My friend recently asked me what sleeping bag I would recommend and I was at a loss what to tell him. I have a couple of old Soviet ones, so it's never been an issue for me. I still need to get back to him, however. What are some quality sleeping bag manufacturers?

Coleman, for one

Western Mountaineering has one of the best reputations out there. Expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

I just saw a nice oversized (40 x 84) rectangular bag at Bass Pro Shops for $49.95 this weekend. It is rated to 0 degrees and the outside is a decent duck canvas. Not a backpacking bag, but definitely a decent elk camp bag. I can't recall the mfr, but in any case it was what I would class a very good deal.

Mountain Hardware makes prety good bags. Wiggly's is supposed to be one of the best.

But first the question needs to be asked, what does your friend need a bag for. Cold weather, warm, hot, wet, dry, tent, no tent, backpacking, car camping, etc etc etc...

"Cold" weather, or at least as cold as it gets here in Israel. With tent and a car some miles away.

Cold weather in Israel can be considered 'freezing cold' if the temperatures plummet below 10-15 C. On a trip to Cyprus during December virtually everyone was wearing thick down jackets and some were even wearing hats and gloves and most were complaining about the freezing weather conditions during the evening. The temperature must only have been around 13-15C. I was wearing a short sleeve cotton shirt and thinking what a nice evening it was after the heat of the day (about 21 C), which would have been considered a warm Scottish summers day.

So I guess you'll probably need a warm sleeping bag if it is to be used for winter conditions and will probably need to be rated down to at least -10 C if used in local winter desert conditions.

Being a resonably dry part of the world a down bag would probably be fine for your purposes being very lightweight but slightly expensive. Down bags can be up to half the weight of even the best synthetic bags. Generally the better quality down, the lighter the sleeping bag and the more expensive.

There are lots and lots of high quality manufacturers.

PHDesigns - http://www.phdesigns.co.uk
Alpkit - http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16244&category_id=253
or a slighly more cost effective bag from Alpkit
http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16321&category_id=253

Marmot - http://marmot.com/fall_2008/equipment/sleeping_bags
Rab - http://www.rab.uk.com/products_sleeping.html
Western Moutaineering - http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=Products&page=Sleeping%20Bags
Mountain Hardware - http://www.mountainhardwear.com/en-EU/Category.aspx?top=1561&cat=1561&level=1

For Synthetic bags

Snugpak - http://www.snugpak.com/index.php?MenuID=160-101
Wiggys - http://wiggys.com/category.cfm?category=6

There are still lots of good manufacturers not mentioned here.

Some "Old world" advices :

Down:

Valandré, very very good, pricey : http://www.valandre.com/us/frontpage.htm

Warmth, less expensive, very good : http://www.warmthunlimited.com/


Synthetic:

Carinthia, military well known bags. some models with "central zip" : http://www.carinthia-bags.com/schlafsack/expeditionen/12.html

Helsport, good swedish brand, very compact synthetics bags : http://www.helsport.com/helsport/product...amp;pageid=5011

No offense intended, but this is almost like asking what gun is best? I mean, what is the intended use?

If someone just needs something for car camping in moderate temps, they would be fine probably with anything from Wal-mart or someplace. If they need something for extended winter camping, they'll want something else.

You probably know that high fill down (e.g. 850)is generally warmest and most compressible, but becomes nearly useless when wet. The synthetics don't compact as well but still insulate when wet.

There's also the size to consider. "Normal" size people can use most bag, but big folks need to get bags that are cut larger.

I overnighted more than 40 times in the last year in all weather. Was out with well over 100 different people. Have seen a massive variety of sleeping bags and many many conversations with their owners.

Boils down to this. Either Marmot or Mountain Hardware for the brand. Synthetic not down and go 20 degrees colder rating than you think you will ever be in.

My 2.5 cents.

Cameron