Before you spend one penny spend some time understanding the bag. You are looking at a system of INSULATION which means trapping warm air. The colder the outside temperature the warmer, and therefor bulkier ( aka loft) the system. Now take this basic rule and demand it compress into a small package for carrying. You could A. vacume compress it, which is very expensive and good for one carry B. reduce the loft with claims of some secret discovery or interpretation of insulation. If you do either, there is another real world problem, that of how well and fast your insulation regains it's full loft and performance after compression. Now add to this your personal statement of large body size and we have the classic conundrum the industry is only to willing to 'solve' with exaggerated claims and voodoo science. Shelter may be the most vital item in your kit, More vital than fire making or a knife in many scenarios. You wouldn't carry paper matches and a Rambo knockoff, why shortchange yourself on a bag? I laugh at people who moan over a few extra pounds or cubic inches in a modern bag. Have you ever seen a photo of a real 19th century cowboy bedroll, not the doormat canvas tied onto moviestar horses? The monsters required a seperate wagon or a dedicated pack horse just for the bag! A good website to sort through all of this is www.wiggys.com

Welcome to the hiking crowd! I use a Slumberjack 20 degree for winter and a fleece liner for summer. Also have a mid-wieght 30 degree for those fall trips where you never know.

I feel your pain on the size. It would be nice to not have to buy the extra big bags or the extra long bags...but such is the price us larger fellas pay. Just think, you're getting more exercise by carrying more weight. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Oh yeah, when you are buying a backpack...you might look for one that provides plenty of space for your sleeping system..whatever that might be.

Western Mountaineering makes outstanding down bags, and has an ultralight series that includes larger bags that are still light and highly compressable. Check them out here:

http://www.westernmountaineering.com

They're also still made in the US.

I second the Wiggy bags. They're not cheap or light, but they will keep you warm. I have the flexible range system. Use the thicker one as a pad and the lighter one as a blanket.

No offense Chris, you seem to like thier gear and maybe actually know the guy who runs that shop, but a word of caution to anyone looking at Wiggy.

I've read a lot of reviews of thier gear, because of Chris' recommendation, and they fall into two categories. One is that the sun rises and sets by wiggy, which is the most common. Or that when they screw up, they screw up big, like 0 rated bags that people were cold testing at 40 degrees. No middle ground. Stuff like scares me- no one is that erratic unless they have a QC issue. And they seem to have more, percentage wise, negatives than a lot of other brands.

And EVERY negative review or evaluation that I've read that indicated that there was attempt to contract the manufacturer stated that customer concerns are apparently greeted with at best less than professional conduct, and often abuse. Even some of the POSSITVE reviews said that customer service was an unpleasant experince. One or two is one thing, a bad customer blowing steam, but the consistancy of that little factoid makes me think a little less highly of the company, if not thier gear.

The fact that thier newsletters, the archives of which I HAVE read on thier website, seem to usually have something in them that can be summed up as "the competators' products are crap, thier management is fools", et al, also concerns me. I had to laugh at one when he was going on about a fill that the rest of the industry uses, and oddly, those manufacturers are what the bigger expeditions that I see pictures of are using.

As I said, this based on others' experince, but it's enough to keep me from buying from this company. Don't take my word for it. Check out trailspace.com- I would also normally suggest outdoorreview.com and backpackgeartest.org, but it seems that thier Wiggy reviews that were there a couple years ago aren't there any more.

This site has a few bags that look pretty compact to my "never backpacked before" brain. Probably overpriced, but you could shop around of course. I don't know how "big" they are...if you get one, let me know...I'm oversized (and overstuffed) myself! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Why does it have to fit inside the pack? Can't you have it in a separate waterproof pack and tie it on top or below the main pack?

Big bags for big guys, that are designed to keep you warm are kind of bulky. It's just a fact of life.

Sue

I was looking at the Emergency Essentials catalog I got in the mail today, and noticed they have a +5 bag that is supposed to be "roomy". I don't know about the quality, but it may be worth checking out.

Internal frame backpack or external frame? If internal, it needs to fit the available space(s); more info needed to advise (which make & model). If external frame, size is pretty much machts nichts. In either case, for Kansas use I suggest carrrying it in an inexpensive drysack from Outdoor Research or Sea to Summit - once you pick the bag I can help you figure out which size drysack will work.

How much weight are you aiming at and how long will the trips be? Minimum temps you may camp in? Budget? You might not need an actual sleeping bag or you might do well with an overbag sized to fit you (which can be paired with another conventional bag later for colder weather use).

You a cold sleeper or a warm one? Going to tough it out in sweat-soaked day clothes or skin down to sleep or change to non-sweaty sleeping underclothes or ???

We can help you figure something out.

I have an internal frame Kelty Red Cloud 5600 for a pack.

As for the time out, the guy who is getting me in to this is just planning on 2-4 days out for now as we are both new to this.

I'm thinking that I will have to prob pack 40-50lbs of stuff.

For the temps, it's hard to say, but I would be willing to go as low as 20 or 30 deg. but it will mostly likely be night time lows in the 40 -60 range. And the budget is the other big problem, us low level goverment workers get paid in beans, and the wife tends to nag when I spend money on what she thinks is silly aka anything that is not clothes for her LOL.
So Ayers I hope tis helps you some, any and all help is welcome and thanks to the rest of you who have given me some good ideas