Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Gear Questions, Information, Reviews and Competitions => Topic started by: Glenn B on January 10, 2013
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Could i have your thoughts on sleeping bag liners. Im heading out on a bit of a kit buying expedition at the weekend and have a few self inflating mats and sleeping bags already in mind, but im unsure about sleeping bag liners do they only really offer a bit of protection for your sleeping bag or do they add a bit of extra warmth aswell??
Your veiws and maybe a few recomendations would be good thanks..
Glenn. :)
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Hey Glenn, please do share what kit your planing on buying, maybe someone could advise on that too.
I have a sleeping bag liner myself and although its noting more than cheap I presume its the same properties just to a different extent.
A sleeping bag liner is designed for a few different tasks:
Heat
-It offers an extra layer of warmth to trap air.
-It absorbs moisture to keep it away from the baffles of your sleeping bag.
-It reduces the area inside the sleeping bag meaning the smaller area, the less air you have to warm up to feel the heat.
Protection
-It stops any dirt from your body getting into the sleeping bag meaning you have to wash it less.
-It stops dirt clogging up the sleeping bag letting it breath better.
General
-A silk liner feels nicer on the skin than some other linings.
-Can be a bit more weight to carry.
All in all a liner can be a great extra for your sleeping bag, it just depends what your using it for. Personally if it was me I might try and spend the extra £20 that I was going to spend on a liner on a better sleeping bag, then I have less things to carry.
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Hey Glenn, please do share what kit your planing on buying, maybe someone could advise on that too.
I have a sleeping bag liner myself and although its noting more than cheap I presume its the same properties just to a different extent.
A sleeping bag liner is designed for a few different tasks:
Heat
-It offers an extra layer of warmth to trap air.
-It absorbs moisture to keep it away from the baffles of your sleeping bag.
-It reduces the area inside the sleeping bag meaning the smaller area, the less air you have to warm up to feel the heat.
Protection
-It stops any dirt from your body getting into the sleeping bag meaning you have to wash it less.
-It stops dirt clogging up the sleeping bag letting it breath better.
General
-A silk liner feels nicer on the skin than some other linings.
-Can be a bit more weight to carry.
All in all a liner can be a great extra for your sleeping bag, it just depends what your using it for. Personally if it was me I might try and spend the extra £20 that I was going to spend on a liner on a better sleeping bag, then I have less things to carry.
So far im thinking a couple of Mountain Equipment Helium 3.8 mats and Ayacucho Solar 300 sleeping bags.
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Hey Glenn, please do share what kit your planing on buying, maybe someone could advise on that too.
I have a sleeping bag liner myself and although its noting more than cheap I presume its the same properties just to a different extent.
A sleeping bag liner is designed for a few different tasks:
Heat
-It offers an extra layer of warmth to trap air.
-It absorbs moisture to keep it away from the baffles of your sleeping bag.
-It reduces the area inside the sleeping bag meaning the smaller area, the less air you have to warm up to feel the heat.
Protection
-It stops any dirt from your body getting into the sleeping bag meaning you have to wash it less.
-It stops dirt clogging up the sleeping bag letting it breath better.
General
-A silk liner feels nicer on the skin than some other linings.
-Can be a bit more weight to carry.
All in all a liner can be a great extra for your sleeping bag, it just depends what your using it for. Personally if it was me I might try and spend the extra £20 that I was going to spend on a liner on a better sleeping bag, then I have less things to carry.
So far im thinking a couple of Mountain Equipment Helium 3.8 mats and Ayacucho Solar 300 sleeping bags.
I had/have a ME helium 3.8 it was ok but started leaking. I was never cold through it. I think another peep on here has one and its stayed the course fine.
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Did you ever shed that cash Glenn?
What gear did you end up with?
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Did you ever shed that cash Glenn?
What gear did you end up with?
Yes the wee piggy bank took a bashin. I got 2 ME helium 3.8 mats, 1 Solar 300 sleeping bag, A couple of cheap foam roll mats just to protect the air mats, 2 pairs of gaiters, 2 head torches and a down jacket so thats us all suited an booted cant wait to get out now will have to hook up with a few of you guys at the camps my wee lads chompin at the bit.
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Did you ever shed that cash Glenn?
What gear did you end up with?
Yes the wee piggy bank took a bashin. I got 2 ME helium 3.8 mats, 1 Solar 300 sleeping bag, A couple of cheap foam roll mats just to protect the air mats, 2 pairs of gaiters, 2 head torches and a down jacket so thats us all suited an booted cant wait to get out now will have to hook up with a few of you guys at the camps my wee lads chompin at the bit.
You're well kitted out.
Don't worry there'll be another outing sorted soon I'm sure!
Kudos on the foam roll to protect the self inflatable - I've been meaning to do that myself for some time now
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I have one of the helium mats, and touch wood its been great for me so far! :)
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I also use the heilum 3.8, I would normally bring a couple of those chrome car window shades to put below it for a bit of extra insulation and heat reflection. Only felt the cold ground once when the temp hit minus 2 that night.
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I also use the heilum 3.8, I would normally bring a couple of those chrome car window shades to put below it for a bit of extra insulation and heat reflection. Only felt the cold ground once when the temp hit minus 2 that night.
Do they work ok? I've read about them and saw them in the pound shops and have been meaning to try them out, they look a lot lighter than the hefty fleece liner i was using which has now been ditched in favour of a light, cheap extra sleeping bag. I'll have to try it out at the Hen Mountain summit.
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I'd also be interested to hear if they work or not.
How much do they weigh?
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The science says they should work by reflecting your body heat back towards you, but they are not a closed cell construction like the foam mats so they would give less insulation, hard to say which one gives keeps you warmer, but they are very light and easy to fold up and stuff into your rucksack, so i always end up stuffing at least one in. I just don't fancy a big roll mat hanging off my rucksack, but next sub zero camp i may bring a foam mat just in case.
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I bought a helium 3.8 but as it was going to be a cold summit camp I also took a thermarest SOLite to place under it. Havnt tried it on its own but, with a Lamina 0 bag, I had a good nights sleep.
As Laim has said, small, light and easy to pack though.
Gonna buy an Exped Downmat so as to have 1 item instead of the 2 mats and the exped will be wider too. The one problem I personally found was that a bit more width would've been nice. (I'm 5'11 @ 100kg)
But some folk are wider than others and I do tend to roll about a bit before nodding off...
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hey guys
need to invest in a tent and sleeping bags for me and three boys aged 10, 7 and 5 before the Easter camp!! any recommendations? ! these boys are all growing like mad so would it make more sense to just buy them adult sleeping bags or would it be cosier for them in kids bags?! any suggestions would be gratefully received :D
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:o :o :o You have spoke!! lol
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hey guys
need to invest in a tent and sleeping bags for me and three boys aged 10, 7 and 5 before the Easter camp!! any recommendations? ! these boys are all growing like mad so would it make more sense to just buy them adult sleeping bags or would it be cosier for them in kids bags?! any suggestions would be gratefully received :D
I bought kid specific bags for mine, my 8 year old will maybe get a year or two out of hers and I close the end off for the 5 year old with a belt to make sure she doesnt slide down to the bottom. I really just depends on what you plan to do with them etc. I take mine wild camping so a semi-decent rating was what I wanted and an adult bag would be too loose on them to be of benefit. I really fancy the Mountain Hardwear Lamina 20 thats on sale atm in cotswold's but it may well be overkill for what you want, but then again it could be unzipped a bit to make it cooler ( would possibly be good for the older one size wise)
Again tents just depend on what you want to do, how you want to configure your sleeping ie all in same tent etc and how much you want to spend.....which for most of us is the main factor :-\
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hey annieanne haha I know only took me about a year lol. looking for bit of advice because hopefully you'll be at the easter camp and I won't be able to borrow your gear!!! :D
thanks for the help Typo. The only camping I'll realistically be doing is if organised by you guys for the foreseeable future. could do with picking up some bargains but don't want to buy a load of rubbish either!! will check out cotswolds. cheers!!
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I can lend you a 4 manner tent for the easter camp, could probably dig out 2 or 3 sleeping bags you too, nothing fancy, but you'll survive in them.
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I can lend you some gear too x