Eurohike Down 500

[RedBike]

Right, i'm double checking with the experts before I buy any more duff camping equipment.

Is the Eurohike Down 500 any good?
https://www.millets.co.uk/camping/sleeping-equipment/product/095992.html

It's 4 season, down, rated to -4, 500g weight and 'only; £30 at my local Millets while the sale is on.

Anything better? (under £60 please)

 

[just jim]

Not much info on it really. You'd have to buy to try.

For an extra £25 (on top of your budget) you could get one of these.

 

[Crackle]

Don't buy them online unless you've already seen them in the flesh. Get thee to a Cotswold or Field & Trek or Blacks or whatever is closest. Get some out, handle them, try them, examine the pack size. Each bag is cut differently and has zips and toggles in different places, examining the spec will only tell you so much. Each one will also compress differently and you can't tell that from pack size even if it's stated. A sleeping bag, I think, is a hands on purchase, honestly, trust me on this. A sleeping bag is your friend you need to start the relationship properly.

 

[RedBike]

Not much info on it really. You'd have to buy to try.

For an extra £25 (on top of your budget) you could get one of these.

I will put in on the maybe list; but £50 more and it's nearly a 800g heavier / not really any warmer (according to the specs).

It doesn't look that much better to me; but am I missing something here?

I will probably be buy Alpkit dry bags and their bivvy bag (assuming I don't get a tent).

 

[RedBike]

Don't buy them online unless you've already seen them in the flesh. Get thee to a Cotswold or Field & Trek or Blacks or whatever is closest. Get some out, handle them, try them, examine the pack size. Each bag is cut differently and has zips and toggles in different places, examining the spec will only tell you so much. Each one will also compress differently and you can't tell that from pack size even if it's stated. A sleeping bag, I think, is a hands on purchase, honestly, trust me on this. A sleeping bag is your friend you need to start the relationship properly.

I will do. They're sold at Millets which is my local camping shop.

 

[just jim]

Crackle has hit the nail on the head. I pointed towards Alpkit because I have one of their bags and it really does as described.
Yep, a bit heavier and pricier but, I think it would be an astute choice.
Unless you are getting really into ultralightweight camping a few hundred grams won't make a lot of difference with loaded touring.

I am personally quite wary of this "get the best one you can afford, there can be no other" opinion. I sort of go for the middle ground, then make up my own mind if I need to "upgrade".

 

[RedBike]

I already have a very warm sleeping bag. The only trouble is it weighes 2.5kg and doesn't really pack down very well. The only reason for 'upgrading' is to loose a few lbs / make packing easier. I wont need to use this sleeping bag in really cold conditions.

Having seen the Alpkit gear in action i've got no quibbles about buying their gear. If only that bag weighed a little bit less I would of brought it straight away.

The main thing that make the Eurohike so appealling is the 2kg weight saving over my current bag! That should be very noticeable!

 

[just jim]

No reviews of the bag in question yet RedBike, maybe you could give some feedback on it if you get one. It may well be a bargain in the same way the Argos Pro Action tent has been.

 

[Crackle]

I already have a very warm sleeping bag. The only trouble is it weighes 2.5kg and doesn't really pack down very well. The only reason for 'upgrading' is to loose a few lbs / make packing easier. I wont need to use this sleeping bag in really cold conditions.

Having seen the Alpkit gear in action i've got no quibbles about buying their gear. If only that bag weighed a little bit less I would of brought it straight away.

The main thing that make the Eurohike so appealling is the 2kg weight saving over my current bag! That should be very noticeable!

I am out of date on sleeping bags Redbike, I purchased wisely long ago and still have the bags (notice more than one) I chose. Down is not a good choice for the UK, if it gets wet you're knacked, you have to be confident it won't, if you are, OK, if not a synthetic is better. These days synthetics seem to have gotten better on pack size and weight though they still don't match down. If I had to choose a new bag for cycle touring I would choose from weight and pack size first, probably 2 or 3 season knowing I can increase it's range with a liner and clothes and a good mat but I am a warm sleeper. If you want one which will do for colder weather choose a closer fitting bag. A close fitting two season will be warmer than a loose fitting three.This matters if you move a lot during the night, if you do you will lose a lot of heat in a loose bag. These kind of things need to be considered which is why specs will only take you so far.

 

[andrew_s]

Your original link is a bit light on the specs. Where did you see the -4 temperature limit?

<cynic mode on>
Working on the principle that if it seems too good to be true, then there's a catch in it somewhere...
a) A bag described as a 500g down bag would normally contain 500g of down, to which the weight of the material has to be added. This would be somewhere in the 300 - 800g range depending on the materials used.
Down comes in various qualities, the cheaper of which can contain up to 20% of small curly feathers. There's about a 3:1 ratio between the weight of cheap down and the weight of the best down required to fill a specific volume.
c) There's various values for lowest temperature that can be quoted, even if just selecting from the current "official" set of values. There's the comfort limit, the lowest temperature at which you could expect to get a good sleep without feeling cold, and the extreme limit, which is the temperature below which you'd start to worry about freezing to death.

As I see it the possibilities are
1) The bag contains 500g of fairly cheap down, weighs in at 11-1200g total, and will probably keep you comfortable down to about +5 (May-September)
2) The bag weighs 500g total. In that case it's not got much down, and the -4 temperature will be where you worry about hypothermia

I bank on (1), and it will be similar to this £50 bag from F&T

<cynic mode off>

 

[RedBike]

First Google link
http://www.campingforums.org.uk/forums/equipment-reviews/75-eurohike-down-500-sleeping-bag.html

 

[just jim]

Yes, read that. Doesn't give a lot to go on - how it lofts, how it worked out in practice for this user, zips and stitching. Basic stuff.

Swing by Millets and have a look.

 

[rich p]

First Google link
http://www.campingforums.org.uk/forums/equipment-reviews/75-eurohike-down-500-sleeping-bag.html

Call me a cynic too but that 'review' read eerily like an ad to me.

 

[RedBike]

I swung by Millets today. I took back my sleeping mat because it deflated on me during the night. (Probably something to do with the fact it got soaked.) I tried to buy my sleeping bag and a new mattress but they didn't have either of them in stock.

The very helpful manager rang about 6 different stores but nobody else had either in stock. Eventually she said she could order one in if I had the code from off the website. Off I went back home and got the codes for the sleeping bag and a new lighter weight mattress.
http://www.millets.co.uk/camping/sleeping-equipment/product/092750.html

I figured it was worth having them ordered in as I could look at them before buying them this way.

I returned to the store with the codes to be told that neither were in stock at their warehouse and both items could only be ordered in online. - Great,

So I now have a £20 voucher for my mat and I'm about to take the gamble in that sleeping bag and continue hunting around for a lighter mat.

 

[rich p]

Someone said that the down bags were inadvisable in case they got wet but mine has never been wet in all my years of touring and multiple downpours. It's either in a dry tent or a waterproof bag.