I just returned to this and am somewhat surprised as I DID NOT refer to this poster as a ...troll... or use ANY other derogatory term; he seems to have confused MY advice with comments by another poster.

I also tend to disagree with TomD, in a friendly manner, of course. I have not found that many REALLY good winter bags over the years and I have owned/used nearly twenty different bags myself, plus used issue bags and sold them as part of my final job, before early retirement.

I have seen some famous winter bags perform VERY poorly here in BC and this is one item of gear that I really do think should be chosen very carefully, with cost being a lower priority. If, anyone can show me a bag that will do what a Valandre Shocking Blue will do in sub-zero weather, at the SAME over-all weight, I would like to know about it....but, I doubt it exists.

BTW, I know about "Bask" the supposedly superior Russian bags sometimes sold in Canada, Woods as I used them, Fairydown as I had one and the various Scanadavian bags as I also had one of them....pos that nearly froze me solid. NOTHING I have EVER seen is equal to a VSB and that is simply from using one.