Sleeping bag zip question

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

Rob

A left hand zip is on the left as you are in the bag. It's generally
considered easier for a right handed person to use a left hand zip when
in the bag (i.e. arm reaching over the body) but I would have thought
you could teach your left hand to operate a zip.

The other reason for left and right zips is of course to have one of
each and zip two bags together for a cuddle.

Roy.

Roy roy@somedomainsomewhere said:

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

Quoted message said:

Rob

A left hand zip is on the left as you are in the bag. It's generally
considered easier for a right handed person to use a left hand zip when
in the bag (i.e. arm reaching over the body) but I would have thought
you could teach your left hand to operate a zip.

The other reason for left and right zips is of course to have one of
each and zip two bags together for a cuddle.

Roy.

Thanks Roy - that makes sense ! Just a shame no one says that
anywhere! As for the cuddles, well there was a time once when we were
young but that was so long ago that bags didn't have zips on them then
(shame! - or perhaps it was just as well) - and now, well I don't
think I can really be bothered.

Rob

On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:00:14 -0700, Rob G <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

When camping in my two side-entry tents (as opposed to my ridge tent)
I find it best to have a left-hand zip, ie the zip is on my left-hand
side when I am lying in the bag. This is because the sleeping bag
opens to the side that the door is on when I am lying the normal way
round.

I do find it less convenient to get in and out of the sleeping bag if
I have put up the tent on a slope and have to sleep with my head at
the non door end of the tent. (I hate sleeping with my head
downhill.) This means that the zip is up against the wall of the tent
rather than the door.

Judith

Rob G said:

As for the cuddles, well there was a time once when we were
young but that was so long ago that bags didn't have zips on them then
(shame! - or perhaps it was just as well) - and now, well I don't
think I can really be bothered.

Tsk. Just lie still while we nail the lid down, will you. You may as
well be in the ground ;-)

--
"Proofread carefully to see if you any words out."

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

My current bag is a LH zip as when I got it from a bargain bin the
choice was LH or pay an extra £80. I kept my extra £80! Previous bag
was a RH, and I haven't found any difference in use.

Main reason to worry about it is, as Roy suggests, zipping two bags
together. Even if the romance in your soul has died it can be a good
way to get an initial warm up before separating if it's a bit Baltic.
The zipping together, unzipping /is/ a faff, but the initial warm up is
very nice!

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/

Peter Clinch said:

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

My current bag is a LH zip as when I got it from a bargain bin the
choice was LH or pay an extra £80. I kept my extra £80! Previous bag
was a RH, and I haven't found any difference in use.

Main reason to worry about it is, as Roy suggests, zipping two bags
together. Even if the romance in your soul has died it can be a good
way to get an initial warm up before separating if it's a bit Baltic.
The zipping together, unzipping /is/ a faff, but the initial warm up is
very nice!

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/

Come on, Pete - it's barely a year since you got married; cuddles are
still on the agenda !!

Rob

Rob G said:

Peter Clinch said:

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

My current bag is a LH zip as when I got it from a bargain bin the
choice was LH or pay an extra =A380. I kept my extra =A380! Previous bag
was a RH, and I haven't found any difference in use.

Main reason to worry about it is, as Roy suggests, zipping two bags
together. Even if the romance in your soul has died it can be a good
way to get an initial warm up before separating if it's a bit Baltic.
The zipping together, unzipping /is/ a faff, but the initial warm up is
very nice!

Quoted message said:

Come on, Pete - it's barely a year since you got married; cuddles are
still on the agenda !!

But when it comes to sleeping I want my own duvet or bag wrapped
around me the way I want it, and no drafts!
I have the RH zip to complement his LH zip, but I prefer that anyway: I
sleep best on my right hand side, and that means I have the zipless side
pulled tight around my back, even if I haven't fully zipped up the bag.

Roos

In message <[email hidden]>, Judith
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:00:14 -0700, Rob G <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

When camping in my two side-entry tents (as opposed to my ridge tent)
I find it best to have a left-hand zip, ie the zip is on my left-hand
side when I am lying in the bag. This is because the sleeping bag
opens to the side that the door is on when I am lying the normal way
round.

I do find it less convenient to get in and out of the sleeping bag if
I have put up the tent on a slope and have to sleep with my head at
the non door end of the tent. (I hate sleeping with my head
downhill.) This means that the zip is up against the wall of the tent
rather than the door.

Judith

My approach is somewhat different insofar as I hate lying in my sleeping
bag with only my face showing. Mine is a LH zip and wish I had a RH zip
- an error on my part when buying. Now I use the bag upside down and
have the bit that I should be lying on pulls loosely over my head if I
need to , na dhte zip is on the right - QED..
--
Bill Grey

Left zip, right zip, it's all the same to me - I usually end up with the
zip underneath!

Jim Ford

Jim Ford said:

Left zip, right zip, it's all the same to me - I usually end up with the
zip underneath!

Or jammed stuck, underneath you, when you wake up in the dark in a
thunderstorm with a huge monster making strange noises two feet from
your head!

Judith

In article <[email hidden]>, Judith
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Jim Ford said:

Left zip, right zip, it's all the same to me - I usually end up with the
zip underneath!

Or jammed stuck, underneath you, when you wake up in the dark in a
thunderstorm with a huge monster making strange noises two feet from
your head!

That's no way to refer to your fellow challengers Judith!

--

Dominic Sexton

Judith said:

Jim Ford said:

Left zip, right zip, it's all the same to me - I usually end up with the
zip underneath!

Or jammed stuck, underneath you, when you wake up in the dark in a
thunderstorm with a huge monster making strange noises two feet from
your head!

Oh I find jammed stuck and full bladder seems to recur. Must be an age
thing.

Roy.

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

Supplimentary question, why bother with a bloody zip at all. I have a
2 season Coleman with no zip and it's great.

toad said:

Supplimentary question, why bother with a bloody zip at all. I have a
2 season Coleman with no zip and it's great.

We have light bags with no zip, and they're great... But on a
heavier bag for colder temperatures you can get times when you just
overheat horribly, and then the options of "no bag", "bag as
quilt", "melting" are very usefully supplemented by various degrees
of unzipping. So our heavier bags have zips.

Plus, as previously discussed, combining two bags.

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/

toad said...

Quoted message said:

Rob G said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

Supplimentary question, why bother with a bloody zip at all. I have a
2 season Coleman with no zip and it's great.

Not all of us are sufficiently agile.

Plus, if you are basically chilly about the shoulders but want to cool
off your tootsies, a zip, especially a 2-way one, is essential.

--
Fran
To email me see 'from' in headers; use your net know-how to find the
domain, and put my real name in front thereof.

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

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When sellers talk about left or right zips on sleeping bags, is that
looking from the top or bottom, or perhaps is it with you lying in the
bag on your back ? For the average right handed person which is best
or does it not make that much difference ?

Quoted message said:

Supplimentary question, why bother with a bloody zip at all. I have a
2 season Coleman with no zip and it's great.

Neither of the bags I now use have zips. It makes for a warmer bag but
the downside is that you can all too easily get too hot in anything
warmer than a 2 season bag.

Back in the middle 60s/early 70s I had a zipped bag which I tended to
use in preference to my Icelandic Special (again no zip) in warmer
weather. It was a severely secondhand ex US Army bag with a centre zip
which seems to me a much better proposition than a side zip if zipping
into another bag is not a high priority.

The bag came complete with a felt (zipped) inner and a waterproof cover.
I never used the inner and used the waterproof cover only the once IIRC.
Being a military bag the zips were quick release so in an emergency one
could emerge very quickly. :-) I threw it out when I moved in 1978. A
move I have since regretted. A few patches and a good clean was all it
really needed.

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

Fran said:

Not all of us are sufficiently agile.

Someone else might say if you can't climb into a sleeping bag you
shouldn't be on the hills. Not me, but you do hear people complaining
at the kit other's wear. They might say if it's bad to go up hills in
shorts and a t-shirt how much worse to go up if you aren't 100 per
cent fit?

IIRC didn't you bollock two rather fit looking lads for not having the
correct kit? Double standards?

toad said:

Someone else might say if you can't climb into a sleeping bag you
shouldn't be on the hills. Not me, but you do hear people complaining
at the kit other's wear. They might say if it's bad to go up hills in
shorts and a t-shirt how much worse to go up if you aren't 100 per
cent fit?

What does "100% fit" actually /mean/? And is it necessarily the
case that fitness implies the suppleness to get into a small,
zip-free sleeping bag?

You might only be fit enough to dodder round a flat circuit for
half an hour but still want to (base) camp and need a sleeping bag.

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/

toad said...

Quoted message said:

Fran said:

Not all of us are sufficiently agile.

Someone else might say if you can't climb into a sleeping bag you
shouldn't be on the hills. Not me, but you do hear people complaining
at the kit other's wear. They might say if it's bad to go up hills in
shorts and a t-shirt how much worse to go up if you aren't 100 per
cent fit?

They might, but not everyone here backpacks, either.

Quoted message said:

IIRC didn't you bollock two rather fit looking lads for not having the
correct kit? Double standards?

Who, me? I doubt it very much. I don't have much of the 'right kit'
myself. I'm in no position to comment on other people's.

--
Fran
To email me see 'from' in headers; use your net know-how to find the
domain, and put my real name in front thereof.