UKC

Hi there,

Currently I have a sleeping bag with weight of 550g and extreme temperature rating of +2 (comfort limit, if I recall correctly, is either +10 or +14). This bag served me well all around Europe in summer and was warm enough in low levels. But this sleeping bag is simply too cold in Scotland even during the Summer. I slept in it under a hooped bivi bag and no mat at all in height of 900m! Honestly, I do not want to do that again. I also have Thermarest Prolite Small, i.e. 120cm length which would be used with a new sleeping bag. I always use sleeping bags with silk liner from DD Hammocks.

I was about to buy The North Face Blue Kazoo, but given its price, it's not the lightest. Alpkit does not have any bags at the moment and will not get them soon. Hence, I am looking forward to buy a Rab Neutrino Endurance 400. I very appreciate that the outer layer is waterproof (1000mm) as I would be using it in a hooped bivi bag which sometimes make a little bit of condensation. The sleeping bag can be bought for 225 pounds at the moment. Pricey, but it should last many years.

Do you have any suggestions or reviews for this bag? I haven't found many reviews about this bag. Would it be surely enough for 3 seasons use in Scotland's highlands? I might summit camp in better weather.

Cheers,
P.

In reply to PPP:

Get a synthetic bag, I have a Mountain Equipment Lamina Zero, it is fine. Down bags are not great in Scotland, it's to damp.

In reply to darrencabowabo:


"I have a Mountain Hardwear Lamina Zero"

....there, corrected that one for you.
Yes, so have I. they are quite lightweight for their rating. Careful on length. If you are 6'2"+ then maybe the long version may suit.

In reply to sbc_10:

Good advice. £145 at Cotswold, or £116 with their discount code. Bargain.

In reply to darrencabowabo:

Thanks for an advice, but it weighs almost twice more than the Rab Neutrino Endurance 400 (they have similar ratings). The mentioned bag has a fabric with 1,000mm Hydrostatic Head. I really doubt that my bivi bag would ever let so much water in.

As far as I read from reviews, the down bags aren't effective only if they get soaked. Which is, in my opinion, still not very possible under a bivi bag.

I am very concerned about the weight of my gear as I tend to have long but infrequent holidays so I can do unsupported hikes for over a week.

In reply to PPP:

I agree with the previous post that the Lamina's are a great range of synthetic bags, however there is no good reason not to get a down bag.

Down bags are lighter, warmer, have a greater comfortable temperature range and also last much longer than synthetic bags. Be sure to get a bag with hydrophobic down as this will stay drier for much longer than conventional one.

Be careful also with the hydrostatic head of pertex fabrics. A sleeping bag has thousands of holes in it (from the stitching), and will not protect from much more than drips and condensation. Certainly sleeping with the bag touching the fly sheet usually results in wet down by morning. In very wet conditions a super-light synthetic bag or a bivi bag can be used on top of the down bag to keep the down warm and dry.

In relation to the Neutrino I am not 100% certain but would be fairly confident that rab are using hydrophobic down in their sleeping bags given that they've brought it in across their entire clothing range. It may be necessary to special order directly from Rab however to get a new enough sleeping bag as shops will be slower to work through their stock of old bags.

All that said as long as you are careful and considerate of its limitations a down bag is definitely a good choice and will out-perform any synthetic competitor in all but the most wet conditions.

Hope this helps,
Ciaran

In reply to ciaran1999:

Thanks for a great post! It is not easy to find whether the bag is full of hydrophobic down or not. I asked Rab about it.

I am not planning to sleep under the sky with this bag, so I am not very afraid of water coming in through stitching. However, the fact that the outer fabric is water resistant would make me think that I wouldn't get in trouble if it rained harder. After many hours spent on looking for a right bag, I decided that I wouldn't like to sleep in soaked sleeping bag - nor in down bag, nor in synthetic one.

In reply to PPP:


Any bag is going to be rubbish without a mat!

I've found down bags from the obvious brands all tend to be rather good and you'll get years of usage from them - you just need to decide what weight/cost/down quality ratio you want.

In reply to TobyA:

Honestly, I have never been a huge fan of "usual" mats. I hitch-hiked around many countries (maybe 11?), slept in different conditions with the same sleeping bag and used a towel, 3mm sleeping mat, a paperbook (under my bum) or something similar to give some insulation.

But I learned that things are different in Scotland, so I bought a sleeping mat. I think I'll try to find the Rab bag in sale somewhere. I have seen in forums that someone bought it for 175 pounds, which is very good price (almost in the same price range as Alpkit!).

In reply to PPP:

Do people not find that down tends to have cold patches where the down has dissapeared from a baffle or two? I hate my Rab Ascent 700 - right where my knees are on top there is a massive lack of down in that baffle, so i just get cold knees!!

In reply to alexcollins123:

Just fluff it all up again, moving the down to where it should be is normally pretty easy.