UKC

A pricey but fantastic sleeping bag, says Toby Archer. "It's about as light as you can get for the serious winter warmth it provides..."

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=3605

In reply to UKC Gear: yea any chance of a review that we arent going to need a second mortgage to buy

In reply to minus273degrees: We've got a comparative review of regular lightweight sleeping bags coming up, eg. the Rab Neutrino 200, ME Xero 250...

Cheers, Sarah

In reply to UKC Gear: Hispar 400 Down Sleeping Bag

http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/product_info.php?cat=26&products_id=246

-9c / £378 / 770g

In reply to minus273degrees: It is an expensive bag - a point that I think I make clear in the review. Although a very quick Google will show that you can buy it for 50 quid less than the RRP, still a lot but then not dissimilar a price from other bags with slightly lower specs. I know that for most price is about as important as a consideration as any other, and hence I try to comment on that in reviews. Another recent one I did on CT crampons is the opposite, where I note price is probably the biggest reason to buy them.

But this is the bag that Marmot put forward for reviewing this year. If you look back in gear review archives, Kev, Sarah and Jon have all reviewed cheaper Marmot bags.

In reply to UKC Gear: I have the Plasma 30 and it a cracking bag - the Plasma 15 was a little too warm for what I wanted. Yes, they are expensive bags but very high build quality and you can get them for significantly less - from The Outdoorshop (http://www.theoutdoorshop.com/showPart.asp?part=PN90321) with BMC discount it comes down to £300 - a significant reduction in price.

In reply to crabduck: Agree about the build quality. It actually really came home to me when I started recently planning to do a multiday cycle tour. I'm planning to go as light as possible - and when I checked the weights of my older sleeping bags (two of which aren't nearly as warm as the Plasma) realised that they were all much heavier and bulkier. So then I thought, I can be 'tough', I don't need a super warm bag now it's spring - so I can maybe invest in something not as warm but light and compact. But on looking around the net at the usual suspects, unless you get into mountain marathon style bags, and quite big price tags, there aren't actually so many bags lighter than the Plasma 30, even ones that don't claim to be any warmer than, say, +5 or more! The 900 fill down is pretty special stuff allied to the amazingly light Pertex they make the bag from. But of course the price reflects that.

So I actually started wondering, could I afford a Plasma 30? But imaging my wife's reaction to this suggestion - decided no, and I would just have to find a slightly big dry sack and take the Plasma 15 on my first "bikepacking" attempt.

In reply to TobyA: I've had those 'I can be tough' moments, but it's come crashing home to me that I used to be tougher - now, I'm older, softer and a bit stodgy in places I never used to be (when does all this happen? I swear I never noticed).

I took the tack of buying it and hiding it in the wardrobe (bravely I might add), I then employed the 'oh, it's always been in there' before coming back to the 'it's too late to send it back'.

Glad I did!

In reply to crabduck: lol at least you don't have a PO box yet..