I've discovered, much to my regret, that I've been too slow making my mind up to buy an Alpkit SkyeHigh 600 sleeping bag because they're now out-of-stock. Typical. The boss always says I take too long to make a decision and enjoy the "research" side of buying stuff far too much. Anyways...

I'm looking for suggestions of alternatives to the SkyeHigh 600.

As I've said in a post on a different thread, the SkyeHigh 400's not warm enough for autumn/spring and the SkyeHigh 800 seems much too warm for summer, so that counts those two out. I don't think I'm going to go down the Pipedream 400 route because they're a bit more expensive, I don't need to do the whole lightweight thing (car camping only for us!), and I'd prefer something with a little bit more room in it's cut.

I might have to make do with what I've got for the time being (an extremely thin synthetic Ajungilak 1 season bag), pray we don't get any cold nights when we're away this summer, and wait for the 600 to come back in stock.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

if it's just for car camping I might be more inclined to go synthetic: they're just so much easier to wash, asides from costing much less.  The main points of choosing down are it weighs less and bulks a lot less, but if those are moot points you really need to ask yourself why you want down.

There's no shortage of perfectly decent synthetics on the market that come in at less than the SkyHigh's £65, and it won't cost either £30 or half a day's unrelenting tedium to wash them.

Pete. 

Tricky Tree,

if you are already the possessor of a decent Ajungilak synthetic 1 season bag (Kompakt Summer for example) then you might be a prime candidate for the combination method that I have described in detail on several threads but you can read the basic points here

If you are a standard size, you might want to try snapping up this fantastic bargain and combining it with your synthetic to get a very versatile 1-3 season solution:

Micro Sleeping bag

Then layer (with liner to keep your down bag clean) to suit the climate.

It might not meet your roominess criteria, but it would give you a very versatile sleeping system.

Otherwise, I agree with Pete that for car camping the advantages of down are largely not worth the extra investment. A down bag should last you longer, however so the depreciation isn't so bad.

Another thought is that a rectangular bag will probably be more comfy, and will zip together to make a pair much more readily than a mummy bag.  Only lighter bags are widely available in rectangular form, but John's layering suggesting to the rescue though rather than using a micro sleeping bag or anything like that just use a fleece or a wool blanket: they're cheap, easily avaialble and do general purpose service for a lot more than camping sleep.  Picnics, for example.

The only downside of keeping warm with extra blankets is weight and bulk, but I suspect your car won't mind.

There are times when fancy gear is actually inferior to everyday stuff, and car camping is probably one of them.

Pete. 

Once again, Pete and I are singing from the same hymn sheet. I travelled for a couple of (summer) months around Western Canada with my other half and as we were backpacking we set out with lightweight one-season synthetic bags. But as soon as we opted to rent a car for a few weeks to see the Rockies, we stopped off in a local mall and bought cheap blankets and other comforts to keep us cosy at the higher altitudes involved.

My above comments were assuming that you have opted to upgrade your sleeping bag - but failing that you could always pack the duvet!