Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Gear Forum :: Asking the experts... 0* sleeping bags
|
Author | Message Text | ||
Love2fish |
|
||
cyclones30 |
What's your budget? At first I checked Feathered Friends....they don't list packed size. I checked Big Agnes, one of their 0 degree down bags packed size is 6.5" x 7.5" Is your current bag synthetic fill? That will make a huge difference (in price too though) |
||
sns |
I'll never go back to a bag - quilts are way more comfortable for me. But you may want to read up on Quilts, pads, etc. before switching. A really good pad is critical - a great bag or quilt will not stop heat loss below. I have a Thermarest Neoair Xtherm, large...best warmth to weight ratio out there. Both items are too warm to use in summer. |
||
Love2fish |
cyclones30: "The more you spend, the smaller they get :) Budget, well I’ve learned that when packing or portaging, money is well spent. Don’t get me wrong my 0* Coleman bag is warm and comfy but compressed it’s bigger than a 5 gallon bucket. Our hunt we’ll do this fall is an ongoing hike, in bwca terms it’s a loop. So I need to downsize cubic inches but be ready for temps in the teens at 10,000 ft elevation. Thank you for the above advise, I’m checking them out now. |
||
boonie |
|
||
mgraber |
|
||
Jaywalker |
|
||
cyclones30 |
And you don't need to spend $570 on a FF bag, I was just dreaming. A good pad as mentioned already and a nice BA or other bag for half that price will still do a hell of a job keeping you warm. And yes, quilts or hybrid quilt/bag is something to look into over a bag. I still prefer a bag for now but the quilts are sweet especially if you also use hammocks. A couple years ago I picked up a BA McAlpin I think it is....5 degree bag for $250 or so. Packs down nice and small and is very warm. Watch steep and cheap or other sites for winter closeouts now that the "cold" season is over these will be on sale |
||
BrianDay |
Lot of people recommending down. It is certainly lighter and more compressible than synthetic fills. Longer lifespan, too. Good stuff. But... Down bags tend to lose loft on multi-day winter trips. This isn't a problem for me these days because I winter camp with a hot tent so I can dry any accumulated perspiration out of my bag every morning. But back before I switched to the hot tent I had a lot of trouble with down in the winter. Went like this. Go to bed cold. Zip up tight to warm up. Fall asleep. Sometime in the middle of the night wake up hot and drenched in sweat. I know this doesn't happen to everyone but it's happened to me a lot. Stuff the slightly damp bag into a stuffsack, ski all day, pull it out and repeat. Result is a flat down bag in a few days. I had a Moonstone Liberty Ridge down bag back back in the 1990s. Really high quality 5 degree bag. I could go about three nights before it was flat as a pancake. Have a Feathered Friends Widgeon that I've used for years. Packs down small but if I sweat it up its a goner. Only gets used with the hot tent. I'm not anti-down in any way. But in certain circumstances it can be difficult to keep dry. The water resistant stuff is better, but not immune to this problem. Stuffing compresses the down and any moisture trapped in the bag freezes, reducing loft. This is a particular problem when temps are below freezing. On hunts you need to stay warm and stay in the field. To me that indicates synthetic. Probably a bag roomy enough to wear some clothes inside so you can dry baselayers and insulation in the bag overnight. If you plan to sleep in clothes you can get away with a little less bag. Maybe a 15 degree synthetic bag will work instead of a 0. A quality 15 degree synthetic bag will compress to less than half the volume of the Coleman bag you currently have. It'll weigh under 4 pounds, even if it has a really roomy cut. I'm very tempted by some of the Climashield Apex quilt designs out there. Apex is a very durable synthetic that holds up better than the short staple bonded insulations that most manufacturers source overseas. The Viam quilts look good. https://viamoutdoors.com/product/rts-ready-to-ship-quilts/ Check out advice from the backcountry hunting world on this sort of thing. Lots of pro-synthetic advice. If you search out John Barklow you'll find he has some interesting thoughts on down vs synthetic. He used to run winter training for Navy Special Warfare on Kodiak Island, and currently does product design for Sitka. Aron Snyder from Kifaru is another good resource for advice on backcountry hunting bags and the benefits of synthetic insulation. All that said, whether you decide to go down or synthetic you should have no trouble making a big improvement on the bag you're currently carrying. Good hunting! Brian |
||
butthead |
Love2fish: "cyclones30: "The more you spend, the smaller they get :) $600 isn't unexpected in 800+ down filled 0 degree. My 850 fill down Pomer Hoit, near 3 pounds and packs into a 16 L zippered bag. Combined wit an Exped 9 down mat has been comfortable to me down to -10 F. Western Mountaineering and Feathered Friends are top quality sleeping bags. The price catagory makes the idea of a custom made sleeping bag make sense, Down Works is one example. butthead |
||
OldFingers57 |
|
||
THEGrandRapids |
Something to think about. Not sure how you would compute ratings- if you had a 20 degree down bag and a 40 degree synthetic outer bag |
||
Wolfee |
THEGrandRapids: "Two bag system- down inne and synthetic outie, allows the condensation to occur in the synthetic outer, and not effect the down. Sort of like two paned windows. I just did this exact thing a few weeks ago in -10 degrees. I used a Kelty cosmic down 40 for the inner bag (btw on clearance at Sierra right now). And a 5 degree Mountain Hardware Lamina z synthetic for the outer. It worked really well. I was nice and toasty all night. |