Appropriate Temperature Rating?

[Christine_Runs]

Hi Everyone,


I have a question about sleeping bag ratings. I have a fall/ spring bag that is 15 F. Using the EU ratings, it's comfort rating is 27 F and limit is 14 F and an extreme rating of minus 18 F.


(The EU ratings are based on someone sleeping on a 1 inch pad with a base layer and a cap. The comfort rating is what a woman can sleep comfortably at. The limit is what a man curled up can sleep at without waking up. The extreme is what a woman can sleep 6 hours in without dying, but potential exists for frostbite.)


I am looking for a summer bag and am considering a 35 F bag with a comfort rating of 40 F a limit of 26 F with a extreme rating of 6 F. I am a cold sleeper so I think the comfort (woman) ratings are probably about right for me in a base layer.


I plan on sleeping on a 1/2 pad with my pack under my legs with a base layer. I will also have an extra sweater and bottoms for colder nights. I do also have a full length pad I could take if needed.


Where I camp, the average low for the summer is 43 F and the recorded low from 1933 is 24 F.


Does a 35 degree bag sound reasonable? I want a bag that is warm enough to be comfortable most nights and to be safe if we got unusually cold weather but I do not want a bag that is so warm that it is too warm for the majority of evenings.


I feel like a 25 or 30 degree bag would be overkill, but I do not want to realize after I bought it that I really need a warmer bag and have to go back and buy a new bag.


Thoughts? Suggestions?


Thanks!


Christine

[Don H]

This is what I use http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=796&p_id=2321139
Montbell #3, comfort rating 40 degrees. When I think I need to extend the rating I add a silk liner.

[garlic08]

I was looking for a similar rated bag last summer and decided to try something different (http://www.enlightenedequipment.com/revelationx.html). The quilt worked surprisingly well for me, though some others don't like them.

[Christine_Runs]

Hi Garlic, The price on that is sure tempting! I roll around a lot when I sleep and tend to pull blankets pretty fiercely so I am just not sure that a quilt would work for me?

[Christine_Runs]

Don, That was kind of what I was thinking. A liner would be small to carry along at the end of August.

[G-FOURce]

I was looking for a similar rated bag last summer and decided to try something different (http://www.enlightenedequipment.com/revelationx.html). The quilt worked surprisingly well for me, though some others don't like them.

i know there are people here who are a fan of quilts, and i would love to be if i thought they'd work for me, but i just can't conceive of how this would work without being drafty unless you're in a hammock and using an underquilt as well. for tent camping the concept seems like it could work but only if the sides could be secured so that they wouldn't move with the sleeper as he/she shifts during the night. if the camper sleeps like the dead and isn't prone to moving at all and is a back sleeper then i can see how it would work. beyond that, though, it doesnt seem like it'd keep out drafts very well.

if there are any tent-using quilt fans, and particularly of the EE quilts, then please respond.

[Karma13]

My quilt has straps that go under the air mattress and secure the quilt in place quite nicely. I'm a side sleeper, and I move around a lot. The key for me is the material that contacts the quilt and my pad. I wear silk and/or an insulation layer with a nylon-like slippery shell. When I toss and turn, everything slides together; the lubrication between my layers is greater than the strength of the straps that hold the quilt in place. If, on the other hand, I use a nonslippery pad or wear nonslippery clothes, then I have more drafts. For instance, if I put my foam pad on top of my inflatable -- in that case, the grip of the foam on my body (and on the edges of the quilt) competes with the grip of the clips that hold the straps, and when I turn, drafts get in.

Note that I'm already exercising a sort of drowsy control when I turn, to keep my knees and my rear end on top of the pad (instead of hanging out over the edge). I don't find that using the quilt makes me exert any more control than that.

Edited to add: Also, I'm a woman of average size, and the quilt actually comes all the way around me. That extra few inches I have to play with may be making a difference.

[Don H]

I have no experience with quilts but I do own three Montbell ULSS a #1, 3 and 5 and a Feathered Friends Swallow 20* bag. I like the MBs the best.
The MBs show the EN rating on their website, the comfort rating for me seems to be accurate.

[bigcranky]

My first thought was, wow, a 35-F is way too warm for summer. Then I saw that your average summer low is 43 - woo-hoo! That's chilly. If that's the average (and thus can vary +/- 5 or 10 degrees), then I'd probably get a 30-F bag. I'm happy in my WM Megalite 30F bag all summer, even with lows in the 60s or higher, I just drape it over me as a quilt. When the temps drop to freeing or below, just zip it up and stay warm. Good comfort range.

[garlic08]

...if there are any tent-using quilt fans, and particularly of the EE quilts, then please respond.

I use my quilt in a tent, with a Ridgerest pad, and I'm generally a side-sleeper. The EE quilt comes with shock cord straps to attach around a pad, but I quickly discarded those. A photo on the EE website shows them. The dimensions of the standard quilt are generous enough to tuck around my slender frame, and long enough to wrap over my head (I'm 5-10) and secure around my face like a hood with the drawcord. Once in a while I'd shake loose and let in a draft, but it's easy enough to roll over and tuck back in. As it turned out, a zipper and hood were just wasted weight, bulk, and cost for me. I didn't expect to enjoy the quilt so much, and many who have tried them do not.

A big benefit for me was it stayed clean for a strenuous two-month trip, since I didn't actually sleep on it. A few minutes in the sun once in a while, and it stayed fresh. When I carry a bag on a summer trip, I generally plan on most of a day in town laundering the bag at least once on the trip. It was nice to not do that last summer.

[Christine_Runs]

So I made a mistake in my conversions. I am not used to F. I should have said the average low was 52 with a record low of 29.

The comfort rating on the 35 degree bag is 41, the limit is 32 and the extreme is 5 F.

i am thinking 35 should be okay? Worst case scenario I am cold on an unseasonably cold night?

[bigcranky]

Sorry, then yes. I think a 35-rated bag would do very well with an average low of 52 and a record of 29.

If the bag as a full zipper, one can use it as a quilt in warmer weather. (One reason I like a full zipper.)

[Christine_Runs]

Thanks Ken. I am not yet sure about what bag, but knowing the temp rating is a start!

[bigcranky]

The Western Mountaineering Caribou gets very nice reviews. (It ought to, considering the price...)

[Christine_Runs]

Hi,

I am considering the highlite. I see you point about a full zipper allowing you to open it up as a quilt and I see the argument for a quilt too. The highlite is about 40 dollars cheaper and 100 g lighter than the caribou, which makes it appealing and I could open it up 1/2 way still but more to think about for sure!

Christine

[Don H]

I would not buy a bag that does not have a full length zipper, but that's just me.

[Christine_Runs]

I do understand the point you are making but I am undecided. Last year when I took out my 15 degree bag in the summer I sometimes just slept on top of my bag so I am not sure. I have heard really good things about the highlite and I could see myself being okay with opening a half bag but I am still thinking. Thanks for all the help with this.

[bigcranky]

My choice is simple, as there is no way I could fit inside a Highlite - the shoulder girth is far too small for me. But if it fits, and you can handle a half-zip, it's a very nice bag.