Giant Stoneater wrote:Depends whither you care for ducks welfare as Chinese have a awful record for this kind of stuff.Lots of major sleeping bag companies have a traceability record for their down. A few pointers for down sleeping bags,down comes in different categories from old ducks to young ducks from where you get the.warm air trapping benefits, is down treated with nikwax water repellent, outer is it water repellent,does bag have zip,shoulder and head baffles,do you have choice of size,right or left zip opening,how evenly spread is the down and how is it held in place,is the bag just for low level summer use.I have a £20 synthetic sleeping bag for my grandson would I have bought a adult version no way to many drawbacks,grandson only uses in height of summer.
Not overly concerned about the welfare issue. The bags are sold as 800+ fill which would be from older ducks so much better. Not sure if down is treated but outer is water resistant. All choices of size, zip placement etc available and the baffles are all there. Bag will be for general use. We used our similarly rated Vango bags in February in Glen Tilt without issue. They do offer much colder rated bags but it's weight and size we are buying for, hence the 400g/m2.
Just to throw my tuppence worth in here. Apologies I don't have any experience of the Chineses bags you ask, however I do have experience of the OEX Helios.
I have to admit to being very, very disappointed with this bag. I bought this bag mainly due to its weight and the fact it is 3 season. I intended it mainly for WHW which I done this year late March/early April.
I had used it a couple of time before (although in more temperate conditions) and it seemed fine. However whilst using on WHW with temperature through night dropping to zero (maybe slightly lower) I found every sleep in this bag uncomfortable and not very warm at all. Every morning when waking up I was noticing feathers coming loose from the baffled sections. I never found this bag easy to fluff up in an evening and it just felt like a very thin, flimsy cloth.
Towards the end of the trip I also noticed the eyelet at the drawcord had also come loose and disappeared (despite never using it) and this again was causing more feathers to come loose.
I took it back to Go Outdoors and they exchanged it for me. This was mid April. I have since used the new bag once (mid May) and I am again noticing feathers coming loose and again I feel I did not get a warm, comfortable sleep with it. If this continues again I feel that I may well exchange bag. I feel that this bag is no more better than any other run of the mill 2 season bag.
Thanks for this. The OEX has such great reviews online. I was about to buy two @ £104 but they went up to £129.99 before I pulled the trigger. I then watched two second hand ones sell for over £100 each on ebay. Your review here more than anything is pushing me towards taking a gamble on the Chinese offerings.
OR you can buy a goose down bag
To get decent loft you will need at least an 850 fill.
Lower at 700/650 etc, the feather or down is a smaller diameter therefore limited in amount it can loft.
But then there’s the cost....
Outside of our price range for sure. Universal credit doesn't stretch that far.
Or try a hollofill bag, with synthetic fill which will keep you warm even when damp, and this is Scotland...
More our budget but seemingly no difference in weight or size?