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I have been using a very cheap sleeping bag from Dunhelm Mills - cost me £10 with fleece blankets when its cold.  This weekend the zip broke so I went to the local town and bought from Millets a Eurohike £20 bag which promised to keep me one in temperatures of -7 C.  It didn't. The evening was cold about 8C and I was freezing.  I was wearing normal pyjamas not thermals.

What do other people do, should I buy a really good sleeping bag (which could get too warm in the summer) or stick with my cheap one and wear more to bed?

I sleep on a luxury thermarest so need quite a bit underneath as well as on top. ( I hate air beds so won't change my thermarest)

Any suggestions.

the ratings on bags are to be used only as a rough guide. Bags usualy have two ratings a comfort and extreme.

The comfort is the rating is the lowest temperature that you will be comfortable in. the extreme rating is the temperature at which the bag will stop you getting hyperthermia.

If you are going to use the bag in the uk, Always go for the warmest bag you can afford you can always leave the bag unzipped or sleep with just a blanket in very hot weather,

Most high rating synthetic bags will do a fairly good job, I have eurohike 400  bags they seem adaquete for me in most conditions, they have an extreme rating of -12. I always take fleece blankets as well though, i always wear a hat in the winter as this is were you loose most of your heat.

If you really wanted to splash out you could by a goose down bag, extremely warm and comfy but will set you back close to £100 

jo

Thanks for your tips mine is a Eurohike 200, sounds as if yours is warmer

I did once buy a Goosdown sleeping bag in New Zealand while trekking there in the Autumn and it kept me very warm, a few years later I went to Alaska in the spring and the down just soaked up every thing in the atmosphere - which in Alaska is permanent rain/snow.  Also the down sleeping bag is impossible to wash and the feathers all clog up.

I think my next birthday present maybe a new better sleeping bag. I'll just pray that this  summer (in Scotland) will be warm - who am I kidding!  The forecast for next week in Fort William is rain, rainy and rain sometimes!

Quote: Originally posted by jsdavies on 18/07/2005

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I did once buy a Goosdown sleeping bag in New Zealand while trekking there in the Autumn and it kept me very warm, a few years later I went to Alaska in the spring and the down just soaked up every thing in the atmosphere - which in Alaska is permanent rain/snow.  Also the down sleeping bag is impossible to wash and the feathers all clog up.

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For sure down bags need a more care in use to avoid getting them too damp or wet and in some conditions an artificial bag can be better (i.e. very damp conditions) but for warmth, reliabilty and long life down bags are in a different league to artificial fibre bags but are unfortunatly significantly more expensive.

And down bage can be washed, no problem..  

Quote: Originally posted by jsdavies on 18/07/2005

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What do other people do, should I buy a really good sleeping bag (which could get too warm in the summer) or stick with my cheap one and wear more to bed?

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You need a choice of bags to cope with the variety of British conditions.

If your car camping and not carrying the bags on your back this is not too much of a problem, since modern artificial fibre bage are very cheap, although they are heavy and bulky to pack.

For summer conditions a filling density of 250 or 300 grams per square metre (gms) ought to be adequate, but if your camping from March onwards then you may need 500gms. 

But people vary so much in what they need to stay warm, so you really have to try out bags of varying warmths to see what suits your own preferance.

We have 350gm sleeping bags and had a few bad nights when the temperature dropped - we were frozen stiff in them. We borrowed a couple of old rectangle sleeping bags from a relative who lived in the area and put our mummy bags inside these. it was absolutely great - snug as bugs in rugs.

So when we got home we went out and bought some cheap bags just for this purpose. They are in stuff bags so don't take up much space in the car. If not needed on warmer nights when our own bags are adequate it's no problem to leave them off. Hope this is useful - definately a more cost effective option but works great!

Happy camping.

We use Vango 350s and have never been cold...even in October and January..We always zip them together so benefit from the each others body heat too...No liners, or extra quilts under or over us...However we did use roll mats under the air bed.

Which are the best sleeping bags?

Well that depends on how much you want to spend, what your using them for. and what you call the best?

You will need at least two bags for all the seasons, and a good undermat like a thermarest..