sleeping bag

[mofro]

i am looking for a lightweight, small packing bag, with about a 30 degree rating on a college budget. I found a mountainsmith wisp for a good price and was wondering if anybody has any input on those or any others that might work for me... i am 5'11" 180 and need some room in there so i dont get closterphobic. i would appreciate all the advice i could get thanks

[orangebug]

Define a college budget. In other words, will Dad pay for it?

Small packing infers a down bag. 30 degrees should be easily found. I'd be looking for that temperature range now, as most are shopping for cold weather bags. I'd check out EMS, REI, Campmor for the cheapest stuff. You might consider Feathered Friends and Western Mountaineering if you want a bag that will last a lifetime. You might find some good post-Xmas sales.

Good luck on your search.

[TakeABreak]

Marmot has a hydrogen bag, 900 down, regular size 1lb 5oz, but it's msrp is $309. but it will last you forever.

[mofro]

no actually i will go to school full time, work 40 hours a week to save up for my thru hike

[SavageLlama]

Marmot has a hydrogen bag, 900 down, regular size 1lb 5oz, but it's msrp is $309. but it will last you forever.
TakeAbreak- Have you used this bag? I'm thinking of buying it.

Mo- Two other suggestions:
1) Check out Western Mountaineering bags. Everyone swears by them.
2) Do NOT buy the Sierra Designs Wicked Fastbag. The no-bottom idea simply does not work. (see thread in gear forum if you want to read more on this)

[Bloodroot]

Western Mountaineering Ultralite here. I got mine for $300. That is probably as cheap as you can get it new. I ended up getting it at sumitthut.com with free shipping.

[HikeLite]

www.backpackgeartest.org has reviews. The more you use your bag the less claustrophobic you may be. Worked for me.

[Fiddleback]

There's a Western Mountaineering UltraLite on auction at EBay. The 'buy it now' price is $265. The bag is described as an unused return. Y'all don't start any stampedes now, ya' hear?


FB

[rocket04]

i am looking for a lightweight, small packing bag, with about a 30 degree rating on a college budget. I found a mountainsmith wisp for a good price and was wondering if anybody has any input on those or any others that might work for me... i am 5'11" 180 and need some room in there so i dont get closterphobic. i would appreciate all the advice i could get thanks I don't know what you would consider lightweight and how set you are on the 30 degree. If you could go 20 degree or so, I think the REI sub-kilo bag could be a good option, I remember I saw few bags at that rating that were as light and as well priced.

[UCONNMike]

i am looking for a lightweight, small packing bag, with about a 30 degree rating on a college budget. I found a mountainsmith wisp for a good price and was wondering if anybody has any input on those or any others that might work for me... i am 5'11" 180 and need some room in there so i dont get closterphobic. i would appreciate all the advice i could get thanks
I posted a similar question a while back, http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6324, and i roder that bag for christmas. It fit all my requirements of being light and inexpensive. I'll post again after x-mas and let you know if it's any good.

[Moose2001]

Before you spend your cash, I'd ask myself a couple of questions. (1) Are you a warm, average, or cold sleeper? If you're an average or cold sleeper, I would not recommend you start the trail with a 30 degree bag. You'll want the extra warmth. (2) What's your start date? Feb or early March starters will need extra warmth. Don't underestimate how cold it can get in those mountains in the Spring! (3) How well do you tolerate the cold weather? Being from Florida, I'd think you've not had much recent experience with cold temps. You'll appreciate the added warmth of a good bag.

If you're trying to save some money in buying your gear, I HIGHLY recommend you spend extra money on a "good" bag and save it somewhere else. You'll be spending many hours in the sleeping bag at the start of the hike. If you're not sleeping because you're cold, you'll be miserable and your hike will suffer. There were several recommendations for Marmot bags and I second them. Mid-priced bags that are very well made and very warm. You wouldn't go wrong with a Marmot bag.

[TakeABreak]

SavageLlama,

I have not used this particle bag, but I did use a Marmot Pinnacle, 675 down, rated at +15 on my hike, started 2/12/00, got down to +5 & +10 a couple of times. Never got cold. I have also heard from others who use a marmot bag, that if it is rated +20 it's good to +10. Why am I saying this, well this is what I am going by, Marmot makes good bags, and has a great reputation. If they say it good to +30 I would not be afraid to use it at +20 or +25. I cannot garuantee this of course, but personally I would trust them.

Also there were nights in my pinnalce at +25 or +30, where I literally had to open the bag up and sleep with unzipped, because I woke up drenched in sweat (literally). My hiking partner told me one night when I was unzipping bag (around midnight), I had better be getting to go pee, because I was unzipping my bag becasue I too hot she was go to kill. so I went pee, and just did zip my bag all the way when I got back in, she was using a +20 bag and got cold often, don't remember who the manufacturer was but, but it was a synthetic by someone other than marmot.

[NICKTHEGREEK]

Here's a link to a nicely discounted bag from a very informative web site.
http://backcountry-equipment.com/slpng_bg/moonstone_lucid.html

I use several items from Moonstone including a down bag and a rain shell and I'm very happy with the balance among quality, performance and price from Moonstone. The bag is rated a bit lower than you mentioned, but the weight and compressibility are big plusses. You can get a nice Moonstone bag that fits your general needs for as little 130.00, but weight will run upward to 2+ lbs and the 650 down doesn't compress as well.
Good luck

[Totally Different Subject]

Lots of great responses here!

Your bag is a pretty important item here. You'll be in it or on top of it every night so you want something that will work for YOU.

I have a Western Mountaineering bag and its, in my opinion, the best thing since sliced bread. But it wasn't the first bag I bought. In fact, it took lots of experimenting with other bags first.

An idea would be for you to spend an hour or two inside REI actually trying out the bags. Buy the one that works best for you. If, after a month or two, you decide its not the right bag for you then take it back to REI for an exchange or refund.

Best of luck bag hunting.

[Totally Different Subject]

Everyone has their opinion right?!?

Well, if you sleep just a little bit cold, that REI Sub Kilo 20 degree bag will keep you warm, IF your wearing heavyweight socks, longjohns, polarfleece and stocking cap at 25 degrees.

I had this bag. For me to sleep comfortably I needed a 4 season thermarest because the loft offered no comfort. Also, the zipper is a mess and is in dire need of more thoughtful construction. I always spent more time trying to undo the zipper from material than actually unzipping or zipping.

And finally, the bag weighs more than 2 lbs thus the brandname SubKilo is misleading.

My momma always said if you can't say anything nice then...Well, I have trashed this bag, REI's biggest selling bag, but there is something I really liked about this REI Sub Kilo- its colors. Yes, the colors of Orange and Black remind me of my school- OSU Cowboys.

Again, best of luck bag hunting!

TDS

[Footslogger]

i am looking for a lightweight, small packing bag, with about a 30 degree rating on a college budget. I found a mountainsmith wisp for a good price and was wondering if anybody has any input on those or any others that might work for me... i am 5'11" 180 and need some room in there so i dont get closterphobic. i would appreciate all the advice i could get thanks=========================
Just a thought ...if you're looking for one bag that will go all the way on a thru-hike you might want to consider something warmer than a 30 degree rating.

One bag that comes to mind would be the REI SubKilo (700 fill down). I'm 5'10" and weighed right around 178 when I left Springer. I used that bag on my thru in 2003. Mine was a 20 degree but the newer ones are rated at 15 degree. They weigh just over 2 lbs and pack down to the size of a soccer ball.

'Slogger
AT 2003