Lab Note Published: 22/07/10

Girls sleeping bags

Spurred on from reading Sarah Stirlings review  of the Marmot Angel Fire ladies sleeping bag we have been doing a little thinking. We have heard many manufacturers talk about ladies specific sleeping bags, but just how effective are they? and should we be doing them? Immediately after Sarahs article we got about 5 emails asking if we had any plans on doing a girls specific sleeping bag.. but they didn't want to spend £170!

 
Reading the information on the Marmot site the idea of a ladies specific bag appeared to be better than the actual execution. For example Marmot say: Wider in the hips, Narrower in the shoulder and more insulation in strategic areas (torso, head and feet).
 
Looking at the spec this works out to be an actual difference of 15cm shorter, 11cm narrower at the shoulder and hip the same size as their mens bag. The text indicates that they have more down almost everywhere apart from the thighs, so what happens if you get cold knees/thighs during the night which does happen for both men and women, especially if they sleep on their side with knees bent. 
 
Sarah is currently testing a short SkyeHigh 600 down sleeping bag to see how that performs as a ladies specific sleeping bag.
 
So what is your experience of ladies specific bags? Why not just get a warmer bag? We would love to hear from you.
About the Author
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Nick

Comments

I have just bought a Marmot wave 4 ladies bag for my son. A shorter womans bag will double up as a kids bag with enough room to grow a little. Hes only 6 but I have had a real problem getting a decent warm bag for his size, most manufacturers think that children will only camp in the summer months judging by the offering out there.
He used to use one of my bags that drowned him a little and i had to carry that excess weight
what i really wanted was a good down bag for him but at alpkit prices. as far as i can see no one makes one yet…...roll on winter!

Posted on 04 October, 2010 by Stephen monaghan

I have one of the older Alpkit bags (not sure which, from a couple of years ago) in a short length, and have always found it to meet my needs perfectly. I like having the slightly wider shoulders to make it easier to get in and out (I don’t unzip), but would be interested in trying out a bag which was slightly differently configured.

Posted on 16 September, 2010 by Rachel

nice idea ..... I like the extra padding and extra warmth idea as I freeze when I’m camping!!! But, not all women come in smaller sizes! There’s 6ft of me so unless a women’s specific bag was competitive price wise and long enough for all of me to fit in I’d go up a warmth level in an extra long bag as I do at the moment.

Posted on 10 August, 2010 by KatieW

UKC Assistant Editor Sarah Stirling has been using a short SH600 sleeping bag to compare it against a womens specific sleeping bag. Here are her thoughts…

I’ve camped in your sleeping bag quite a bit now - it’s been everywhere from Kenya to Norfolk - and my thoughts on a women-specific bag are:

It is good to have a women-specific bag but not essential. A unisex/small man’s bag does do the job OK, and many women would be warm/happy enough in there. I was warm enough in there in warmer temps but did find I got a little cold in cooler weather. I do get cold at night though, because I’m skinny and my feet always get cold!! - so I definitely did benefit from the marmot bag having extra padding around the feet and being narrower around the shoulders - it also had this mega hood which kept my head warmer.

I don’t know whether it is worth making one - ie would you sell enough? - as it’s a proportion of women, already a smaller market, that would want a women-specific bag. I guess XS girls like me benefit more from a smaller-shaped bag - but then we’re even more of a minority market!

I was interested by the Yeti woman-specific sleeping bag - they did some market research on what women want and their bag had a fleece pocket at the foot to keep your feet warmer and a mini pillow that tucked into the hood.

Read more from Sarah on her website:
http://www.sarahstirling.com/

Posted on 05 August, 2010 by Kenny

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