Western Mountaineering - TerraLite

Had the same question on my mind, I focussed even on the same brands! I also use my bag in central europe, sometimes in higher elevations: After my - exhausting and nerdy - research I can attest you, that some customers complained about the lack of warmth of the WM summerlite. And its not the manufacturers faulft, (WMs temperature rating are trustworthy!!!) but you can have some colder than expected nights on high(er) elevation. Also sometimes you are lacking the calorie intake before you go to bed, so your body depends on a toasty warm bag. Also exhaustion can add to the equation. So if you can‘t get the overfill on the summerlite, I‘d rather go with the xlite 400, or just look into warmer bags. Last week me and 2 friends did a thruhike in Madeira, East to West with a lot of elevation change. My WM Bag is rated for -4 degree. Turns out it was perfectly fine for the subtropical climate, because we had 1-2 nights at around 0. If its too warm, you can either open the bag or with WM bags, you can shift the down from top to bottom tonregulate the warmth. Brilliant feature. Another food for thought: Don‘t get yourself talked into buying a quilt, if thats not your thing. A wide cut and light seeping bag is the cosiest thing you can have! At one night last week, my friends 9 degree bag was dangerously too cold, so i unzipped my bag (mine can be transformed to a blanket) and put it on top of us both. You feel EVERY draft at your shoulder, your knee, your feet, whenever this thing raises. You feel the shivering going up from the exposed body part (maybe its then cold blood pumping along your vessels). @NewChipmunk2174 I believe quilts have their place at above 6+ degrees or so. Everything else is (personal opinion) just geeky and cumbersome and at worst just drafty and cold as hell. Just look how many Quilt products are out there, who are packed with „features“ (need for balaclava, elastic straps, bottoms without insulation, clips, sinches, bedhsheets, „you can wear your Downpuffy anyways“, zippers,….) so that they are again on the brink of being called a standard sleeping bag. Going full circle… Thats no rent btw! I wanna get one for summernights with 9+ degrees :-)

If anyone wants a light bag that is also roomy as fuck, and you are rich - Get a WM Terralite asap. I have been sleeping comfy for almost a decade, and I thought paying $450 at the time was ridiculous!

There isn’t really an absolute best, but I like Katabatic for a quilt and western mountaineering or feathered friends for a bag. I prefer quilts down to around the low 20s, bags below that. Having a pocket in your quilt for a sleeping pad seems silly to me.

If you're willing to go to $800, that opens up Western Mountaineering. And really not even that much if you just want a three season 20f rated bag. I feel like their website is straight forward. Look at the list. Find the temperature rating you want. Look at the literal size. All of the individual pages have the girth measurements. So you can get a lighter mummy bag. Or a little heavier wide bag and it'll be just as warm. To be specific if I were looking for a side sleeper or roomy sleeping bag from WM that's three season, I'd get the TerraLite rated at 25f. But the comfort rating is something like 18f. 1.8 lb. Or add three ounces of overfill down and drop the temp ratings by 5f degrees. Under their faq they have the EN numbers of their sleeping bags listed. Everything except the newest bags that haven't been tested or the list hadn't been updated yet or whatever. WM is top quality. But I like Montbell too so I wouldn't want to talk you out of buying from them.

Western Mountaineering TerraLite is going to be a little bit over your budget. But it's a wide sleeping bag. The 6'6" version is 1lb 15 oz. They call it a 25 f bag which is considered conservative. They do have their EN numbers posted on our website under the faq. That's going to fall between the comfort and limit ratings so I think the Comfort rating is something like 18 f. But you can pay a little extra and have 3 oz of down added. It will make the sleeping bag rated for 20 f. Which would also drop the comfort rating some but I don't know that's been tested specifically. I would say also not all sleeping pads are equal. Even in how they rate them. And sometimes even the higher R value pads aren't quite what they seem. So let me give you a specific example. There's a YouTuber out of Canada called Justin Outdoors. He's tested quite a bit of equipment in very cold environments. Even though the Nemo Tensor Extreme has a higher r value than the Thermarest XTherm, the Nemo tends to get cold spots because of its design. This is according to him. And therefore in this particular case in the most extreme situations, the Thermarest is a functionally warmer pad with a lower R value. So you may consider upgrading your sleeping pad. Or you may just consider getting an additional closed cell foam pad with a 2 R value to put under your current sleeping pad which would increase your total R value.

Western Mountaineering is the benchmark. Their bags really are great. In addition to WM, I also own a Gryphon Gear quilt and can say that their quality is top notch as well and they make both bags and quilts. For a few hundred less than a WM bag, you can get a Gryphon Gear Taurus bag. They are a small cottage shop so you get to deal directly with the owner and he'll make it custom to your liking if you want it a little more roomy. I think there are so many better choices than the EE quilts.

Western mountaineering… cry once, but once

WM bags are expensive and absolutely worth it. I'll never buy anything else!

Numeri 1 - Western mountaineering - Feathered friends Li tocchi con mano e capisci subito di che pasta son fatti. Subito dopo metterei Katabatic, pieno di accessori e features utili. Poi ce ne sono tanti altri sotto molto buoni. In EU trovi piu facilmente Cumulus, fatti veramente bene. E poi ci alcuni piu piccoli che fanno roba custom made molto buoni. Ma c'è un abisso tra tutti questi e i classici commerciali e costano giusto qualche euro in piu o a volte in meno. 100-150€ per una roba che ti deve tenere caldo, essere leggero, compatto e deve durarti anni e anni, mi sembra un investimento molto piccolo. Ci prendi giusto qualche taroccata decathlon o ferrino. Io mi farei regalare lo zaino, il sacco a pelo è molto personale. Se poi dormi a pancia in giù o laterale devi prendere un quilt, col sacco non dormi.

I own two sleeping bags: one from Western Mountaineering (superb quality, but very expensive) and one from Cumulus (high quality at a fairly reasonable price). After a lot of comparison, I personally think both brands provide reliable comfort temperature ratings and are absolutely worth the money. Just remember: if you're physically worn out, the lower limit of the comfort range might not be enough-so it's smart to give yourself a little warmth buffer.

Good suggestion! I love my western mountaineering. But Radiant 20 is legit for under $200.