Deciding on sleep bags (budget)

[Utah KJ]

When I was on a business trip to Denver back on 9/11/01, and found myself unable to get back home (Ft Lauderdale) via plane or rental. My rep had a lot of land in Walden, CO and asked "want to go camping". So I went to Kmart and bought a sleeping bag, tent and some clothes. To this day, I still have that sleeping bag and tent, it's the only bag I own and used it down to 0 deg.

 

[nwoods]

Does your wife have a circulatory system? Mine doesn't. She is cold all the time. We camp in high altitude mountains, and it could be 45 degrees outside, and she is just barely comfortable in a -5 degree bag. Factor in the different physiology (heat output) between sexes when choosing a bag.

What I did was order about 10 different bags from Campmor and REI, tested them in the backyard, and then sent all but the winner back to the store. Unfortunately, there really isn't a better way to buy a bag other than to demo it. It figures though, that I ended up keeping the most expensive one

 

[nwoods]

I have a Northface Cats Meow 20 that is fairly solid and I use as my summer backpacking bag also syn .

My daughter uses a Cat's Meow +20, and likes it a lot. Compacts well for travel, and keeps her warm and/or comfy in a wide range of temps. My wife uses a REI Zeon -5

 

[TXLX]

We use $15 timber creek 30 degree bags, no problems in Texas. Worst case is put on some more clothes and get in the bag.

If I were going out for several days in cold weather, I'd probably invest in something with better zippers, just to be safe.

 

[slomatt]

OutdoorGearLab has a good review of camping (as opposed to backpacking) sleeping bags. Two of their top rated bags are very reasonably priced.

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Sleeping-Bag-Reviews

- Matt

 

[Honu]

I AM NOT ALONE
my wife is the same way
we kept 4 bags for wife and I so we have warmer weather bags and cooler
but also we can put one bag inside the other and get that extra 15-20 degrees out of them so have a nice range

round home even I am one sheet she is two comforters

Does your wife have a circulatory system? Mine doesn't. She is cold all the time. We camp in high altitude mountains, and it could be 45 degrees outside, and she is just barely comfortable in a -5 degree bag. Factor in the different physiology (heat output) between sexes when choosing a bag.

What I did was order about 10 different bags from Campmor and REI, tested them in the backyard, and then sent all but the winner back to the store. Unfortunately, there really isn't a better way to buy a bag other than to demo it. It figures though, that I ended up keeping the most expensive one