Sleeping bag recommendation

Rob G said:

Anyway what am I going to recommend to him (he's a 65 birthday coming
up shortly!) ? 2/3 Season I think, not too specialist ( Rab I think
is one end of the String for instance)

Rab are not /generically/ "too specialist": they do several different
ranges of bags and while some clearly are specialist, others are more
general (and cheaper, and not quite so high performance), though still a
good quality product that will give years of service.

Quoted message said:

weight and packed size
suitable for lightweight but not ultra lightweight carrying, Scottish
hills camping and bothying.

With the above in mind, a Rab Ladakh, or similarly a Mountain Equipment
Classic or Glacier. All of those come in a range of fill weights which
you can tailor to your pal's requirements for warmth ("2/3 season"
doesn't mean much if you happen to sleep cold: I know people who've used
4/5 season bags in summer!)

http://www.rab.uk.com/products_sleep_ladseries.html
http://www.mountain-equipment.co.uk/The%20Gear/SLEEPING%20BAGS/Down/Glacier
http://www.mountain-equipment.co.uk/The%20Gear/SLEEPING%20BAGS/Down/Classic

I've known quite a few folk with Classics and Ladakhs over the years,
and have yet to hear a bad word about any of them, even though they're
the "bottom of the range" from each manufacturer's down series.

Quoted message said:

Got a recommendation from another friend
for Haglof - never heard of them previously.

Haglofs are a reputable Swedish brand that has been available for quite
a few years in the UK now (from ~ 2000 I'd guess). Though they're no
less "specialist" than Rab or ME, for example, and are harder to get
hold of (especially over their different model ranges), and AFAICT not
particularly better (or worse, mind).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

The message <[email hidden]>
from Rob G <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

I broach this question with a bit trepidation as it is the classic
'how long is a bit of string' problem. The reason is our recent trip
into a hill bothy when one of the party was struggling to carry his
share of the common goods as he his rucksack was pretty full with a
Fairy Down sleeping bag - a bit of 'out-of -the-ark' gear now.

The cheap option is to get him to pack his rucksack better. Fairy
doesn't ring any bells with me but down bags compress much more than
synthetics and last much longer.

None of my remaining bags are less than 30 years old. The oldest, a
Blacks Icelandic Special, was second hand and had just been refilled
when I got it cheap* (£5 with an ice axe thrown in as well) some time in
the mid 1960s. (I really should throw that one away as the fabric is too
fragile for further use and recovering costs more than a new bag). In
the days I went backpacking that sleeping bag took up fully half of my
small Karrimor Pinnacle rucksack (25 litres?) but I still had enough
room for the rest of my stuff although the tent and sleeping mat had to
go under the rucksack lid. I bet your companions rucksack was 2 or 3
times the capacity of my old Karrimor.

*Thinking about it £5 wasn't particularly cheap back in the days when
the pound was worth something, before Wilsons "pound in your pocket"
lies and raging inflation. I have known roadworthy cars change hands for
little more.

--
Roger Chapman
Nearest Marilyn still to be visited - Great Orme.
89 miles as the crow flies,
considerably more as the walker drives.

Ysgrifennodd "Rob G" <[email hidden]> mewn neges
newyddion:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I broach this question with a bit trepidation as it is the classic
'how long is a bit of string' problem. The reason is our recent trip
into a hill bothy when one of the party was struggling to carry his
share of the common goods as he his rucksack was pretty full with a
Fairy Down sleeping bag - a bit of 'out-of -the-ark' gear now.

I've checked the archives and there doesn't seem to have been a thread
covering this for some time.

Anyway what am I going to recommend to him (he's a 65 birthday coming
up shortly!) ? 2/3 Season I think, not too specialist ( Rab I think
is one end of the String for instance), weight and packed size
suitable for lightweight but not ultra lightweight carrying, Scottish
hills camping and bothying. Got a recommendation from another friend
for Haglof - never heard of them previously.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Rob

If you want decent kit, but at a very reasonable price, then try out the
Alpkit.com range of sleeping bags. I've got one of their lightweight
pipedream bags and it's great.

The Alpine dream bag would probably fit the bill for your friend, and costs
less than £100. It packs reasonably small too (my friend has one) and isn't
too heavy - though not lightweight.

T Dave R

--
The Snowdonia Blog.....
www.blogs.walkeryri.org.uk

T Dave R said:

If you want decent kit, but at a very reasonable price, then try out the
Alpkit.com range of sleeping bags. I've got one of their lightweight
pipedream bags and it's great.

I second the Alpkit recommendation. Check out their sleeping mats as well.

Jim Ford

Roger said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from Rob G <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

I broach this question with a bit trepidation as it is the classic
'how long is a bit of string' problem. The reason is our recent trip
into a hill bothy when one of the party was struggling to carry his
share of the common goods as he his rucksack was pretty full with a
Fairy Down sleeping bag - a bit of 'out-of -the-ark' gear now.

The cheap option is to get him to pack his rucksack better. Fairy
doesn't ring any bells with me but down bags compress much more than
synthetics and last much longer.

None of my remaining bags are less than 30 years old. The oldest, a
Blacks Icelandic Special, was second hand and had just been refilled
when I got it cheap* (£5 with an ice axe thrown in as well) some time in
the mid 1960s. (I really should throw that one away as the fabric is too
fragile for further use and recovering costs more than a new bag). In
the days I went backpacking that sleeping bag took up fully half of my
small Karrimor Pinnacle rucksack (25 litres?) but I still had enough
room for the rest of my stuff although the tent and sleeping mat had to
go under the rucksack lid. I bet your companions rucksack was 2 or 3
times the capacity of my old Karrimor.

*Thinking about it £5 wasn't particularly cheap back in the days when
the pound was worth something, before Wilsons "pound in your pocket"
lies and raging inflation. I have known roadworthy cars change hands for
little more.

--
Roger Chapman
Nearest Marilyn still to be visited - Great Orme.
89 miles as the crow flies,
considerably more as the walker drives.

Roger - not a very helpful posting when you aren't aware of that
particular type of bag. I like you have retained a lot of older
equipment and have just been and checked on my Fairy Down bag. They
were the bag to have n the late 60's early 70's as far as can remember
and are heavy cotton cased so they don't roll up all that tight and
are over 2k in weight. You're also falling into the trap of being
annoying by making assumptions on the size of my companion's
rucksack. Having also in my time had a Black's Icelandic special I do
wonder slightly about how accurate your memory is on both its packed
size and the size of rucksack you were using.

Thanks to others who have given me useful information

Rob

Rob

The message <[email hidden]>
from Rob G <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I broach this question with a bit trepidation as it is the classic
'how long is a bit of string' problem. The reason is our recent trip
into a hill bothy when one of the party was struggling to carry his
share of the common goods as he his rucksack was pretty full with a
Fairy Down sleeping bag - a bit of 'out-of -the-ark' gear now.

The cheap option is to get him to pack his rucksack better. Fairy
doesn't ring any bells with me but down bags compress much more than
synthetics and last much longer.

None of my remaining bags are less than 30 years old. The oldest, a
Blacks Icelandic Special, was second hand and had just been refilled
when I got it cheap* (£5 with an ice axe thrown in as well) some time in
the mid 1960s. (I really should throw that one away as the fabric is too
fragile for further use and recovering costs more than a new bag). In
the days I went backpacking that sleeping bag took up fully half of my
small Karrimor Pinnacle rucksack (25 litres?) but I still had enough
room for the rest of my stuff although the tent and sleeping mat had to
go under the rucksack lid. I bet your companions rucksack was 2 or 3
times the capacity of my old Karrimor.

*Thinking about it £5 wasn't particularly cheap back in the days when
the pound was worth something, before Wilsons "pound in your pocket"
lies and raging inflation. I have known roadworthy cars change hands for
little more.

Quoted message said:

Roger - not a very helpful posting when you aren't aware of that
particular type of bag.

You won't make many friends by responding so rudely to someone who has
taken the trouble to reply to your query.

Quoted message said:

I like you have retained a lot of older
equipment and have just been and checked on my Fairy Down bag. They
were the bag to have n the late 60's early 70's as far as can remember
and are heavy cotton cased so they don't roll up all that tight and
are over 2k in weight.

Not much different to the Icelandic Special then.

Quoted message said:

You're also falling into the trap of being
annoying by making assumptions on the size of my companion's
rucksack. Having also in my time had a Black's Icelandic special I do
wonder slightly about how accurate your memory is on both its packed
size and the size of rucksack you were using.

Don't be stupid. I still have and use the rucksack and actually measured
it to determine it was only about 25 litres. If your companion was using
such a small rucksack then he should get a bigger one and if you think
this advice is uncalled for you can go and jump in the nearest lake.

Now it is just possible I might have got that calculation wrong as I
used metric measurements so why not do the calculation yourself -
circumference of 800mm and depth of 500mm.

Quoted message said:

Thanks to others who have given me useful information.

Plonk.

--
Roger Chapman
Nearest Marilyn still to be visited - Great Orme.
89 miles as the crow flies,
considerably more as the walker drives.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Roger - not a very helpful posting when you aren't aware of that
particular type of bag.

You won't make many friends by responding so rudely to someone who has
taken the trouble to reply to your query.

I'm sorry Roger, if you found my response 'so rude', but I was trying
to point out that you made two assumptions in your posting and made a
recommendation on rucksack packing that wasn't going in the right
direction at all. I did after all ask for guidance on purchasing a
*new* sleeping bag; my mistake it seems was including just why a new
bag was being sought.

Rob

On 16 May 2007 15:18:02 -0700, Rob G <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Anyway what am I going to recommend to him (he's a 65 birthday coming
up shortly!) ? 2/3 Season I think, not too specialist ( Rab I think
is one end of the String for instance), weight and packed size
suitable for lightweight but not ultra lightweight carrying, Scottish
hills camping and bothying.

http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16155&category_id=253
is cheap and has a good reputation though I don't have one myself
(yet).

http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/index.php?cPath=26_60 is definitely not
cheap, but is superb quality. My minimus was bought as a mountain
marathon bag, and though only rates to +5, has seen me comfortable
well below zero.

S.

--
Stop ID cards and the Database State
http://www.no2id.net/

Alpkit for something that will do the job and more. Nowt exotic in the
shell and not the highest grade of down but my poorer friends swear by
them even on alpine outings.
If you have any friends living in Eastern Europe you could buy a
"Bask" and have them ship it, well cheap for superb Russian quality
equipment.
No sneering unless you have seen, tried or owned Bask down
equipment all you other rec.walking folk. There is now a UK
distributor with a UK markup to match.