I'm looking for a light sleeping bag for my 12 year old son. We mostly camp in spring/summer maybe early fall in and around Pennsylvania. I'd rather not spend a ton of money on it, but I would like it to be light and pack down small. Any chance of finding something around $100?

So many times you can find great kids gear at yard sales. 100$ is on the low end to get anything very light and compressable. Rei has haglof kids bags, enlighten equipment also makes a kids quilt.

Also...how light do you guys consider light for a sleeping bag?

For a kid? 1-1.5 lbs. My sons new quilt is 18 ozs 20 deg with 30% overstuff.

Check Craigslist and eBay. Any forums you visit, post wtb's there. Campmor has good deals on synthetic bags I've seen in the past. Sports stores may have cheap made in China bags.
Duane

I consider my 15 degrees Mountain Hardwear synthetic bag light. It weighs 2.14 pounds.

Marmot

Of course the stuff size is pretty bulky, but it's a sub 3 pounds bag. I'm not exactly sure how warm it is in your area during the seasons you will be hiking. I think the above bag has a full zipper in-case your boy gets too warm.

Since you are in PA, you can drive to Campmor in NJ, or do what we do and just buy online from them. They are the best for low price, good gear. Look at the brands Kelty and Campmor's own brand. North Face, Big Agnes, and Marmot are also good brands. 3 lbs is the target to get under. If I was buying for a 12 year old, (actually I am this year, for my daughter) I would buy a bag that was close to the largest adult in the family. Unless you want to replace it in 2 years, he will outgrow it if you don't.

3lbs! My old slumberjack was 2.5 and I felt it was a tank! You could get 2 down bags rated the same tempature for under 3lbs.

His budget is $100. Do you know of a 1.5 lb sleeping bag rated to 15, or even 20, that is in the $100 area?

Some people cannot afford the products that acheive that weight. Heck, some of them have slight allergic reaction to down.

No I don't, but also stated in my first post $100 is too little of an amount to get a good light weight bag. I think it was Tom D. That said cheap, light, quality, pick two cause there is no such thing as a quality, inexpensive, light weight sleeping bag.

A 2.9 pound bag under 100 bucks is hard to find. Which is why I posted that Marmot...Marmot is a reputable brand, but I have no clue how much testing they put into the economical priced product line. .Of course the tradeoff is the bulkiness..

Light, cheap, durable, compressible and warm is an impossible combination. You will have to decide which one to give up.

I have an Alpine Design 20 degree bag. You can get the women's bag which is the same color as the men's for $39.97. The men's bag is $59.97.

You can also buy them at Sports Authority. I would avoid any other type of bag they have there.

It weighs 2.5 pounds including the stuff sack. It keeps me warm to the mid 20's without a pad. I do wear a base layer in the bag.

The thing you are giving up is compressibility, but it isn't a major problem compared to a more expensive Sierra Design bag I was given. Instead of the stuff sack, you can put it in a plastic bag and stuff it in the bottom of your pack. Leave the top of the bag open to let the air out. If you are putting other things over it, it's not likely it will get wet.

I'm into my fourth year with the men's bag. Durability is not an issue. I've slept out in it about 100 nights.

With sleeping bags it is light/cheap/warm, pick two. Light weight is a relative term. You say 3 lbs is a brick. But, for many, that is just fine. For my scouts (which are in his target age group) I have to do everything I possible can to convince parents to spend a lot of money to buy a 3 lb bag. They see $100 as a small fortune (which it is, especially in this economy). If $100 is his budget, then it is better that he buy a 3 lb bag and GO, then to sit at home waiting for the funds to appear, so he can save a pound. At the end of the day, it is better to just go, then sit at home wishing your pack was lighter.

It will be rare to find a new down bag for < $100 but I've seen a couple in the past year for as low as $80 on sale (Kelty Light Year). Those will be heavier (600-750 fill) but still compress nicely and lighter than synthetics. Someone just sold a used Light Year 20 for $60 at BPL.

You may find the paper I wrote helpful since it was written with his age range in mind.

Good point, I totally agree if it means getting out or sitting at home. My perspective is also skewed because I have only one child and he is a pretty dedicated hiker already at the age of 9. So for me it makes since to spend 200 on a great bag he will use for years to come. Making his journey as pleasant as possible will only encourage further outdoor exploration. For that means lighting his pack as much as comfortablely possible. Do I spend too much on him, you bet but I regret none of it!

Check the "Outlet" tab at REI - it looks like they've got a few name-brand bags under $100, and some others that look pretty good for under $120. I didn't check the weight, though.

Name brands (REI, Mountainsmith, Kelty, Sierra Designs, etc.) should mean quality isn't an issue, and temperature ratings should be close enough to accurate to serve your needs. So, the biggest decision you'll have is whether weight or staying under $100 is more important to you.

I wouldn't worry about finding a kid-size bag; that usually means they outgrow them quickly. If the adult bag is too long, just double the extra length under until he grows.

If the bag is a little heavy, there are other ways to compensate: do you really NEED that chair kit, or the extra day's emergency food? Can you maybe pare down the one-pound first aid kit? Do you need to carry two quarts of water when there's a stream every three miles? (Maybe one is enough - that saves 2 pounds.) Eat breakfast and lunch cold, and take freeze-dried food to cook and eat in the bag, and drink water: that eliminates the cup and bowl you're carrying, and means you only need one pot (about a liter) for cooking. You can probably come up with more ideas.

Thanks for all the info! I just kind of threw the $100 figure out there as I had seen some Marmot and North Face bags at my local sporting goods store that were around $89-$100. I guess if I get him an adult bag he should have it a long time I can spend a little more on it. Is the concensus then that I should get a down bag or are the synthetics o.k. I think I would rather have it light and compact and spend a little more!

What I said, was "warm, cheap, light, pick two" (maybe not in that order). This isn't original to me, btw.

But, it's like the speed of light "It's not a suggestion, it's the law."

The trick here is to set your parameters - I would do them in this order - temperature rating, price, weight.

Here is my reasoning -
if the bag isn't warm enough, it is a waste of money; Either get a warmer bag or limit your camping to warmer weather;
if you can't afford it, the other two don't matter;
if it's too heavy, which is relative, either leave something else behind or start going to the gym.

Once you narrow down your choices, start looking on discount sites like Sierra Trading Post or as mentioned, Craigslist or eBay. Don't buy a brand you aren't familiar with or don't know is worth the money. There is a lot of junk out there, more than you can imagine.

Synthetic bags are cheaper and easier to care for. Down bags are warmer for their weight.

Personally I'd only get down. You just need to make sure he knows he should never get it wet. Even those that live in PNW or rainforest use down successfully. You just need to know how to deal with the moisture. A decent down bag will last decades.

One of my backpacking partner uses a Mountain Hardwear down bag rated for 15 degrees and I used the synthetic version by the same company. In the same 19 degrees night at the Linville Gorge, we both stayed plenty of warm. He did get his bag a little wet from condensation because he was using a single wall tent, but it didn't get wet enough to do affect him. The difference between him and I on that night, his down bag packed a lot smaller and lighter. He probably saved a pound and I want to say somewhere around 10 liters in volume in his pack.

Well, I really like my Kelty Light Year Down 20º. I paid $130 for it new, but I have to say that TomD's advice to look around for a used bag is darn good advice.

He's gotten some great deals on really expensive gear, and I always feel kind of stupid when he brings one of them up. You can only prevent that by listening to him

Bill, certainly not my intent to make anyone look stupid. That's too much like work.

However, I can tell you that getting deals takes a lot of time looking and not everyone wants to make that tradeoff. I only mention my deals because often money is the barrier to someone getting better gear or any gear at all and I want them to know that this is not necessarily an expensive sport/hobby/activity. I've been out with people using gear that costs far less than what I have and they have had just as good a time as I did. I've got a stove that retails for around $150 and one that cost me about a buck to make (a soda can alcohol stove). Both will heat water and cook a meal.

Another thing you will notice about my posts is that I mention the same stuff over and over. That's because I don't own a lot of stuff and some of it I have owned for a long time. I have 3 sleeping bags, but two are more than 20 years old and I bought both of them new. Two of my stoves, I got more than 20 years ago. I don't get out all that much, so I don't wear stuff out as quickly as others do, so that helps.

Back in the day, long before the Internet, eBay and Craigslist, used gear wasn't all that easy to find and stores like STP didn't exist or if they did, they were brick and mortar and you had to know how to find them. Now, a click of a mouse and you're looking at dozens, if not hundreds of places to buy. I spend a lot of time online for work; I know how to use search engines really effectively and that translates into finding bargains, but it's a skill anyone can learn. Is it worth it for small items? Not really, I'd rather just walk into REI. But for big ticket items that I otherwise couldn't justify buying, for me it is.

Some things are just luck. I remember when I bought my parka (the one in my avatar). I was at a Christmas party the night the bidding closed on eBay and I kept checking on it on my friend's computer. The auction closed around 11 or so and I was the only bidder.

Ok, I've been looking at different bags both synthetic and down. My local Dick's sporting goods store has Mountain Hardwear and North Face bags that I like. Mountain Hardwear has a synthetic bag the Ultralamina 32 that packs pretty small and is fairly light. Then I looked at their Phantom 32 in 800 fill down and it packs down even smaller and is lighter and the comfort rating is lower on the down bag even though they are both 32's. I have another question The Mountain Hardwear bag has 800 fill down and a North Face bag I was looking at has 650 fill down, is the higher down number better or does this mean something else?

Down ratings refer to "fill power" which is a standard for how many cubic centimeters or cubic inches 1 ounce of down fills in a standardized tube. If by "better" you mean it takes less down to fill a certain space, then yes, it is better. The higher the rating, the less weight of down it takes, so a bag or jacket with a higher rated down will weigh slightly less.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fill_power

From a practical standpoint, the tradeoff is weight v. price. In something like a jacket, depending on the construction, a higher rated fill will not lower the weight of the jacket that much. With bags, it is hard to compare weights unless the construction and material are the same. Some bags are far more delicate than others due to the fabric and construction method.

There are a seemingly endless number of discussions regarding down and fill power all over the Internet, plus an "arms race" among manufacturers trying to impress buyers with high ratings. Unless the bag has been tested to the EIN standard or is made by a reputable manufacturer, temperature ratings, regardless of fill power, are suspect in my opinion.

In this instance, the use of "32" in the name of the MH bags is totally unrelated to the EIN rating and as far as I'm concerned, misleading.

Here is an explanation of the EIN rating-
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/sleeping-bag-backpacking.html

I would buy a bag based on the EIN rating, not fill power, which won't by itself tell you how warm the bag is. Compare WM bags for example to see how the temperature is related to the amount of down in them-
http://www.westernmountaineering.com/ind...mp;ContentId=27

It works out with WM to about 2-6 degrees F per extra oz of down depending on which bags you are comparing. All of them use the same 850 rated down.

Second hand is definitely the way to go. I'm sure there are plenty of kids out there growing out of their sleeping bags, and parents looking to unload a sleeping bag that no one needs anymore.

To hear the other side of this argument (I can't pick a side since I have little experience with synthetic and none with down, but want to make sure you can make a fully informed decision), see here (click the "page 17" button on the left side).

I'd not read his books, but know he kicked off the lightweight revolution so assumed he knew what he was talking about after all his experience. He clearly doesn't know much about keeping a down bag dry or how to clean one apparently. Wow. I will agree with his 2 myths though.

Too late! I've already purchased a North Face Gold Kazoo for my son, and a Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 for myself, both bags are down. Hopefully we won't have any problems! Thanks for the info everyone!

Ray is a true believer in his product, however, you need to consider one thing - if down bags are so terrible, as he claims, why do people keep buying them and paying up to $1000 for them? Surely over the decades, down bags would have gone out of production as an inferior product as word spread about their inherent flaws and people stopped buying them. But, that has not happened because under most conditions, down bags are superior to symthetics. Maybe some day that won't be the case, but it is true for now.

Both good choices, kudos for taking your son camping.

Thanks! We don't get out alot, and they have all been either overnight or weekend trips but we've had some good times that I think both of us will remember for a long time! I'm really getting the bug this year and hope to get out even more. My daughter may want to start going... even more gear!

If the timing is right your son can pass his gear on down to your daughter, you can pass yours on down to your son and then you get to buy new stuff for yourself. Involving the whole family can be very rewarding!!