Alpkit AlpineDream 500 Tested

Alpkit AlpineDream 500 Tested

Price: £80 (including delivery)

Weight: 1270 grammes (including stuff sac)

Features:500 grammes of 90/100, 700 plus fill power white goose down fill, box-wall construction, adjustable hood and cowl, Tactel nylon shell, mummy shaped desig, suppliedwith compressor stuff sac, full-length, double-ended side zip with baffle, TOG rating tested by Leeds University. Comfort rated to minus 5 C.

Affordable and effective, good quality down. A little heavy, though not that heavy.

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The Concept Alpkit is a web-only brand with an interesting credo of supplying decent quality kit at extremely competitive prices. They don't aim to compete with the cutting edge, top-end brands on outright performance, but they're a lot cheaper and the kit is still highly competent.

With sleeping bags that means they've concentrated on the down filling, using high spec 90/100, 700-plus fillpower down for the best filling insulation to weight ratio. The construction is proven and effective box wall. Where they differ from the top-end brands is that the fabric isn't as light and isn't waterproof or wate repellant.

More pics to follow shortly btw.

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Features We've mentioned the down filling already. The 700 plus rating is as high or higher than the big boys of sleeping technology use and means the down will expand to occupy a higher volume and therefore offer more insulation per gramme of down, so you can either use less down for the same insulation value or by using more down, produce a warmer bag compared to a lower fill power down.

Box-wall construction means the down is contained in channels so it's less likely to migrate and, unlike sewn-through contruction, where the inner and outer of the bag are simply stitched together, the stitching shouldn't form a cold spot.

Fabric inside and out is Tactel nylon, which is pretty much down proof, but heavier and less water resistant than more expensive bags.

The rest is pretty standard with hood, neck baffle and a double-ended full-length zip with baffle tube.

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In Action Sleeping bags are a bit of a nightmare to test, particularly in summer, so we can't say definitely that the bag will be comfortable down to minus 5 C in UK conditions, but our educated guess based on experience with other bags is that it will.

Down bags at this price point often have a clumpy filling that seems to take ages to loft, but the Alpkit down feels much nicer and seems to rise to the occasion rapidly after unpacking. In use so far, we've found the bag reasurringly warm and comfortable despite the absence of trapezoidal baffles and super lightweight fabrics. The hood and neck baffles are a tad agricultural with simple cord drawstring fastenings and the hood isn't the most sophisticated ergononomic design out there, but all three do the job, which ultimately is all you can ask for.

Like we said, the Tactel Nylon fabric has no DWR and is relatively heavy. It's not necessarily a massive penalty though. The Rab Atlas 500, which also uses 500 grammes of filling, albeit of a lower fill power, is only 170 grammes lighter though it uses a fully waterproof and breathable outer fabric and is priced at around £90 more.

Ultra-lightweight bags like Rab's Quantum or Mountain Equipment's Helium will save even more weight - a Helium 600 tips the scales at 1060 grammes compared to the AlpineDream's 1270 grammes and has an extra 100 grammes of filling, but again will cost around £100 more.

In normal use the lack of a water-resistant or water-proof fabric isn't a huge disadvantage. It means you need to be more careful with condensation, wet clothing and soup, and we'd prefer more water resitance for bivvying, but most of the time you can simply be more careful and count the financial savings.

The bag does come with a bottle of Nikwax Downproof, a wash-in down proofer, but we'd be more inclined to use a spray-on DWR if we were attemtping to increase the water resistance as some reports suggest that Downproof reduces loft slightly and washing sleeping bags is a problematic process.

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Verdict

If you're in the market for an all-singing, all-dancing wind-, water- and soup-proof, ultra-lightweight bag then you probably won't be considering the AlpineDream 500 or its 700 or 900 big brothers anyway. If on the other hand, you're after a reliable basic bag at an excellent price then you won't go far wrong.

We like the way Alpikit has concentrated on speccing decent fill instead of showy gimmicks and the construction, shape and features are all well proven designs. Seeing box-wall construction in a bag at this price level is a pleasant surprise too.

Yes, you will need to be a little more careful than with a more water-resistant bag and yes, the hood and cowl aren't mega-sophisticated, but ultimately this is a very effective sleeping bag with quality fill at a fantastic price. Most other bags offering this level of down insulation would be at least twice the price... It's a sleeping bag for sleeping in :-)

Performance
Value

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Alpkit web site

Pushed for time: Alpkit have concentrated on top quality down and simple but proven construction to produce a bag that gives very effective performance at a bargain price. Don't throw it in the swimming pool though.

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