UKC

Hi guys

I'm looking to get a sleeping bag for winter on lakes. Needs to be warm enough only for inside a 4 season tent and I plan to camping above 2500 ft. 

I tend to sleep quite warm (apart from feet which I insulate) 

I currently use an Alpkit pipe dream 200 For summer months and possibly longer and plan to add silk liner to it for a couple of degrees more in autumn. Will use a foam roll mat with my Alpkit inflatable mat for winter until pennies allow an upgrade

I already have a snugpak elite for glam ping but it’s bulky and heavy so I have been looking at down bags as need it to compress quite small and be around a kilo or just over.

Rab ascent 700, Alpkit pipe dream 600 and Rab neutrino endurance 600 are all on list to look at, the latter choice based on its decent water repellency ( bought new tent that I hear may have a condensation issue) Also ME helium 600 or glacier 450? 

Im guessing a bag that will cope with -9 comfort should suffice but I’d rather be too warm and open a zip, than chance it.

Budget up to £300 would be preferable Any recommendations welcome

Thanks

I'm afraid I haven't got any specific recommendations for winter sleeping bags, and I'm just going to add more options, but have you looked at summitteer equipment sleeping bags? A lot cheaper than all of your current options and seem to be well reviewed. Although the 600 and 800 are currently out of stock, but given winter is a couple of months away they are probably worth considering! 

https://summiteerequipment.com/collections/frontpage 

i did indeed read about the  summiteers and it was remiss of me to not mention them

i seem to remember not being able to read the reviews on the site and concluded that maybe it was an old site and the bags no longer in production. I’m guessing that’s not the case. I will see if I can enquire if they will be getting stock in soon

thanks 

Cumulus make great bags at reasonable cost. 

Does anyone have information on the way Cumulus down is sourced?

I previously decided against purchasing a Cumulus sleeping bag as there was no information on the website as to whether the down was somewhat ethicality sourced. Mountain equipment and other majorain brands trade by the down codex, which suggests there's at least an awareness of ethical down practices.

Simond Makalu 1. I've got an older version which is slightly heavier as it user lower quality down and it is my go to bag for winter, I much prefer it to the Rab bag that I also own. The new version looks even better as it has 800 fill down. At £139 you can't go wrong, if it had a Mountain Equipment table on it and I'd paid £300 did I would still have been happy with it. 

I did look at the simmonds. They look a cracking bag for the money . Only down side was the pack size was quite large and like a mummy shape. That said, I would have a better excuse to buy a nice big pack 😁

I've recently bought a Mountain Equipment Helium 600. Not been out in it yet as its for winter, but feels great.  Can be had for about £230 if you look, so put the rest to a decent mat underneath. 

My wife recently took one of these to Peru and was very pleased with it.

https://rockrun.com/products/mountain-hardwear-phantom-flame-15f-9c-long?

At the sale price it seems pretty good value.

I think Decathlon might be being a bit conservative with the pack size. Mine packs smaller than the Rab Ascent 700 I've got. 

I don't really have any insights into a specific bag as it's such a massive area to choose from, all i would say is just find one that's the weight and temperature rating you want at your budget from one of the reputable brands and buy that, as above there is lots of deals about..

I do have one thing to say though, if you are buying down please make sure its from a certified ethical source.

PS: All tents have condensation issues of some degree or another, its physics and none of them can defy it.

Depending on how much weight factors into your plans, how about a synthetic overbag to combine with your existing bag? PhD make one IIRC. 

There a Decathlon not too far from me so worth a trip to have a look at that price I reckon

Couldn’t agree more about it being ethically sourced. Just hope my new tent doesn’t turn out to be a paddling pool by morning 😁

I did think about using a second bag but I didn’t fancy the combined weight and extra room I’d need in the pack. Was hoping to squeeze it all in  my 45 l trollveggen . My snugpak elite is synthetic and is well toastie down to -12 ( though I had had a lot of whisky on that night)