Shoulder-season backpacking in the mountains, nights around 0C/32F. Budget is roughly $250-350 and I'd like to stay under about 900g. Last trip I borrowed a bag marked "0C" and shivered from 2am onwards, so clearly I don't understand what the number on the tag means. Down or synthetic, I'll take either. I'm not spending $600 and I'm not carrying two kilos.
The other half of the problem is under you, not over you. A 900g bag on a cheap foam pad at freezing will still be cold, because the insulation beneath you is crushed flat by your own weight. R-value on the pad matters more than most people expect at 0C, and it's usually the cheaper of the two fixes. I'd take a mid-range bag and a good pad over a great bag and a thin one every time.
Seconding. I bought my way out of cold nights twice with bags before somebody pointed at my mat. Fixed it for less than either bag cost me.
Down for the weight target you gave, synthetic if you expect it wet and cannot reliably keep it dry. At 900g with a Comfort rating near 0C you are going to end up in down whether you meant to or not. Just have a genuinely waterproof way of carrying it — a proper dry bag, not a "water resistant" stuff sack, which is a marketing phrase for a bag with seams.
Things that got me warmer without spending anything: eat something fatty right before bed, wear a hat, don't sleep in the clothes you sweated in, and put tomorrow's socks inside the bag. I spent two seasons blaming gear when I was going to bed cold, dehydrated and slightly damp.
Check the bag actually fits you as well. I'm tall and had been compressing the footbox flat every night, which kills the loft exactly where your feet are and where you feel it first.
@torque_spec · 3mo ago · 3 replies
The headline number is usually the Limit rating, and under ISO 23537 that is modelled on a standard man curled up and not shivering. The Comfort rating is modelled on a standard woman sleeping relaxed, and it is several degrees warmer. So if you were cold in a "0C" bag at 0C, nothing malfunctioned — you read a barely-surviving number as a sleep-well number. Buy on Comfort. If a listing only gives you one number and won't tell you which, that's a listing to walk away from.
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@torque_spec · 3mo ago
Exactly that. The standard also assumes you're on an insulated mat, wearing a base layer, and not already cold when you get in. All three of those get quietly skipped.
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@switchback_sid · 3mo ago
That explains the whole trip. So for 0C nights I want a bag whose Comfort is at or below 0, not one that is named 0.
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