Alpkit PipeDream 400

Raybo67
Reviewed: 16 April 2009

EXCELLENT PIECE OF KIT

lightweight, warm & cost effective

none so far

had this bag for a while now & was my first down sleeping bag;

haven't had much chance to use it outside yet, as it keeps getting borrowed by mates, etc;

Though have used it on a few sleepovers indoors.

Overall, a brilliant bag for the money & excellent build quality.

Well done Alpkit!

Imperial Dave
Reviewed: 13 November 2007

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME

cheap, light, warm, well made, great retailer, small stuff size, need i go on.....

er....cant paddle out to sea in it.....but apart from that nothing!

really good piece of kit that is warm and well made. in terms of pounds per degree of warmth its is unbeatable

truely great

Cantab
Reviewed: 30 July 2007

PROPER TOPPER BAG

warm, light, comfy, cheap, well made, good features.

err....pass. can't think of any!

top class pertex quantum, high quality down and at a price you can't say no too. 2007 version now has a full length zip and a security pocket as well as the features listed above. quality!!!

Lix Toll
Reviewed: 11 April 2007

IT ALL ADDS UP!

Price - it's true that it is half the price of similar spec, but if you take off the 30-40% shop margin from the £200 product in the retailer, you will see the actual gap narrow. What I’m saying is don’t be fooled by thinking this is a cheap product; it’s the other that are expensive by nature of the way they are sold, not any superior technology, specification or quality!

Weight – 750g including the lighter stuff sack. As claimed by Alpkit and as verified by digital scales. Very light and impressive for true -3C performance. (I have used it to zero with a silk liner and felt totally comfortable so have no doubts about the -3 claimed comfort temp)

Pack size – very compact. People who are looking for this bag are targeting weight and compressibility. The bag delivers and the comfort and price are appreciated bonuses!

Beading ability of the Pertex – coming from synthetic bags, the ability of down to go mushy when wet was my big reservation, but seeing how water droplets bead on the surface of the Pertex gives me a lot of faith. The bag can handle normal levels of condensation and tent moisture in its stride. Basically your tent would have to leak badly and really drench the Pertex for bag performance to deteriorate. If this happens you are in trouble anyway!

Comfort & size – The material feels really nice to the touch and it’s size is perfect for my 5’8” frame and 36” chest. I’ve read some comments about the bag being a bit tight across the chest for larger people, but that is plain ridiculous: if your build is too big to fit in this bag you weight too much anyway to be scratting around trying to save 200g on your sleeping bag anyway. Just get yourself a bigger bag!

Hood & neck baffle – I also read some comments about the hood on Alpkit bags not being brilliant but I found this fine and together with the neck baffle the top end of the bag pulls in nice and snug. There is a little zip pocket inside too.

Zip – I love my Snugpack Softie 9, but Snugpack have always had a reputation for their not very smooth zips. It’s therefore weird coming to the Alpkit and finding a really smooth zip. Just another sign of their thorough attention to detail and lack of willingness to compromise.

At risk of sounding like an Alpkit groupie – no noticeable weaknesses to think of. Hell, the bag even comes with lightweight Pertex stuffsack, heavier weight 4 way compression stuffsack and “pillow case style” large storage bag. Great!

Alpkit gained their reputation for delivering products as good as Thermorest for a quarter of the price so why would you bet against them failing to deliver on sleeping bags? You wouldn’t and they don’t. Ok you can’t go into a shop and physically touch this bag, but then again how does feeling a bag in a shop really relate to sleeping in it on a wet cold night in Glen Shiel?