38 replies to this topic

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

I have been looking around for sleeping bags but I don't really know what I'm looking for, i hate being cold so I don't know if 150gm is enough?

What does the 'GM' or 'GSM' stand for?

Around £20 would be ideal.

[Mark E. Spliff]

GSM (I think) stands for grammes per square metre.  I.e. how much stuffing it's got.

Your best bet is to decide how cold-blooded you are and choose according to how many seasons the bag is rated at.  If it's 1-season' it means it's only suitable for summer, i.e. a glorified bin-liner.  If it's 4-season, you could use it up Everest.

The other rating that's commonly used is a temperature rating.  I.e. a 5 degrees bag = 1 season = glorified bin liner.  A -25 degrees bag = 4-season = Everest.

Personally, I'm pretty cold blooded, so I use a 3/4 season bag (-15 degrees.)  This is good during the chilly early hours of the morning, then as it warms up you end up sleeping on top of it, and finally kicking it to the bottom of the tent.

Choice of material is important.  Down bags can be incredibly warm, are incredibly light and pack away to nothing.  However, they're pricey and harder to look after.  As I don't have to hike far to get to my tent, I use a synthetic bag which is a bulky beast.

Don't worry about it though.  No matter what bag you use, providing its big enough for you and you've got some form of sleeping mat to keep you off the cold ground and some tracksuit bottoms/old sweatshirt to sleep in, you'll be fine.  The tracksuit bottoms/old sweatshirt are good for the long cold walk to have a wee at 5am, if you're not a Lenor bottle kind of guy.

[dost]

A hot water bottle

[Craig_G]

If there's enough room for two people.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

Mark E. Spliff, on Apr 7 2010, 02:40 PM, said:

GSM (I think) stands for grammes per square metre.  I.e. how much stuffing it's got.

Your best bet is to decide how cold-blooded you are and choose according to how many seasons the bag is rated at.  If it's 1-season' it means it's only suitable for summer, i.e. a glorified bin-liner.  If it's 4-season, you could use it up Everest.

The other rating that's commonly used is a temperature rating.  I.e. a 5 degrees bag = 1 season = glorified bin liner.  A -25 degrees bag = 4-season = Everest.

Personally, I'm pretty cold blooded, so I use a 3/4 season bag (-15 degrees.)  This is good during the chilly early hours of the morning, then as it warms up you end up sleeping on top of it, and finally kicking it to the bottom of the tent.

Choice of material is important.  Down bags can be incredibly warm, are incredibly light and pack away to nothing.  However, they're pricey and harder to look after.  As I don't have to hike far to get to my tent, I use a synthetic bag which is a bulky beast.

Don't worry about it though.  No matter what bag you use, providing its big enough for you and you've got some form of sleeping mat to keep you off the cold ground and some tracksuit bottoms/old sweatshirt to sleep in, you'll be fine.  The tracksuit bottoms/old sweatshirt are good for the long cold walk to have a wee at 5am, if you're not a Lenor bottle kind of guy.

Excellent, thanks for explaining it to me I think I'll have a look for a 2 or 3 season mummy sleeping bag, I'll go have a look in the local camping shop, argos, halfords and wilkos.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

Craig_G, on Apr 7 2010, 02:51 PM, said:

If there's enough room for two people.

That would be lovely, but no such luck

[coxy99]

I have a 6 year old blacks down sleeping bag which cost me about £60.  Packs up super small and will fit in a side pocket of ruck sack.  Feels really thin but even when it's really really really cold I am always toasty.

[strudders]

Poop....

[disasterplan]

For a minute last year I lost my phone. I looked for it in my sleeping bag and found it.

[Craig_G]

oh and spiders.  no-one likes spiders in their sleeping bag.

[Stephie10]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if you can buy the bag for a sleeping bag seperately from anywhere? Over the years i've somehow lost the bag my sleeping bag came in.....will try and borrow one from a friend or something, but if not does any shops sell them at all???

[benc]

Stephie10, on Apr 7 2010, 03:46 PM, said:

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if you can buy the bag for a sleeping bag seperately from anywhere? Over the years i've somehow lost the bag my sleeping bag came in.....will try and borrow one from a friend or something, but if not does any shops sell them at all???

i think you're after a compression sack, available from millet

[coxy99]

I'm sure Millets has them mate.

[Stephie10]

Great thanks i'll check Millets out  

[Rhyscot]

I think this is brilliant ..

http://www.lippiselk...bag---black.cfm

Rather pricey but for someone who doesnt like the closed space in a sleeping bag i think its great. I will definatly be getting one even though it is expensive.

[disasterplan]

What about a separate tent bag? That might be a bit harder to replace... I lost mine at Bestival last year :/

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

Ok, so i need to check for poo, spiders and phones. Got it.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

disasterplan, on Apr 7 2010, 03:55 PM, said:

What about a separate tent bag? That might be a bit harder to replace... I lost mine at Bestival last year :/

Depending on the size of the tent you could buy one of those foldable chairs and use the bag from that

[Felna]

disasterplan, on Apr 7 2010, 02:55 PM, said:

What about a separate tent bag? That might be a bit harder to replace... I lost mine at Bestival last year :/

I'd contact the manufacturer - they should do a parts replacement service on their tents.

[worthyraver]

Check for scorpions, not to be confused with The Scorpions:



Not sure what would be worse.