The Great Big Sleeping Bag Thread

[Kilimanjaro]

Make/model : Mountain Equipment Xero 250
Price : £230 (but got it with 50% discount  )
Lower comfort rating : +0°C
Down or Synthetic : Down
Weight : 600g
Max user height 185cm
Packed Size :16cm x 19cm

This sleeping bag has served me well for over 5 years now.  I'm 5'6" and am carrying around 14 stone and I find it is a very snug fit but that doesn't bother me.  It is probably  been used around 100 times now, in varying conditions.  It's recommended sleep zone is rated as +0°C to +25°C with -11°C being at risk.  In my humble opinion I would change the lower comfort rating to around 4°C as I have found me needing a fleece and hat on my chillier adventures. The bag would tend to roll with me when moving around and despite being a rather snug fit I do manage a very comfortable 'stork' or 'foetal' position. 

All in all I have been very impressed with the performance of this little bag over the years.  If I had to replace it someday I think one would opt for a Xero 300 or an equivalent bag. The Xero 300 being a slightly warmer bag thus has a decreased lower comfort limit but also retaining a very small pack size with a low weight.

A Jetboil stove, cup & spork are pictured below as a comparison to the sleeping bag's packed size.

[Kilimanjaro]

 

[Kilimanjaro]

This seems like an interesting alternative to synthetic or down bags, Llama Fleece. It's a Kickstarter campaign at the moment so whether it makes it to market is another thing, worth a quick look though:

http://goo.gl/x9uDjB

Looks interesting.  I hope they manage to get their product off the ground.

[Rich.H]

Make/model :Vango Venom 150
Price :£65-£85 worth spending time looking as I got mine for £64.95 with free p&p
Lower comfort rating :11-7 extreme -7
Down or Synthetic :Down
Weight :600g
Thoughts : Haven't used this yet as it only arrived this morning. I wanted a down bag and something ultralight, I generally sleep very warm and get squeeze 4-5 degree off most bag lower ratings so this was fine for me. The pack size is silly small and will happily fit in the palm of two hands. I have also got an escape lite bivvy on the way and intend to use it with this bag as a system to get another 5-8 degrees on the lower end.

Will be testing this bag out in a couple of weeks so i'll throw up some real thoughts and review then along with the bivvy bag.