Sleeping Bags where do I start?!

[ChoccyJules]

We haven’t been camping since our early 20‘s and threw out the old sleeping bags (which had been my parents‘) years ago when they started leaking feathers over every surface. Yes feathers.

So we are excited (well me and the kids are, DH is reserving judgement) to have booked a night’s champing in a disused church in early Sept. There will be campbeds but we need bedding. Can’t really fill the car with bedding as we will be travelling from somewhere else first.

My questions to the experts are: what sort of tog (?) rating, what fabric and what kind of budget am I looking at? They won’t be used a lot but if we do bother to fork out for some they may as well be decent quality...though I really can’t say when we would next need them!

I've got a vango nite star 4 season sleeping bag, it's a square shape rather than a mummy shape and I love it!!

They come with numbers 200 upwards. Go for the warmest you can afford lots on sale at mountain warehouse www.mountainwarehouse.com/camping/sleeping-bags/?&searchintent=MSIA&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2L7jBRCBARIsAPeAsaN5Ffv-oNMHWV81vbj_n9f-_2VUyytHOALSPHQAPmfKRd4hVxq2geYaAs3zEALw_wcB

If you’re not going to use them again can you borrow them off any friends rather than buy them. ?

Whatever you get, get a three season minimum. I do a lot of camping (monthly ish in Spring to Autumn) and I can only think of one trip where I'd had to get out of the sleeping bag for being too hot! I've no idea beyond that as I didn't buy the bag but just don't underestimate how cool it is at night even in high summer. I just lose my socks and hat and fleece if it's actually warm, that makes an overkill sleeping bag still be ok.

Whatever a bag says the minimum temperature it works at is, add 5 degrees at least.

whats your budget? 1-2 season= height of summer only! 3 season spring- autumn and a good all rounder. 4 season all year if you get the right ones (not tresspass !). I have a vango lattitude 300 for general down to 5 o C and for winter a down bag (alpkit skyehigh 900). better too warm than too cold! Also what bed/ mat will you use? whats under you can affect warmth greatly. you lose heat from the ground as well as the cool air. on family camps we use a foam mat under the self inflating mats . my hiking mat is a thermarest x therm. never been cold and slept in frost lots! but £££££££££

a good quality sleeping bag/ bed/ mat will mean a good sleep. so spend what you can afford. vango are a pretty good brand. tresspass/ mountain warehouse avoid!!

Sleeping Pod sleeping bags are good if anyone is a fidget and struggles in the tight cacoon type - they are very wide and plenty of room to wiggle in. I’ve only used mine in summer though but I was warm!

oh and on sleeping bags look for the comfort temperature NOT extreme. comfort means when wearing baselayers generally. extreme is the lowest temp bag will work just to keep you alive lol. good brands are alpkit (online only), rab, mountain equipment, vango. synthetic is cheaper and much easier to care for. down is very warm but you have to look after them.....and only go for hydrophobic down (ethically sourced, not live plucked).

Feathers = warm and light, often favoured by high altitude mountaineers for these reasons . Pricey but long lasting, potential ethical issues with the source of the down. No good when wet.

Synthetic = cheaper and bulkier/heavier. Cheaper. Will retain some heat when wet.

Check out offers in Go Outdoors. Vango are good, and not badly priced. They do an extending sleeping bag for children, that will do them up to about 140 cm.

Alpkit are also great. They have shops in Keswick, Ambleside, Hathersage and a warehouse in Hucknall (????) as well as a good website. They are not as cheap as some you’ll find in Go Outdoors/Mountain Warehouse, but are brilliant quality.

I got a four season bag off season in the sale but it was a crazy good buy. Many years later and I still love snuggling down in it

Magic Mountain in Glossop has factory samples/surplus stock/end of line stuff from Mountain Equipmebt, Soeatway etc including sleeping bags, often at half price.

Oh God I am so looking forward to doing the church camping thing. Dd is a bit young yet though

Good point about the mat as well. Thermarest are brilliant but I've turned into a wimp as I've got older and use a blow-up double mattress now even if I'm on my own, if it's more than one night. I roll off the edge of a roll mat unless wedged in by DP and dog 😂

It looks like there will be camp beds, so we will be off the floor.

All of this is very useful, thanks. I didn’t like the cocoon style before so I prefer to get a rectangle one for me. Do people also get inners for hygiene reasons or not when it’s your own bag? I seem to remember those from youth hosteling.

Do we recommend this brand? This one seems to tick all my boxes.

www.blacks.co.uk/equipment/042027outwell-contour-lux-sleeping-bag-royal-blue.html

And this is the nearest I could find to a PP‘s recommendation,looks like it might be good for DD as she has to camp this Summer as well as champ. She will need an adult sized one and doesn’t fancy a tight cocoon (hated her expensive mermaid blanket...): www.vango.co.uk/gb/sleeping-bags/587-nitestar-alpha-300-quad.html#da-moreinfo

My personal tactic is a cheap as chips sleeping bag off Amazon (XL/double bag so room to wriggle about) & an equally cheap fleece blanket over the top to trap an extra layer of warm air, & which you can kick off once warmed up!

Having said that, I don't feel the cold much & always end up sweltering in mummy bags.

If you've got room I'd still recommend a lightweight fleece blanket each, though. If you've underestimated how warm the sleeping bags need to be it'll make all the difference, & if not they're still useful for wrapping round shoulders etc whilst not actually in your bags.

the idea of a sleeping bag liner is like a duvet cover, to keep it clean. I mean you wouldnt sleep without a duvet cover? you can get fleece ones that are warmer, poly cotton or if you have the dosh silk. a single duvet cover would do the job as well. Im funny about sleeping bags, I never share mine!

every time you wash a synthetic bag you kill it a little bit...... which means losing a bit of its warmth. plus its a pain to do! easier to just wash the liner.