Any suggestions for a good sleeping bag
 

I am looking for a quality 4-season down sleeping bag.
There seem to be so many brands that I am finding it rather difficult to choose one.

Is there any brand that is particularly well-known for its sleeping bags?

When buying my tent I soon found out that Hilleberg was probably one of the best tent makers, but with sleeping bags there seem to be such huge price differences for seemingly similar products.

Thank you all for your help.

Feathered Friends is one of my favorite and one of the best in my opinion. Don't really know about being able to get them in London? They are hand made quality gear from Seattle, WA here in the states. Great Quality stuff.

So many others but I also like the Western Mountaineering Bags. Great stuff as well. You may also find them hard to find.

Big Agnes is an up and coming tent and sleeping bag company. Very innovative. I've used their pads and bags and really like the product. The sleeved bag is great since you don't end up rolling off it in the middle of the night.

Not saying you won't get good advice here but you will find much more info at the various hiking forums. This site has numerous sleeping bag reviews.
http://www.thebackpacker.com/gear/sleeping_bags/

I've been very happy with the Alpkit Pipedream 600 sleeping bag. Got a few good reviews too.

As this is a US centric borad you will probably get lots of recomendations for brands that aren't available in the UK ;)

As you have already seen down bags vary enourmously in price but it is very unlikely that you need a top price bag (if you did you wouldn't need to ask on here about them). The price reflects the quality of the down, the material, and the build quality. The first thing to do is decide what you really need, ie temperature range, how important is weight, will you always be using it in a tent? etc.

Alpkit have a good reputation for bags that good but relatively cheap but they are often out of stock. At the other end of the scale PHD offer the very best quality and will custom make bags and other kit but the price reflects the quality. Rab and mountain equipment and many other makes are also good.

If you give some more details about what you want to use the bag for and how much you want to spend I might be able to give you some more pointers.

ps, many sleeping bag specs will give a 'fill rating' for the down used. This is a measure of how much the down expands for a given weight. The US and european methods for measuring this are different and the US method will give a higher figure for the same down compared to the european.

I love my big agnes bags and pads, but I can't use them anymore due to an injury and need of money for school. If you would be interested in either a Crystal 30 degree long bag or a Yampa 40 degree long bag, along with the requisite Big Agnes insulated air core pad, please PM me.

North Face should be available in UK. They have the excellent "Kilo Bag," "Cat's Meow" and "Blue Kazoo" suitable for cycle touring. Consider a compression stuff sack as well, especially with polyester fill bags.

Rab is a good UK brand with some light bags.

If you can afford Marmot or Western Mountaineering (how's the £ vs US$ at the moment?) they're very good bags.

Have a look at a local bushwalking shop for some ideas. You will get an idea of what you get at different price points. Keep in mind when comparing bags that US manufacturers over-quote fill power by ~100.

In my opinion, Marmot makes quality, comfortable down bags. I just love mine, though must be said I bought it 14 years ago: still going strong after many camping trips and the last 2.5 years of solid on the road use

Thank you all for your replies.
NeezyDeezy, thanks for your offer, but I think shipping costs would be too high.

I will be using the sleeping back during all four seasons, so I do want one that keeps me warm should temperatures drop below zero.

What do you think of the Mountain Equipment Classic 750?
http://www.gaynors.co.uk/showproduct_050101260003.htm

130 GBP seems quite reasonable to me.