Short Summer bag

[Allen Butts]

My girlfriend is looking for a short summer down bag, and trying not to spend over $300. She would prefer a 5'6'' bag as far as "short" goes. I'm having a hard time finding some besides Western Mountaineering but those are a little out of her price range. Help?

[Anonymous]

Golite? Enlightened Equipment (quilts though)? Sierra Trading Post + good coupon–various different brands and temp ratings?

Dunno, there's plenty out there that are below 300 for summer temps and ratings. I think the Golite bags are pretty good for the price. If she is open to using a quilt, i would say can't get much better for the price with an Enlightened Equipment quilt. Quilts are really so much better for the summer anyways.

I just got a E.E. 40 degree down quilt (the Revelation X "model"), slim and short style (for 5' 6" height). With the straps that come with it, it weighs a total of about 15.75 oz, very packable, uses 850 fp down, and only cost 175 (plus 10 dollars shipping).

Very well made, very nice overall quality, and i'm very impressed. I was going to take it out this weekend, but my wife pulled the wife card & said i needed to do house/yard stuff, etc.

Good luck with your search

[Dustin Short]

Under $300, new, and quality is a hard find. A bit out of your range are the very fine Feathered Friends bags (and they make women's specific). The grouse nano 30 is $323 while the WM Highlite and Caribou MF are both in your budget ($285 and $310 respectively but not fully baffled).

http://featheredfriends.com/outside/sleeping-bags/three-season/grouse-30-w-s-sleeping-bag.html

Check gear swap though, bags come up somewhat frequently from FF and WM for good prices.

Also if you're open to the idea of a quilt (and summer is a great time to try quilting) you can save a lot of money by going with a Revelation X 20F by Enlightened Equipment for ~$210. I know my gf loves having a big blanket rather than a mummy bag…and she gets to steal more heat from me that way.

Don't forget that a warm sleeping pad makes more of a difference in the cold than a bag (in my experience at least).

Not much in the way of deals out there at the moment. Don't forget to check for cashback deals using third party sites from whatever retailer you buy from. If you get a WM from backcountry.com for example you can get ~8% back in 3 months from many sites.

[Dustin Short]

I should also mention check out Campmor.com and Campsaver. They often have pretty good deals on better named brands than STP.

Right now they have the MHW Phantom bags for several hundred dollars off. (women's 15F is $280 from $400). Really good deals actually on pretty good bags.

[Eli Zabielski]

Zpacks makes short sleeping bags, and they are insanely light. The short 30 degree is $340, the short 20 degree is $360. A bit more than she wanted to spend, but I think she would be very happy. Both are sub-one pound.

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