I need a new bag. Most of my tourning is/will be the the mid Atlantic/ Appalachian to coastal areas from early spring through maybe late October. Im currently stoked about my skyline and brp ride this coming May 18. I'm guessing temp ranges down to what maybe 32 F rare? The one I have is some junky crap that makes me sweat. It is a sythetic type of fill so Im hoping I can find the right temp range. I'm not saying the sythetic caused me to sweat, but it only happens in that bag. Nothing worse than waking up in your bag wet from sweat. It ranks in my top worst feeling ever. (Its got to be something like those dreaded hot flashes the poor babes gotta go through, God bless em.) To prevent that I have to unzip it and use it as a blanket instead so evidently it doesn't breath right or whatever. I"m hoping I can find a decent deal this holidays season and I really need your help so I can eliminate the learning curve involved. Thanks so much for all your help, and Im looking forward to any thing I can glean from your vast experience. thanks, Sport

REI has their 30% off sale until the 26th. Not sure if it extends to sleeping bags but it's a nice discount!

Lots of issues with sleeping bags, bulk being one of them. I use a 25 degree down mummy with the hood removed to reduce bulk to minimum. It's good to about 35, typical for temp ratings. If it's gonna be below that, I supplement with clothing and cover my head and ears with a wool watch cap. In the summer, I use a flannel sheet bag my wife sewed or a 45 degree synthetic bag.

For me, gear bulk is as important cosideration as weight. That's why my tent has been modified for fly only pitching. Less bulk, more room for food and water.

If the temp is too high for the bag's rating, all you can do to prevent sweating is to ventilate the bag, as you have done.

I'm loving my new Montbell UL super spiral down bigger #3. The name is a lot but the bag packs down small. It's not the lightest 30 deg bag ( it weighs 1lb 6 oz), but it's built to be stretchy and it's the most comforable mummy bag I've tried.

OP, how are you on your claustrophobia?, can you stand a tight fitting mummy bag?

I prefer the bag to stay in one place and I turn and toss within it.
Not roll bag and all in one thing, arms tight by your body..

My Stevenson Warmlight Triple has 2 top quilts to either or or both on top of a Down filled air mattress
bottom that they Zip to.

a 4 season Bag for variable overnight temperatures.. Hand made in NH.

It does pack a bit bigger than a Loaf of 'Wonder Bread'.

High end down bags are amazing if you're concerned with weight and bulk. They also last longer than synthetic bags. My Western Mountaineering Ultralight bag sure was expensive, but its amazing. It weighs less than 2lbs and packs to half the size of a synthetic bag and its temperature rating is extremely conservative. REI bags are a particularly good value, I got a -20 degree winter bag and its just shy of what a top end boutique bag would cost but I got it around half the cost. For what you're doing a REI Subkilo would be pretty awesome. Both these bags are tight fitting mummy bags so you know—this style is the best if you don't twist into complex shapes while you sleep.

Though I'm all about down your problem probably isn't that closely related to the fill. An excessively warm bag will always be uncomfortable. Unzipping a bag partially or using it as a blanket is a perfectly legitimate strategy. If you have a particularly warm night layering some clothing on your pad can make it less clamp when using it as a blanket. Look for bags with hoods and draft collars, they allow you to controll the warmth of the bag better. Though it adds a small amount of weight some bags have a second zipper that when opened makes the bag roomier and cooler. Regardless of weat

I just got a Enlightened Equipment Revelation X 30F quilt for my last bike tour. I used it down to 30F in snow in the Cascades in June and it worked great. It also worked great during the Midwest heat wave in July, with nighttime lows in the 70s. All that for 19 oz and $185.

The Enlightened Equipment quilts are one of the best bargains out there. I've heard nothing but great things about their workmanship, customer service and quality. It's been on my wishlist for some time now.

The touring rule is, “If on the coldest night of your tour you don’t have to wear every bit of clothing in you pannier, you sleeping bag is too heavy.” I carry a 40F down bag with no hood and have been comfortable at below freezing temperatures of 30F (-1C).

Now I am probably wearing a silk turtle neck, two LS jerseys, a lightweight down jacket, a balaclava, tights, long pants, perhaps breathable rain paints, two pairs of wool socks, and long finger gloves. I have yet to wear my Showers Pass eVent rain jacket and rain-hood, so I might be able to go a little colder yet. Over all of that I slip into a silk liner. I sleep on top of a NeoAir mattress.

One the other end, look for a sleeping bag that allows you to shake the down to the sides or the bottom. (My Big Agnes bag has no bottom insulation, so I shake to the sides on warm nights.) On colder nights I fluff the insulation towards the middle.

Edit: I would note that some down bags with top and bottom insulation have closed baffles that don't allow the down to shift to from top to bottom.

I bought an EMS Solstice 20º for $75.00 last year. I am so beyond enthralled, I have to suggest it. Read on:

I have slept in it comfortably to 0º with a liner. It weighs about 1lb more than a $400.00 sleeping bag (it's like 3lbs 1 oz). I've used it for 3 months out of the last 12, extensive use, and it has not worn in a single area. It has not lost any loft. It has not begun to smell even slightly.

I have been warm at 20º while soaking wet. I have laid it down directly on rock and slept warmly and soundly. I have beaten it to death shoveling it in compression sacks and sliding around on hardwood floors, but it hasn't so much as loosened a thread.

It compresses down to about 12" x 8" in a compression sack, and comes out wrinkly but still lofty. The zipper never snags with careful use, but even if it does from careless zipping, which I have done probably 100+ times, the material easily pulls free from the oversized zipper with no damage. None.

My friend has a $200.00 Marmot and the quality is on-par in every regard. My other friend has a ghostly-lightweight sleeping bag in the $400.00 price range, and mine's slightly warmer.

So, +1000 for the EMS Solstice 20. Beautiful bag, it'll last you years I suspect.

Oh, and as for the material's breathability:

I slept next to the ocean and the sea breeze soaked the outside of my sleeping bag. Well, soaked isn't quite accurate.. the silky material felt wet to the touch, but there seemed to be very little water held by the material, and the inside was beyond dry. Not one single time have I gotten condensation on the inside of my bag, and rarely does any form on the outside. If I don't let my tent breathe, my sweat exits right through the material of the bag and forms droplets on the ceiling, with no moisture in the bag. Great material, very quiet and not clingy at all. It feels silky.

Down is the Only Thing. I've slept comfortably in the same down bag at -50°F and in the summer at Camp 4 in Yosemite.

The wonderful thing that's available now are down bags with only the top half being down insulated. Save a goose. The bottom half is a pocket to take a Neo Air pad. Big Agnes, and I think Feathered Friends, makes these wonderful bags. Lighter and more compact. My wife and I have used the Feathered Friends double version of this for several years.

This is the bag I use. I've had mine for several years and I've been comfortable every night I've used it. It's available through Mountain Equipment Co-op.

https://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/SleepingBags/DownMummyBags/PRD~5025-626/mec-aquila-sleeping-bag-7c.jsp

Every bag I have and almost every trip I have been on, sometimes I zip up the bag all the way but if the temperature is warmer than the bag is good for, I do not zip it all the way up. How much you zip the bag is how you regulate the temperature. Some week long trips, I have not ever zipped the bag all the way up during the whole trip. But most winter trips, I zip the bag up all the way almost all the time.

Last summer on a two week tour, I used a silk liner for the fist time. A gal I used to work with used a silk liner and recommended that I get one. I bought the liner not for better temperature rating, but simply because I was unsure if I would have a chance to shower off the road grime every day so I wanted to keep my bag cleaner. But the liner was great because many evenings it was quite warm, maybe high 60s and one night mid 70s at bed time. I recall a couple nights climbing into the liner alone and some time later during the night pulling the bag over me like a blanket. But a couple nights it was cold enough that I climbed into the bag and zipped it all the way up. One morning had frost on the tent fly. I used a 40 degree (rating) bag on this trip.

Ray Jardine has some good observations, solutions, and outsidethebox designs that have proven themselves in the field. His innovations have won awards. His bio or Wikipedia description will give some idea of the range of his adventures (which include bike touring, among many others) and innovations. His designs come from experience, and he uses them himself. He also sells kits, and has good prices. www.rayjardine.com

He has written some good books too.

Suggest also not falling for the temptation to buy too warm. You can use a layering system and wear extra clothes if you run into some unusual cold. If you buy for unusual cold, you may very well be too warm the vast majority of the time.

Perfect method. As soon as I find a forecaster who will swear by his predictions and promise to deliver me more clothes or a warmer bag in case he mistakes it by 10 degrees I`ll be right on it!

Rain gear can serve as the last layer -- I rarely use it, but it's there when or if needed. The vapor barrier principle is worth learning, OP. Jack Stephenson explains it pretty well on his site. www.warmlite.com

[Vapor barriers aren't good at all in warm weather. They can be very useful in cold, though.]

Hi Andrewclaus, I was looking at this quilt. It seems the theory is that the down insulation will not insulate when its compressed so why lay on it, and why waste it and bring it as well as a heavy zipper along, if I'm not mistaken.... So based on this premise I'm trying to determine how it works. The open side with the drawstring and snaps..., is that on the bottom or top of you? If top,then aren't you lying on the down? Of course I realize there is suppose to be a pad underneath. If the open side is down, then do you bring something to put between you and the pad? It sure looks cozy but does it come with directions? I'm sure I'm making this cover much more complicated than it is. Thanks, Dan

There not cheap but check out Montbell bags.I have the UL super down hugger number3.30 degree bag used it in the 20s.A hair under 21oz,stuffs smaller than a loaf of bread and has a 100 wash guarantee.It is filled with 800 down

Here is what I have. You can find them surplus. Just mix and match or take the part of the system you think you will need.

https://www.tennierindustries.com/rfi-mss.html

Quilts and bags with no insulation on the bottom are good if you sleep on you back and don't move at night. But if you rollover or sleep on your side they can have cold spots and let cold air in. Also no hood makes them feel colder than a bag with one

These are all good questions, and are the reasons I didn't try a quilt for so many years. The EE quilt comes with adjustable and removable drawstrings to tie the opening around the pad beneath you, but I never used them and discarded them. It was easy enough on the cold nights to tuck an edge, rock a little, and tuck the other edge under. I'm generally a side sleeper and did not have the issues Nun mentions. The regular 6' quilt was long enough for me (I'm 5-10) to even pull up over my head as a hood and seal around my face with the drawstring. Real cozy. I usually put my long sleeved shirt on the pad (a Ridgerest), but not always. It does not come with directions, but I'm sure the seller will answer any questions you might have about the features.

One bonus with the quilt was that it stayed very clean, since I never actually laid on it. A few minutes out in the sunshine once in a while and it stayed fresh for the duration of a semi-strenuous, 4500 mile 55 day trip with temps ranging from 30 to 105 F. I did not even have to launder it when I got home.

The only complaint I have about the EE quilt is the baffling allows down to move around a little too easily for my taste. It takes a little futzing once in a while to get it right on the coldest nights. But it is a nice baffling system, allowing you to shift down in two directions so you can move more to your torso or feet at the expense of your legs, for instance.

Some people who have tried quilts do have an issue with drafts, as Nun says. Some people use a Velcro system to attach the quilt to the pad.

That was very helpful, thank-you and thanks to everyone who provided input. You have saved me a lot of time and energy having to endure trial and error. I have plenty of options here to consider. Thanks, so much.

Well, ideally a quilt should be wide enough that that you can roll over without loosing all your heat. If your quilt is too narrow, that certainly can happen, and it does suck. All the more reason to get a nice wide one, you're already loosing weight swapping from a sleeping bag, so get a really wide one.

As far as Sport10y's question, the end with snaps forms a box for your feet, you sleep on top of your pad (some people include a liner for comfort), and you cinch the top around your neck. In very cold weather, a quilt should be supplemented with a beanie or a balaclava.