need a new bag ya’ll

[Grant Sible]

Folks I need a new colder weather bag built for a big body like me. I’m 6’3 and 210 and I roll around when I sleep. I’m looking at the Arc Alpinist and Marmot’s Helium. The lead time from Nunatek is a con as I hope to use this bag early Dec. but the quilt concept interests me.
Specifically anyone have experience with the Helium EQ as I wonder whether the additional 6 oz is worth the “waterproof/breathable” factor?
I want the biggest lightest bag I can get and have a feeling I might be missing something out there.

[larry savage]

I’m 5’10” and 210# and my helium is just barely enough girth,I guess it depends on where your girth is compared to mine,lol. I used mine last winter and experienced some ice build up in really cold temps that I would attribute partially to the EQ. An old camp 7 vbl liner improved things next time out plus upped the rating but if I were buying this bag again I would skip the EQ. I’m becoming skeptical of waterproof/breathable. This month’s issue of Climb[uk] address’s waterproof/breathable jackets and comes away in favor of the Paramo/Buffalo/Patagonia Infurno systems,which aren’t membrane types…
Also good ol’ wiggy[wiggys.com] will rant forever about down,waterproof/breathable,moisture buildup/plus a heck of a lot of other stuff if you scroll through his archives. good luck

[Michael Foust]

Have you considered the WM Alpenlite?

[Ryan Faulkner]

montbell is home to the most coforatable bags on the planet.(and thy aare ultralight too)

[EndoftheTrail]

For a big guy who likes to roll around… have you looked at Big Agnes bags?

Their bags have no insulation at the bottom. Instead, it has a nylon sleeve, upon which you slip in the Big Agnes (or similar) air core pad.

Big Agnes bags are well known for being fairly light — but wide girth and extremely comfortable. You can roll all you like, and your bag will not tie knots around you, nor will you ever slip off the pad.

I’ve tried it at REI, and it truly is comfortable.

MontBell (mentioned above) is well worth looking into as well. Look at the various SUPERSTRETCH versions though.

[Grant Sible]

Thanks for the advice. I’m now looking seriously at the Mont bell superstretch bags (thanks Ryan and Benjamin), wondering if anyone has opinions about their temp ratings. I want this bag to be as versatile as possible so I’m thinking a #3 or a #4 will do fine for most seasons by adding clothing when it’s colder…?

[Grant Sible]

Thanks for the advice. I’m now looking seriously at the Mont bell superstretch bags (thanks Ryan and Benjamin), wondering if anyone has opinions about their temp ratings. I want this bag to be as versatile as possible so I’m thinking a #3 or a #4 will do fine for most seasons by adding clothing when it’s colder…?

[Grant Sible]

Thanks for the advice. I’m now looking seriously at the Mont bell superstretch bags (thanks Ryan and Benjamin), wondering if anyone has opinions about their temp ratings. I want this bag to be as versatile as possible so I’m thinking a #3 or a #4 will do fine for most seasons by adding clothing when it’s colder…?

[EndoftheTrail]

I have the MontBell No. 3 bag, which is rated as “comfy” to 32F.

I view myself as an ‘average’ sleeper, neither overly hot nor cold. Wearing long underwear, no liner, this bag does keep me comfy at around 30F. MontBell specs are pretty accurate.

The bag is also rated ‘useable’ to something like 14F. I don’t know what ‘useable’ means, and frankly, don’t intend on testing that limit.

If you are looking for “colder weather” bag, you should go for a No. 1 (15F) or No. 2 (25F).

[John Chan]

I think its a wise idea to get a lighter bag and push its temperature range by making it part of a sleep system.

For instance. You could get the Montbell Superstretch #3 and push it into the lower ranges by the addition of their excellent UL Down Inner pant and sweater. That way, not only do you have a large temperature range for your sleep system but you also have effective insulation for when your stationary in camp. That, and the combo will dry out more quickly than 1 bag with alot of down.

Currently, I ordered a Montbell UL Down pant and SkahaPlus down sweater from Nunatak to augment my Arc Ghost and get into the teens.

YMMV

[Anonymous]

Wearing most of your clothes to sleep also has the not often mentioned advantage of not having to put on cold clothes or changing in the cold in the morning. I always dislike changing in the morning.

[J R]

Im a huge fan of montbell. I have a #4 and have found its temp rating accurate. I sleep like an iceberg, so “accurate” to me means I only wake up every other hour because Im cold ;) Most bags will have me awake just about every hour on the hour to adjust something to stay warm… so getting a few solid hours of sleep is a good thing.

WRT to sleep systems. Im also a huge fan of those. Im working on a project now to make an extremely versatile system for summer use that seemlessly integrates with traditional sleeping bags and even quilts for cold weather use.

[Ryan Faulkner]

I have a #2 and I find the temp rating to be very accurate. I have even pushed it to the 5degree limit using a fleece liner and a thermarest prolite 3 (wearing only a longsleeve T and some nylon pants, but I sleep colder than most) but be careful not to chose to warm a bag because at about 32 degrees I found it to be to hot and stuck my head out of the hood and unzipped the side.
(BTW I was in a tent and have not tried this temp in a bivy/poncho combonation, but have used it under a tarp in warmer conditions)
mont bell is a great company, alot of attention to detail. they make thier bags with a multi box construction to prevent uneven distribution of down and a unique foot box adjuster for our shorter freinds

[Ryan Faulkner]

sorry for the loss of picture I ally deleted from photo bucket
but you can find at
http://www.montbell.com/america/products/special/sleepingbag/index.html#2

[Ryan Faulkner]

Montbells other style of down bags are called Alpine down huggers

sorry, deleted from photo bucket find at
http://www.montbell.com/america/products/special/sleepingbag/index.html

they feature montbells patented gatherd quilt system to improve efficiency of the bags and reduce weight

info from site:

Gathered Quilt™ System
All Alpine Down Huggers use MontBell’s patented Gathered Quilt™System. This system is similar to our Super Stretch™System, and consists of elastic sewn into the baffles on the inside of the bag. This system allows the shell of the bag to keep its full shape while drawing the interior closer to the user, creating a much more efficient bag. The elastic baffles also allow the bag to stretch as the user moves and changes position. Thus, the Gathered Quilt™System provides the freedom of movement of a more generously cut sleeping bag while providing the efficiency of a much closer fitting, more restrictive bag. Because of this increased efficiency, MontBell is able to use less down to achieve the same warmth, making the bags much lighter per warmth than other sleeping bags.

[kevin davidson]

Ryan, you could just write the link instead of all this illustrated stuff from their catalog. Takes less space, less bandwidth.

[Ryan Faulkner]

I just figured out how to post pictures so I cant help my self
But you are right :)

[Anonymous]

Yeah! what happened to the pictures?

Ryan dont let anyone tell you what and what you or cant post.

[paul johnson]

Kevin,

are you on dial-up? if so, you’re right, BW can be a problem.

if you prefer (i did this b/f obtaining hi-spd), you can probably set your browser to NOT load the pics when you load a new webpage – it goes much faster this way. then, after loading, if you want, you can cause the pics to (selectively) display. if anyone needs help with this feature, post back and mention what browser you’re using & myself or someone else will read it and reply with instructions.

pics vs. links? hmmm…i could go either way. the pics sure look nice. however, i use links in my posts. i’m no help here as i could vote either way. however, for the sake of our dial-up friends, if they requested it, i would limit it to links so as to “play nice”. for my part, other than that, Roger’s right – we pretty much, w/i certain bounds, have a free hand in posting. good thing these Forums are filled with civilized folk – a rarity on web, i understand!!

[kevin davidson]

Paul–I have an extremely fast fiberoptic connection, but not everyone is so blessed. It’s generally considered good form to use URLs where possible on most boards. This board has one of the most hands off approaches on the Web but that doesn’t mean we can’t use a little self discipline. Bill F.’s amazing pictures of his work are. of course excluded.;-)>

I also found the commercial propaganda accompanying the Montbell images to be a little offputting. I much rather would hear about the virtues of a product told in a poster’s own words.

[Bill Fornshell]

Thanks Kevin, As an old dog I do try and learn new tricks. One has been in the world of the SUL gear set-up. However when it comes to the computer I need a lot of help for anything new.

We do what we know how to do. I once had someone email me and say I was just what he needed to fall off the fence to DSL. It took a while for me to understand what he meant. My DSL was down once and I had to go to Dial-up as a backup. I realized that there is a lot of difference in the time sites would open. The DSL speed had spoiled me.

The only way I knew how to get a picture or pictures on a site such as here was with Photobucket. I don’t have a web site but I did just start a Blog. I may now be able to link my pictures to my Blog and just post one or two here and then link the “post” to the Blog. Seems like an extra step but I don’t have a problem doing it if it will work.

For the computer “smart” out there will this be better?

Maybe someone should start a Thread and teach us the best way to do this. I love to learn new tricks, do we have a teacher ready to stand up and teach us?

[Anonymous]

Kevin,

Just as everyone is as not as “blessed to have extremely fast fiber optic connection” not everyone shares your views on the sharing of information. Ryan was making a point in his own words about the quality and construction of Montbells sleeping bags and backing it up with the manufactures technical specs. I for one enjoy reading his post and am very impressed with the knowledge and enthusiasm he shares for backpacking despite being slammed by certain senior members who frequent this forum.

To Ryan,

I just want to add you are the future of backpacking never compromise your ideas for anyone.

[kevin davidson]

We will have to agree to disagree. Ultimately,if too many people post images extravagantly, the moderator(s) will no doubt tell us what we need to do.
I, for one, have never slammed young padiwan Ryan–on the contrary, I’ve come to his defense on this board in the recent past. Not that he needs defending, he does that quite graciously well.

Now back to our regular programming.

[paul johnson]

Fornshell-san makes the following astute comment:

>>”Maybe someone should start a Thread and teach us the best way to do this. I love to learn new tricks, do we have a teacher ready to stand up and teach us?”

i would second the motion.

David Lewis, if you read this, what do you think about starting a Thread for this purpose? Many of us would greatly appreciate it and owe you a debt of gratitude.

Note: There may be someone as qualified who frequents these Forums, but of those that I’m familiar with, David would, perhaps, be the best qualified. If i’m not mistaken, He is very well versed in Web Development.

If David or someone else starts such a Thread, I don’t think we should expect them to spend maybe more than one hour per week (maximum) teaching us, unless they were willing to spend more time. Or, they can just cover one small topic/technique per week and then address a small number of Posted replies with questions. An old proverb says “Let not your feet be too often at your neighbor’s door, or he will become weary of you.” I think this could apply if someone is gracious enough to help us out here.

If no one else comes fwd. I can try. I’m not really a Web developer, but i might be able to figure out a mid-90’s way of doing some of the things you want to do on the web. Web based Technologies have proliferated since then and I don’t really work in that area other than Java programming for some very techinical applications totally unrelated to what we do here in the Forums – hey,… i don’t even know JavaScript, and my HTML and CGI is extremely rusty and was never really more than primitive, at best.

[paul johnson]

Kevin,

Glad to hear you have the luxury of hi-speed – good for you. I should have known, as I’ve come to recognize your character somewhat from your other posts, that your concern would be for others. Very commendable, to think of others you may never have even met.

This is the only Board i have EVER participated in. I’m a real Dinosaur. Thanks for explaining “Board Etiquette” to me. I do appreciate it.

Hope my “play nice” comment was understood properly. On that basis, i, personally, would tend to limit Pics. This is NOT to discourage Bill, RyanF, and others from using pics instead of links. Only, to give that person thought to pause a moment and think about minimizing the size and color depth of Pics so as to not make Webpage loading a burden on any Dial-Up users. Roger is correct. They have the right to post Pics if they desire. I sure do love seeing Bill’s and others’ creations, and Eu Jin Goh’s, and others, beautiful TRIP-PICS.

However, if i’m out-voted here – on Links vs. Pics for certain purposes (not all). It’s certainly not a problem with me. For me, this is pretty much a non-issue. I’m just also trying to think of Dial-Up users.

Any Dial-Up users out there? What do you think? Please, let us know. Many thanks.

To RyanF:
I’ll echo Roger’s comments about you. I think you young’uns would say: “You Rock, RyanF! You Go Guy!!!”. BTW, as Roger says don’t compromise on issues that truly matter, e.g. moral and ethical matters (ethics is very broad and can cover product design/quality/safety/business matters, among many others – hope you have your own Outdoor Gear company some day – if you so desire). On other matters, here’s some fatherly advice that is not only applicable to these Forums, but life in general – i hope that you don’t mind me giving it (i have to remind myself of these things prit’ near daily, so please don’t feel that i’m “preaching” at you; i’ve “preached” at myself first & more often): pick your battles – don’t fight every one; Compromise on non-critical issues maintains peace and harmony; Always readily admit you’re wrong – once/if you realize this is the case; Prepare to be misunderstood – especially when communicating in the Printed Medium – You can’t always anticipate what might pop into someone else’s mind, when they read something you’ve written; Don’t take other’s comments too personally – comments usually focus on just one narrow aspect of a person’s work/character – and ignore the “larger” person – that’s the nature of helpful criticism; try to throw some praise in with the constructive criticism – the person receiving the criticism will, generally, be more ready to accept your help and not feel that it is just an attack (not everyone has adequate self-esteem or a good self-image). However, IMO, for a young fella’ (or even for an adult) you sure seem to have your head “screwed on” right. My compliments also to your parent(s) or whoever raised you. They seem like they’re doing a great job.

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