Western Mountaineering Real World Experience?

[Wrench]

I have a bunch of down bags and the difference between a badger and a 20* sea to summit is that my badger WILL keep me as a cold sleeper warm at 15* in just my normal sleepwear and my sea to summit will be chilly at 30* in the same clothes.

It takes a -20 bag from the typical commercial company to hang with the badger.

 

[Kenai]

I’m going to go against the grain a bit and say Western temp ratings are pretty close to advertised.

I have had a ton of them and without overfill I tend to just be OK right at their temp ratings. That said everyone sleeps a little different so my experience may differ from someone else’s.

WM bags are high quality though and you can’t go wrong wit them.

I ran a FF Ibis bag all winter and I was still quite warm at 0 degrees. I find most of their temp ratings to be more conservative but it comes at a slight weight penalty.

 

[Fowl Play]

I’ll echo the above. If I wear my base layers for the next morning in my Megalite WM bag (30F), I will be comfortable at the temp rating. If just in my boxers, I am slightly cold. I also would get the largest size next time, just to have a little more room in the bag.

 

[Decker9]

Been using an Antelope for a number of years, only had it down to -15c or so, but kept me warm.

If I lost it today though, I’d buy a Taiga bag tomorrow for half the price of a WM but same quality ime.

 

[phall]

thanks for all the help, pulled the trigger on an alpinelite since I will always have a puffy/insulating layers when i need to be in colder climates.

 

[hikenhunt]

You won't regret. They are expensive, but with the quality of use, you'll wish you had sooner.

 

[Whaledriver]

If you shop hard and look around you can find some discounts. I run a Badger in archery or warmer rifle seasons and Kodiak on later rifle seasons in CO. Never been cold in either one. My son is tall and thinner than me and runs the Antelope. After a hard day of chasing elk, coming back to a WM bag is huge. They just flat out perform. They have kept me out in the field in some rough conditions. Buy with confidence!

 

[owenseek24]

I have a few WM bags, I think they are the best on the market. I have a Sequoia 5 degree and a Sycamore 25degree with overfill

My sequoia sleeps really comfy into 15 degrees i'm not a warm sleeper, been down to 10 degrees in it and it was fine but I wasn't hot. My sycamore is a great bag, but I find its temp rating to not be as accurate as the Sequoia, I tend to get into the low 30's and start feeling a little on the cold side. The most popular bags seems to be the Kodiak and the Badger both excellent bags that you can not go wrong with. No bag is complete without a solid R rated sleeping pad so i definitely recommend putting some of your budget into a really solid and warm pad to actually get the sleeping bag near its limit.