3-Season Sleeping Bag Help/Advice

I am planning to try get myself and my young lady out wild camping sometime soonish (saying that it'll be a while, a lot of gear needed). I'm having myself a bit of trouble finding us a decent 3 season sleeping bag that won't weigh a tonne. My girlfriend is a cold sleeper and I am about smack bang in the middle of warm and cold. I've decided on a Vango UL 350 for the height of summer for us both but they won't cut it for anything other than that, this gives us room to get warmer bags for the spring/autumn trips. I have been looking at a Rab Ascent 500 as I can get myself the 2012 model new for £101.50 but if anyone has any experience or alternatives to this bag price isn't a huge issue as I have time to save up

oh, also had a look into some of the cumulus bags but had seen some bad things about them plus had also seen something about them having a poor hood.

any help will be great,

Thanks very much.

I don't reckon you need one bag for the height of summer and another for when it's a bit cooler. Just unzip the warmer bag on hot nights -- you can sleep under the unzipped bag like a quilt when it's really steamy, so to speak. You could have a look at some of the Alpkit down bags, which are very good ime.

Thanks Guy, I've had a look into the Alpkit bags but they seem fairly similar to the Ascent 500 but a lot more expensive. Thanks for the tip about unzipping the bags. I work at my local Go Outdoors which gives me a discount of pretty much 50% off the RRP so I the lighter and smaller packing Vango for the summer would only cost me £30 tops which didn't seem like too much of a big deal...

Oh btw Guy any advice on a light, weather resistant tent that'll be roomy enough for two? Preferably not over £200 max.

Thanks again.

Hi Joe

Of the several two-man tents I have only the Vaude Taurus UL cost less than £200, and that was with a pretty big price reduction. But it is a really good light tent if you can find one in your price range. Nice and roomy inside, stands up to high winds well, although the poles flex quite a lot, and very quick to erect. The porch is a bit small, but you can cook in it with care.

Not sure which tents Go currently stock that you could get a discount on. The new Penrith store I visited recently seemed to be full of North Ridge ones -- Go's own brand I think, and I know nothing about them. But if Go still do Terra Nova tents then something like the Voyager would be good, and probably under £200 if you could get your staff discount. Or maybe the Wild Country Zephyros 2, which has got some very good write-ups and would be well under your budget.

I had looked at the Vaude Taurrus UL and the Terra Nova/Wild Country Tents I'm not sure if my store stocks the Terra Nova's GO definitely sells them. I'll cheekily check the stock today and find out. Thanks for the advice, and yes the North Ridge stuff is god awful. It's made to look like proper gear whilst keeping the costs to a minimum. So what you get is a mountain looking tent that's only really good for summer camping. They are also fairly heavy. I work on clothing hence why my camping knowledge is bound to a fair minimum apart from personal experience and what my shop actually sell.

Thanks for the help Guy.

I just bought the Rab Ascent 500 for a cycle trip round the Isle of Skye. I wondered if it would be warm enough and the first night was 0 degrees, so I got a bit paranoid and climbed in with my clothes on and it was fine. It was a bit warmer the next couple of nights and I disrobed accordingly. On all occasions, the bag was warm enough. It's amazingly light and a bit of a psychological challenge, because you wonder if such a light thing will keep you warm, but it does. I'd say it's a great three-season bag and for me it passed the test at freezing last week, so that'd good enough for me.

 

Hope that helps.

Joe, I'd be tempted to skip the Vango bags to start with and just get the ascents. There's only a 230g weight difference assuming you're going to use the vango stuffsack.

You could put the money you save towards a Superlite Voyager or similar Tera Nova tent giving you significant weight savings over the Vango tents that are the only other sensible options in Go.

You might want to be careful about being too frank about some of your employer's wares on here.

I have a Robens Downlite 700 for sale if you like? Not been used much and always with a liner. It's a nice bag with comfort limit -12 so you'd be cozy at about -5. Bit warmer than the Ascent 500 but not much. Packs down similar and weighs around the same.

I'd agree with John about your discount. Wouldn't shout about it too much else rab may take it away which would suck

FWIW I just bought a Wild Country Aspect 2.5 at Cotswold for £129. 2 doors, big enough for two, reasonable porch, stuffs down to the size of a football in a compression sack. Dunno what it weighs but about 2.5kg, methinks. Not massive anyway.