Serpentes False Bottom Sleeping Bag – Mummy

The Timmermade Serpentes is my primary sleeping bag, and I have probably 40 nights in it. Here’s what i can pass on: The most important difference from a false-bottom bag and a traditional bag is that you turn in the bag with a false-bottom, not with the bag. You have to keep the bottom centered under the body, and this can be surprisingly fiddly when you turn. Yes, you keep out drafts, but if you expose the uninsulated bottom to the cold air you will feel it nonetheless. It’s easier to keep drafts out in a quilt, assuming it is wide enough, than it is to keep a false-bottom bag properly oriented. For a zipperless bag, it is best to have a temperature profile like you would find in the arid American west: where the temperature drops quickly at sundown. In the humid American southeast, the temps drop slowly, such that a zipperless bag that is adequate for the lows will be too warm for the initial nightly high. Quilts are better in these circumstances since you can regulate temps easily. If you can only afford one, I’d recommend a quilt in a wide size. This recommendation is coming from someone who spends about 70% of my nights in a false-bottom bag. If you get a false-bottom bag, order one oversized so that you can easily turn in it, unless you spend all night on your back. My Serpentes is the “fetal position” version, which I highly recommend if you go that way. By the way, you want one without a hood. The cumulus versions with attached hoods make no sense, given the fact that you turn in the bag, not with it.

I want to second this, I love my Timmermade Serpentes, it took me a while to “learn” how to keep the bottom on the bottom, but now is second nature. I only really rotate trying to get (back) to sleep. I can’t recommend it enough, 

Thats a tiny pack for 3-5 day trips anywhere. I have gone down the ultralight rabbithole for a few years, and spent way too much money on changing out gear, and I can barely do 3-5 days in a 30-liter pack in Norway during summer. The Fjellreven pack is kinda light, but the Klattermusen one is as heavy as a framed 50 liter pack. Why did you settle on these options? Nashville Packs Cutaway, Pa'lante V2 w/Joey Straps, Lundhags Padje Ultralight all make more sense.

Thats fine, but why get a heavy pack when your goal is to go SuperUltraLight? To make it work with a 20 liter pack you would need to get a 7D quilt with super high fillpower, sleep on a ccf pad, sleep in most of your clothing etc. Its doable for sure, but its not easy. For starters; tarp from borah/zpacks/mld in dcf .55. Quilt/bag: join the lottery over at timmermadegear. Zpacks and EE also use 7d fabrics. Swedish Vilse makes 10D 900fp quilts in Sweden, im waiting for my +3 celsius from them. If you want to go inflatable; Nemo tensor elite. But it will be hard to make room for an inflatable in a 20l pack. Get a regular thermarest z-lite.

Checkout the [false bottom sleeping bags](https://timmermade.com/product-category/sleep-systems/down-sleep-systems/) from Timmermade. The differential baffle design and false bottom design is the best warmth to weight ratio bag I have used and seen. It is paired well with a water bear hood. The false bottom of a Serpentes bag reduces the overall weight of the system by approx 10% over an equivalent size without a false bottom, depending on the dimensions and fill quantity. Dan is very helpful and you can customize the fitment and materials.

Fellow rotisserie sleeper here. Mostly camp in my hammock but also go to the ground when I have to, e.g. routes above treeline. I’ve done quilts and mummy bags on the ground, and I don’t like either in their traditional forms. A third viable alternative is what basically amounts to a hoodless “bag” of some sort: a false bottom bag (Timmermade Serpentes/Wren), a zipperless bag (Nunatak Sastrugi), or a fully zippered quilt (Feathered Friends UL Wide Flicker). You have the option to select from a variety of sizes to suit your needs especially with Nunatak and Timmermade, but be aware of the lead times and specific ordering windows that will require some patience and diligence on your part. I find I sleep less interrupted in these types of bags on the ground, while traditional top quilts do just fine in a hammock system with an underquilt.