Nanok Performance -5 - First Look

Nanok Performance -5 first look

Price: £100.00

Weight: 1690 grammes (including stuff sac)

Features: 100 per-cent heat-retaining fibre with no glue, three-dimensional construction with MDI boxed quilting, iridescent fabric on top of bag, base uses tougher 210T Nylon, 120gms per square metre fill weight, person length 195cm, mummy shaped with neck baffle, adjustable hood, zip baffle. Comfort rating -5C. Extreme rating: -12C.

Fantastic attention to detail, realistic temperature ratings. Not the lightest bags around.

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The Concept Nanok are a new specialist sleeping bag brand from Norway - you might have guessed at the Scandinavian connection from the name - with the two founders having worked for Ajungilak and other sleeping bag manufacturers for years.

In short, they're aiming to produce highly efficient sleeping bags by looking at every aspect of the bag's construction and making small gains everywhere, which should add up to a significant overall improvement.

The Performance bags - there are four of them rated for comfort from +10 to -10 C - are designed for active backpacking and climbing use, there's also a 'Comfort' range aimed at car and base campers with less emphasis on weight and bulk and more, on , well, comfort, an 'Endurance ' range which is heavier than the Performance and a top-end White Goose Down selection of three bags with 800+ fill power down.

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Features Nanok have incorporated all the obvious features you'd expect from a quality sleeping bag like: adjustable hood, shoulder, double-ended, full-length zip and zip baffles. The really clever stuff though is invisible, unlike the spingly, spangly irrisicent fabric used for the top of the bag...

First, the synthetic filling, a mix of different fibres, have no glue in them. The glue is usually added to fillings before use for ease of transportation, but means less loft. As a result, the Nanok fill should loft better. Golite uses a similar principle.

Next, Nanok use what they call MDI or Multi Directional Insulation. Effectively it's box quilting, but with the channels running at right angles to each other to eliminate the cold spots that are formed when channels overlaying each other (but in the same orientation) are mis-stitched.

Finally, there's a 3D element to the construction with stiffer fibres used in the sidewalls of the bag to stop the bag lying flat and forming cold spots around the side of the body. Nanok borrowed this design from top-end down bags and say it's a first for a synthetic bag.

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In Action The first thing that strikes you about the Nanok bag is the mad, shiny, irridescent fabric used for the upper shell. Not for shrinking violets - you'll either love it or hate it - it makes the bag stand out, which is the general idea.

Weight of 1,690 grammes including stuff sac isn't feather light, but then we reckon that the temperature ratings Nanok used are more realistic than most and this bag really will keep you warm in sub-zero conditions. We like the stuff sac too, it incorporates compression straps and a squared-off base and top makes the packed sac a near rectangular block that's easy to pack.

Although we haven't had the opportunity to use the Nanok in sub-zero conditions, when we have used it, it's proved to be generally good - warm, comfortable, roomy for our average height and build, and mostly well designed.

The 3D business with the raised sidewalls really does seem to work for a neat fit, there's plenty of foot room and the hood cinches down well. One nice touch here is that the elastic shock cord used means you can pull the hood down then back up over your head without having to re-adjust the hood. Neat.

Our only real quibble is that the main zip baffle is unstiffened, which meant it occasionally caught in the zip slider, but that's hardly going to stop you sleeping.

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Verdict

This is a 'first look' rather than a full test simply because we haven't been able to use the bag in the sub-zero conditions it's rated for. Based on the general warmth and loft of the bag though, we'd say the temperature comfort ratings are realistic.

Build quality and materials both feel first class and the cunning construction techniques appear to offer genuine advantages. Not least a great fit. The snazzy looks won't appeal to everyone, but horizontal disco divas will swoon at that shiny fabric.

At 100 quid, you're getting a lot of bag for your money and we reckon Nanok are a serious contender for your nocturnal cash.

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Nanok web site

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