Which sleeping bag?

[oldfatfool]

Get yourself a silk liner as well, a cheap, lite way of adding a couple of degs.

 

[steveindenmark]

wow those phd bags are super expensive like how could an ordinary joe like me afford one of those bags .

Sleeping bags are the same as all touring and cycling gear. We start off buying what we can afford, usually it is cheap.
Very quickly we realise it is cheap and it operates or works as if it is cheap and it gets binned in the shed and we go out and buy something a bit more expensive. The bit more expensive piece of kit is so much better than the original cheap piece of kit that we soon want the expensive piece of kit. Because we know how much better it will be than the little bit more expensive piece of kit. So we bin the little bit more expensive piece of kit in the shed and we use the expensive piece of kit and it is wonderful. It is exactly what we should have bought to begin with and we get many years of good use out of it and continue to be happy with it and recommend it to all our friends.

The other 2 pieces of rubbish kit stay in the shed and are eventually thrown out for good. What we don`t think about is that the 2 rubbish pieces of kit are really half the price of the expensive piece of kit. Which makes the expensive piece of kit not that expensive, when you look at it this way.

Now how many pieces of kit have I bought like this............dozens........everyone who has been cycling for years has. But I don`t anymore. I do my research, bite the bullet and pay up.

The three things you cannot skimp on when you are cycling touring is:

Your tent

Your sleeping mat

Your sleeping bag

You can even skimp a bit on the bike. But if you are not warm and dry at night you will hate it, very quickly.

Good kit is expensive. It is unfortunate but that is the way it is.

Steve

 

[fozy tornip]

Buffalo system. Robust, durable, warm, doesn't cost the earth, flexible (take the inners and/or outers you need for the conditions), chortle as you spill coffee or spag bog sauce or smear mud all over them because machine washable and tough, rather than fret at the prospect of £800(!!) down the drain, clamber into them wet and still be warm...
You're touring, not racing, so will be riding laden. Have a rest from gram fetishism and relax.

 

[jay clock]

Just looked at Buffalo. If you are going to have a "Have a rest from gram fetishism" these are heavy. For £125 you get a 2/3 season bag weighing a collosal 1610g. And not small packed. By getting a tiny PhD I not only saved the bag weight, but by taking the same approach with tent and mat I reduce the panniers to rear only, plus lose a front rack.

Re the gram fetishism, I had three weeks camping in NZ and it taught me to weigh every item and whittle down in every way. As long as reasonable comfort is not compromised.

 

[YahudaMoon]

Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack Snugpack

My choice being the Softie

Made in England and used by the British armed forces. How much better can you get ?

Maybe you can get better lol

Edit:

Some one up thread recommended a silk liner, forget them. Its 2012. Not 1992. Thats just more added weight and faff

 

[andrew_s]

wow those phd bags are super expensive like how could an ordinary joe like me afford one of those bags

PHD do a sale a couple of times a year, usually including Minim 300 or 500 (rather than the normal 400/600), when prices are more reasonable.

 

[P.H]

The three things you cannot skimp on when you are cycling touring is:
Your tent
Your sleeping mat
Your sleeping bag
You can even skimp a bit on the bike. But if you are not warm and dry at night you will hate it, very quickly.
Good kit is expensive. It is unfortunate but that is the way it is.
Steve

You touch on something that although not in the original question, is still maybe worth mentioning here.
Apologies if I'm stating the obvious to Sara, but if you're not careful you'll loose more heat to the ground below you that to the air above and no sleeping bag can change that. I was amazed at how much warmer I slept when I changed from a cheap Thermarest imitation to an insulated air mat, like an Exped Downmat.
I have no recommendation for sleeping bags, I tried a few and couldn't get comfortable in any of them. I now use a down camping quilt, which along with a big rectangle silk liner and the airbed means I sleep as well when camping as I do at home.

 

[dragon72]

Ditto for the Snugpak Softie.
Packs down to the size of a small loaf of bread.
My SAS-wannabe brother put me on to them. He uses his for mountain marathons.
I love mine as I can just chuck it in a pannier and still fit the kitchen sink in there too.

 

[Sara_H]

Snugpak _ I have one - left behind by my ex husband, not sure what sort it is though, my son sleeps in it when we're car camping - will look more closely at it.

Steveindenmark, I have a fab mat (thermarest womwens prolite), reasonable tent (vango micro 200 again left by ex hubby) and some other lightweight cooking stuff etc..

Next major purchase is sleeping bag and maybe some light, warm clothing but as mentioned above I don't want to spent on something useless for me. But, yes - budget is a massive consideration, £200ish is around where I'm Aaiming - less if I can get away with it.

 

[jags]

Ditto for the Snugpak Softie.
Packs down to the size of a small loaf of bread.
My SAS-wannabe brother put me on to them. He uses his for mountain marathons.
I love mine as I can just chuck it in a pannier and still fit the kitchen sink in there too.

had a look at the softy snugpack looks like a great bag it cost 166euro in jacksons spors in belfast so you reckon its the one to get.

 

[cnb]

Hey Sara.for £200 you should get a good bag..Checkout the outdoors magic site for reviews or Live for the outdoors site.Backpacking sites with reader reviews...

 

[andy_spacey]

Ok. sleeping bags, buy this or buy that.
I spent over 6 months looking reading , looking again and reading more and i mean every day.
I had to save like hell and only had once chance of buying a bag for my tour.

I all ready have a ME bag which would be to hot for my tour to France/Spain

so I look for a down bag, small weight and pack, and the best i could get for the money.

I got a​

Cumulus Quantum 200 ,​

512g and down to 0c and supersmall pack and i paid £215.​

​

is this the bag for you, probley not but the best site that i came across is this one.


http://www.downbags.co.uk/?gclid=CM3P3Kjela4CFWIntAodizYEJA
It looks at all the down bags so you can get a good idea of what you may be after.
I looked at lots of sites and shopped around for the bag i was after.
But once and buy right. Get the best bag you can for the money that you have.
Good look

 

[jjb]

I got a Vango Venom 225 down bag for 60 quid, down from 90, they claimed. 745g. I suppose it has 225g of down in it. iirc, it has 80g underneath and the rest up top. Not so good when I turn over.

I used it on my month long French odyssey last June. I woke every night with the cold. Mind you, I was in a big tent with mesh inner, would've been fine in a small tent. So I bought a supermarket kids sleeping bag en route, 500g maybe, bulky. Threw it over the Vango, great. Towards the South, towards July, I threw that away. Awake ever night again. Took to spreading maps over the vango.

On the upside, it was 30 nights use, stopping cycling at dusk half the time, climbing in without a shower. That bag is grubby! I might even have to bin it. Thank god I didn't go straight to a PHD! The minim 300 sounds great though.

 

[bigjim]

I bought a 2 season bag from Sports Direct last September for a French tour. It was £10 reduced. I also took a silk liner which at 100g is, IMO, well worth it. It was cool and raining when we first landed but I was warm enough with liner and bag. I was also lay on a cheap bright pink, £1 shop airbed. My proper airbed sprung a host of leaks before I left. I don't sleep warm by the way, not enough fat I guess. So for some a cheap bag can work and it is always throwable if it doesn't. Further south I just slept in the liner, so that was worth having. I don't do enough camping to justify a 2 to 3 hundred pound bag.

 

[scotty110788]

Snugpak is the way forward, I've been in minus degrees with lightweight ones and just my thermals. Being a long distance walker/camper I have tried many bags, i don't go out to buy a warm bag but to buy warmest/lightest thermals