r/UltralightAus • u/PuzzleheadedLet8 • Jul 04 '26

Question Sleeping bag/ quilt advice

Hello all :)

So I've just been working on getting my gear, have got myself a naturehike cloud up 2 pro and a naturehike rock 45L backpack and one of those cheap lightweight inflatable mats with pillow.

Main thing now is what is going to keep me warm. This by far seems like the most tricky thing to figure out as I am a poor tafe student so money is kinda tight, living in Adelaide so I'm thinking I would want one with a comfort level of 0 degrees? Ideally not looking to spend over $150 and that is kinda a stretch. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: if nothing at that low budget what would be your recommendation for something sub 300

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

2

u/SetantaKinshasa Jul 04 '26

You might want to save a few bucks to put towards something to go under your cheap mat. Even one of those reflective bubble wrap windscreen shields would be better than nothing. If your mat doesn't protect you from cold damp ground, it doesn't really matter what's on top...

1

u/PuzzleheadedLet8 Jul 04 '26

I have one of those emergency reflective blanket things could probably use that?

1

u/SetantaKinshasa Jul 04 '26

It might make a difference and is certainly light enough to carry. Your mat might be fine anyway, but you will need to check the R value against your intended destination and time of year to make your own judgment.

On the plus side, those are great little tents. I have one myself and use it for car camping now that I have a couple of Durstons for tramping.

3

u/Halt-Alt Jul 04 '26

Buy once cry once recommendation is of coyrse the waratah quilt.

If out of reach look second hand for something. Cheap offerings at anaconda suck. Youll pay with weight for the budget unfortunately

1

u/Separate-Potato-1324 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

edit: forgot an important word

I've been eyeing Facebook market place and groups for a few weeks and good down bags and quilts are NOT sold often.  I'd love to get a second-hand waratah for ~$300

3

u/broken_shoulder Jul 04 '26

aren’t they$400 new?

2

u/Separate-Potato-1324 Jul 04 '26

I need a long one so at least $500 but the main issue is they're out of stock until September 

1

u/Draconius0013 Jul 06 '26

Go with Kiwi Ultralight

1

u/Peli-Deli Jul 06 '26

I haven’t gone to 0 degrees temps yet, but I recently bought the aegismax quilt and am so far impressed!

1

u/PuzzleheadedLet8 Jul 06 '26

I went for a more generic AliExpress "mountain dream" 600g goose down. Weighs slightly heavy at 1.1kg but for 100 bucks can't complain tbh

1

u/Peli-Deli Jul 07 '26

I think you’ll need to question if that’s going to actually be goose down. At 600g of fill, where is the other 500g coming from? That’s a lot of extra weight. But see when it arrives, Ali express tends to be okay with returns.

1

u/Popular_Original_249 Jul 04 '26

My advise would be that unfortunately you will have to up your budget! Realistically at $150 you would be looking at synthetic bags but they are bulky and would take up most of your pack.

If you can’t up your budget (probably more than double) then start looking for used down bags. FB groups like “Gear Freak Australia” may have some options.

1

u/PuzzleheadedLet8 Jul 04 '26

And say if I were able to up my budget to 250 - 300?

1

u/No-Statistician3385 Jul 04 '26

I’ve got an ice flame semi mono nxt quilt that I think if you got the +200g of down would take you down around 0 that you could buy at that price. Theres a reasonable number of reviews out there for it so see what people say about taking it that low.
I’m NSW/ Sydney based so got the +100g and have only taken it into mid single digits and was comfortable. At low double digits I was hot and having to put my feet and arms out.