What is the most compressible sleeping bag you know of?

Question

Well, I recently graduated college, so as a graduation gift to myself I decided to purchase the nicest sleeping bag I could get my hands on. Money is not an issue, as I am considering this a serious investment, hopefully.

I am looking for the most compressible sleeping bag, with a good temperature rating, so anything 20 Fahrenheit or lower is what I am looking for and more in the range of 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower if possible.

Someone suggested I look into the recon-3 or recon-4 sleeping bags. They do look really small, but I can’t find much information on them.

Anyway, I am primarily just sick of carrying around large bags. Don’t worry about the weight too much, but the lighter it is the better. My main hope is that it compresses really well, that’s all.

Answer 1

REI zephyr. Or Big Agnes brands.

Answer 2

North Face Cats Meow 20 degree bag.

Compresses so that it will fit in the lower

backpack compartment. 2 1\2 pounds.

I've had the same one for 10 years and it's

great.

Answer 3

I'd check out REI.  I recently picked up a brochure from them that has a chart of every sleeping bag they carry so you can compare.  My kids and I all have Kelty bags.  They compress pretty well, but we're car campers so it wasn't a big concern for us.

What you might want to consider is getting a light weight bag so that it compresses easily.  You'll lose some of the temp rating, but you can then get an over bag for cooler nights.  Big Agnes has some cool looking systems.  I have never tried their bags, but we have one of their tents and it's very well made.

Answer 4

Currently the best down bags (arguably of course) are Western Mountaineering, but they aren't cheap (http://www.westernmountaineering.com) - Mountain Hardwear also makes some very nice and very compressible down bags in the temp range you're looking for.

The bags mentioned in previous posts are good bags, but not premium - and you mentioned you wanted the nicest you could get your hands on. Western Mountaineering bags are known to last many years, as well.

Answer 5

I don't know what you intend to use your sleeping bag for, but for backpacking, a sleeping bag will only last a few years of moderate use and I wouldn't consider it an investment. In fact I look forward to making a new one (I make my own sleeping quilts). After stuffing it a few hundred times it will lose it's loft regardless of quality of materials (Mine's Polarguard 3D, one of the finest synthetic insulations made).

Again, because there was a similar question recently about compressibility, I don't understand why that's a selling point? The idea is to stuff your sleeping bag as little as possible to preserve its loft. I reserve 1/2 of my backpack for stuffing my sleeping quilt. It's not shoved into a corner or stuffed into a sack and strapped on the outside, it is stuffed into it's large waterproof sack just above the bottom of my pack, where the food goes, and fills it up to nearly 2/3's to 3/4's full. And that's a 30 degree quilt mind you that weighs 2 1/2 lbs for someone huge like myself. My wife's 30 degree quilt weighs less than 2 lbs.

You don't have to make your own quilt, but you can buy a down sleeping bag around 2 lbs or a synthetic for around 3 lbs. The down will compress more, but like I said, oughtn't be.

I too have a Cat's Meow I, purchased in 1994, but it stopped keeping me warm down to 20 degrees like it used to and I haven't used it in years.