Sleeping Bag recommendations?

[Swordsman]

Hi everyone,

Heading back to Iraq in a month and will this time be fully embedded for a period of nine months. The last time I was there I brought my old "trusty" sleeping bag which ended up being just simply not up to the job. It was to big to carry around, and not warm enough.

Anyone that has any recommendations on a sleeping bag that will be light, easy to carry(eg small when packed down) and that will keep a good nice temp during the nights?

-J

[roadkill]

i do recommend the Ajungilak

Pro's:
warm, lightweight, and very small when packed down.

Con's

not cheap, not that durable, and doesn't come in camou

[cashonlycow]

Got a Snugpak Merlin Softie 3 from some dude in England via EBay.

Packs up small, nice and warm, seems pretty durable.

[Mikethehack]

Heading back to Iraq in a month and will this time be fully embedded for a period of nine months.

Embedded? For 9 months? Are you Press?

[Swordsman]

[quote="Mikethehack" Embedded? For 9 months? Are you Press?[/quote]

I usually say "of sorts" since I am still rather new in this game and still have to mostly self finance my trips.Been around to a few places and sold some of the pictures I have taken there to Swedish Media. It is not exactly an easy profession to get in to. Signed up with a small agency a few months ago, but that agreement is rather "loose" and provides me with a 50/50 split if they sell any of my images.

The embed will consist of 3 rounds, each round being two months and they will not all be out on the field but I will simply have to take what I can get from the US Army, in between the rounds I will either be staying at the Al-Hamra (pending a certain agreement with Slitz Media and Aftonbladet) or at the Army Base.
oh and I will have make a break after three months to go to London to meet up with some people.

It is somewhat of a lengthy embed I know, but since I splitted it up it was doable and it is the best way I know how to get this thing actually done

[cochiseintheeast]

Sword,

I d recommend going with down if your are wanting compressibility and light weight. The higher the fill longer life you ll get and the more comfort you will get from your bag, though high-fill down is pretty expensive. When I was living in Sudan I used a 20 degree Marmot synthetic. I did nt care about weight and compression, and it worked well. In the summer just sleep on top of it, in the winter zipped it up around me and was toasty. The advantage with synthetic is cheap. There is also the issue that down sucks when it gets wet, while synthetic does not suck as much when it gets wet.

Anyway, dont worry so much about brand name, as long as its a company that will back up any defects (manufactures warranty), and it fits your reqs and budget.

Ohh and one other tip: I always take like a really wide bed sheet and fold it in half and sew it together. Its like those cotton hostel liners you can buy.

[Swordsman]

I ended up going with a Haglöfs Znooz 500; which seemed to fit the requirements reasonably well and was quite compact. comfy it was when I tried it out last night as well.

http://www.haglofs.se/produkter/sovsack ... CatNr=248#

Haglöfs znooz:
Our most advanced synthetic sleeping bag. Light, technical sleeping bags with DuPont’s best insulation material.
Haglöfs´ new sleeping bag program continues with the further development of synthetic sleeping bags. The weights have decreased dramatically thanks to superior materials and improved construction techniques. The hood featured on the following models has a smaller opening for better form and warmth capacity.
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For specifics on the Znooz 500 go to
http://www.haglofs.se/produkter/visapro ... Mtrl=&Str=

[cochiseintheeast]

Keep is posted on how it holds up. And good luck on your trip.

Cheers.