Sleeping bags

[akszewczyk]

Hey guys -

New to the site but not new to hiking - just been out of the game for a few years and I know that technology has changed a bit. Looking for some decent 3-season sleeping bags (primarily for backpacking) and would love some guidance/opinions on any that have served you well or not worked at all.

Namaste

Ang

[TollerMom]

I have a Go Lite Women's Adventure 20 degree down bag. Pros: Warm, fairly light. Cons: Mummy bags are really tight! I'm considering trading in my bag for a quilt.

[hhf3]

I have a 20 degree bag that is nothing special, but I have an awesome sleeping bag liner that I absolutely swear by: Sea to Summit's Reactor Thermolite Liner. It really does add 15deg of warmth. The best part about having a liner is that you can just wash the liner after a trip, extending the life of your sleeping bag. I'm also a fan of just using the liner on really hot nights. Having a thermal liner gives you more flexibility regardless of what bag you end up getting. (http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/24).

[akszewczyk]

Thank you so much for the information! I appreciate your input

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Hey guys -

New to the site but not new to hiking - just been out of the game for a few years and I know that technology has changed a bit. Looking for some decent 3-season sleeping bags (primarily for backpacking) and would love some guidance/opinions on any that have served you well or not worked at all.

Namaste

Ang

Western Mountaineering's offerings have served me well but there's a ton of great options out there. Where are you planning on using the bag?

[akszewczyk]

Predominantly Michigan for now seeing as that's where I'm at...but I'd like to use it out of state as well as we continue on expanding our travel resume.We have a few friends who live in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and California so I am sure we will be out there backpacking at some point in the future. Need a bag thats versatile and well made.

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

I'd go with a 20 degree bag as a 3 season general purpose solution, if I had to pick one, at least for how I sleep and where I go backpacking. I know I've been cold in a 30 during a fall Michigan trip before! You can use the 20 lower with extra insulation if you need to, and if it's too warm for a summer trip here and there...It's better to be too warm than too cold in this case. Even then however, a nice 20 degree down bag isn't going to be so heavy that it feels like you're carrying a lot of unnecessary weight. For a while, I've been using a 20 but taking a warmer bag for favorable forecasts which has mostly worked well. However, it's never a good night when the forecast was wrong and you wished you'd brought the warmer bag.

There's a lot of great bags out there, but we've used both the Western Mountaineering Ultralite (Review) & Alpinlite (Wider) 20 degree bags with few complaints. Or if you want to try something a little different, keep an eye out for our upcoming review in Issue 13...

[akszewczyk]

Wow thank you so much! That is really helpful. I will say I've got to get a synthetic bag, however, as I'm allergic to down. I'll check out those bags you posted/

[candier]

HHF3 has a great point about using a liner. I have the omni-heat liner from Columbia and it works great. Here's a review of it http://www.essentialcampgear.com/columbia-omni-heat-sleeping-bag-liner/. It's compatible with sleeping bags other than Columbia as well. It's usually about $100 but if you watch online at Amazon you can get it for around $85. I previously had a cheaper one from Slumberjack and still have it, but I use it as a backup since I sprung for the new one from Columbia.