Camping Central

Independent Reviews

From Melanie,

So I placed my first ever order from Camping Central on a public holiday. The ordering process was straightforward and smooth. Paid through PayPal which I always like as I know it's legitimate. Less than 48 hours later there was a knock at the door - my new sleeping bag. That's pretty quick delivery, Aus Post Express actually, even though shipping was free on this item - probably helps when you order something touted as 'lightweight & portable'.

As you'd imagine, there's not too much need to pad an item such as a sleeping bag for posting. However, it was secured within a plastic bag just to ensure it arrived scuff & muck free.

Having had nothing to do with sleeping bags since my youth (aka the days of yore) I was surprised at just how light and compact it is. The trade-off, of course, is that's there's none of the cosy cotton-fleece action I recall. It's all modern synthetic fabrics. That said, I prefer the feel of the sleeping bag to the feel of polyester sheets. It's soft and doesn't make crunkly noises when you move around. They do recommend the use of a liner with it but I actually found it pretty comfy without.

Now to the size of the sleeping bag: well I can tell you that it fits a 4 year old very well. Indeed, you could lose her in there if you weren't careful. I found that it also fit me with ease - I'm 173cm, medium build. Not what I'd call luxurious mind you, but apparently that's not the point of camping. My husband is a lean 6'2" and just fit but the hood tightening was of no use to him as his head was right at the top. If you are over 6' and 100kg+ you might find it quite constrictive.

I thought I'd use the excuse of testing the sleeping bag to sleep downstairs on the fold-out couch. I have to say, I had a wonderful sleep, no doubt due to a combination of the sleeping bag and the fact that I can't hear the kids from downstairs.

The stated warmth of the bag seems about right - it's getting down to 14°C at night here now (autumn in Newcastle) and it was comfortable.

As to quality, well, I (stupidly) left the bag in a position accessible to small children and I can say that it holds up very well to some rather rough play. It has been dragged all around our back deck both empty and containing various sized children and the fabric is intact. Not even a pull.

All in all, it's a good quality sleeping bag. The zip, velcro, cords and stitching all strike me as being quite sturdy. They got the 'internal security pocket' bit wrong though - there’s no way you could fit your shoes in there. A small torch and some tissues, definitely.

The only thing 'wrong' for me was that I wasn't able to hang one foot out of bed. I think I'm going to encounter that problem with most sleeping bags though ... unless anyone knows of a sleeping bag with a 'hang your foot out' option?