Why so few centre zip sleeping bags?

[Petew]

I had undercling Mike make me a quilt with drawcord foot and a full zip. Pretty happy with it. Zip can be positioned anywhere you want though there is less fill towards the zip and no baffle. I also have a EE Enigma but it doesn't quite cut the mustard at zero and lower. I move around a lot on my sleep and fine Mike's quilt excellent below zero.

[Zapruda]

Just received my Alpinist from Nunatak this morning. Its beautiful, and the design and quality are exceptional as usual. I'm off on a 3 day trip to Jagungal tomorrow and luckily the weather will be a bit chilly so I can get a feel for how well it works. I bought this for my 6 months of walking in the US next March. Hopefully it will be enough the cover the temp swings.

Jan was incredibly helpful and patient as usual.

Specs:
18f with 2oz overfill. So hopefully I can get this down to around -9
865 grams
10d shell
Long - 200cm
Standrad footbox and width
Long two way zipper for venting.

Ill report back after this weekend.

[Moondog55]

Gorgeous colour
So this is the 30inch width?
Nice; very, very nice

[Zapruda]

Gorgeous colour
So this is the 30inch width?
Nice; very, very nice

Yeah, the colour is beautiful. There isn't enough purple gear anymore. Old Macpac Olympus anyone?

That's right, 60 inch circumference for the shoulders and 40inch circumference footbox. Plenty of room to layer inside and store things at the footbox. The hood is amazing.

[Lamont]

Just received my Alpinist from Nunatak this morning. Its beautiful, and the design and quality are exceptional as usual. I'm off on a 3 day trip to Jagungal tomorrow and luckily the weather will be a bit chilly so I can get a feel for how well it works. I bought this for my 6 months of walking in the US next March. Hopefully it will be enough the cover the temp swings.

Jan was incredibly helpful and patient as usual.

Specs:
18f with 2oz overfill. So hopefully I can get this down to around -9
865 grams
10d shell
Long - 200cm
Standrad footbox and width
Long two way zipper for venting.

Ill report back after this weekend.

Va Va Voom!
Congratulations.
Is the down distributed equally through the bag Z or did you do a top heavier than bottom scenario?

[Zapruda]

Evenly throughout although the baffles on the bottom feel slightly less full.

[Lamont]

[Lamont]

Evenly throughout although the baffles on the bottom feel slightly less full.

Now had that been me I would have been forced to test it out last night -in the interests of science of course.

[Orion]

Just wondering... why a center zip? What's the advantage?

[Moondog55]

Just wondering... why a center zip? What's the advantage?

Obviously you are not a side sleeper. But one advantage is it is easy to ventilate if you get too warm, slightly lighter; also if you happen to be a climber and you specify a second slider it is easier and safer to tie into and when sleeping in a sitting position it is much easier to use a stove etc
Also and it is a big plus where I am concerned if you sleep in your down gear it is much easier to get in and out of your clothing with a centre zip. The big downside is not being able to couple bags together if you are a partnership who want to cuddle

[andrewa]

Zapruda, I’m amazed that you haven’t taken to quilts yet.

Try unzipping that beautiful new sleeping bag, and turning it upside down on you, on top of a lovely warm down mat. Head and shoulders exposed, if it’s warm, and hood over your head if cold. Wonderful.

Then cut off 200g of it, and throw it away! A quilt doesn’t need to be that heavy.

My 700g home made quilt is plenty cozy for snow camping, and could be reduced in size/weight. Roger Caffin made some very useful comments about quilts vs sleeping bags on his bushwalking FAQs site - in fact reading all of it significantly changed my mindset to a lot of outdoor gear.

A quilt accommodates back/side/front sleepers. And allows wearing extra clothing underneath if needed.

Andrew A

[Moondog55]

Well I did try a winter quilt, I sold it here over 2 years ago, not all of us can handle winter using a quilt. This is a bit weird actually as I love my overquilt but I guess I'm not alone as Nunatak sell a lot of over quilts.

[Zapruda]

Zapruda, I’m amazed that you haven’t taken to quilts yet.

Try unzipping that beautiful new sleeping bag, and turning it upside down on you, on top of a lovely warm down mat. Head and shoulders exposed, if it’s warm, and hood over your head if cold. Wonderful.

Then cut off 200g of it, and throw it away! A quilt doesn’t need to be that heavy.

My 700g home made quilt is plenty cozy for snow camping, and could be reduced in size/weight. Roger Caffin made some very useful comments about quilts vs sleeping bags on his bushwalking FAQs site - in fact reading all of it significantly changed my mindset to a lot of outdoor gear.

A quilt accommodates back/side/front sleepers. And allows wearing extra clothing underneath if needed.

Andrew A

The quilt user’s mantra...

I’ve tried plenty of quilts over the past 10 years. They don’t work for me. I still own one that I use in the height of summer. Outside of that kind of weather I feel much better in a bag. I know what works for my sleep style.

Cheers

[andrewa]

Odd!!

The advent of a decent insulated sleeping mat has, for me, added so much to the enjoyment of having the lighter versions of top insulation, which is why I love quilts.

I did try hammocks briefly, and, whilst I appreciate that you can sleep warmly in them, the total weight was more than a light weight quilt/tent/sleeping mat arrangement.

Each to our own.....as long as everyone is appraised of their options, they can then decide what suits.

A

[Moondog55]

Have you had a chance to use the bag yet ?
Thinking about it; if Nunatak had their APEX sleeping bag option available when I ordered my quilt I would probably have ordered an APEX version sleeping bag rather than the overquilt

[Zapruda]

Hey Moondog. I’ve tested it a handful of times now and love it. Incredibly warm and very practical with the centre zip. I really love the vertical baffles. They seem to keep the down in place when I toss and turn.

Jan said the the Alpinist is only a custom order now, although it is still up in the site. They seem to be pushing their 3D quilts pretty hard. I have seen pics of a recently built Apex Alpinist and it looked excellent.

[Lamont]

Hey Moondog. I’ve tested it a handful of times now and love it. Incredibly warm and very practical with the centre zip. I really love the vertical baffles. They seem to keep the down in place when I toss and turn.

Jan said the the Alpinist is only a custom order now, although it is still up in the site. They seem to be pushing their 3D quilts pretty hard. I have seen pics of a recently built Apex Alpinist and it looked excellent.

Excellent!

[Moondog55]

I was on the Nunatak site a day or two ago and there was a warning that no new orders would be accepted; at least in the short term. A post over at BPL saying that the business had lost a sewing machinist or two and they had a huge backlog of orders.
The combination of two Alpinists would be a great deep cold system APEX on the outside and down next the the body, sized appropriately of course

[ofuros]

Another maker of centre zip sleeping bags...
https://www.mammut.com/int/en/cat/3050/sleeping-bags/

[Neo]

That chopped off 200g could become slippers or a down hood.

[gisborne612]

Snugpak make quite a few centre zip bags. They are synthetic and a bit on the heavy side, but can be purchased for a reasoble price.