 🙂

All feedback is welcome so thanks for yours gazc and colande varying responses there – must be some other options worth a look around this budget? Tesco down bag doesn’t appear to be available anymore.

oh i’d agree with colande on the season rating – 2 season max really i’ve had a few chilly nights in mine too

anymore for anymore? Come on you bivi geeks, some of you must be on a budget too 🙂

TBH, I was looking at the 1100g version.

10L ❓ Mine looks about 3! Not as warm, granted.

How about this – http://www.theoutdoorshop.com/showPart.asp?part=PN90989

The trouble with any synthetic bag costing £50 is … you’ll either be cold (unless it’s a very mild night) or you’ll be burdened with weight/pack size.*In all honesty I’d save a bit more cash and pay AlpKit a visit.

*I understand this may not be possible.

We managed a buy of some Mountain Equipment Starlight bags last year – £40 from an RRP@£100. Super good things, well made and thought through and more compact/lighter than I expected. Perfect for DofE April-October up here.

The trouble with any synthetic bag costing £50 is … you’ll either be cold (unless it’s a very mild night) or you’ll be burdened with weight/pack size.*In all honesty I’d save a bit more cash and pay AlpKit a visit.

Would love to but its a big step up to £150 🙁

Tesco seem to no longer do their down bag either

I like Mountain Equipment synthetic sleeping bags. I’ve got a Firewalker UL (1 season) and a Firewalker 3 (warm, but rather bulky), and they seem decent enough.

Though I think the Firewalker range are now discontinued, not sure which ones you can now get for £50. This one looks a good price, should be about warm enough for what you want: http://www.craigdonmountainsports.com/mountain-equipment-sleepwalker-i