Martyn
27-04-12, 06:41 PM
Product: Outback 700 down sleeping bag.
Fill: 700g duck down (500 fill power)
Weight: 1.36 kg
Size open: 210 x 90 cm
Size packed (uncompressed): 41 x 20 cm
Shell: 290T nylon ripstop, 100% nylon
Lining: 310T 100% nylon
Compression sack: Yes
Zip: YKK, auto lock, L-shaped, full baffle
Comfort: -1°C
Limit: -7°C
Extreme (survival): -25°C
RRP: £179.99 (street price: ~£135)
Recently took delivery of a new down bag. The Robens Outback 700 - unusual in that this is a rectangular bag that looks more like an old school synthetic than a technical bag. For an overview, here is the manufacturers video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN8YpP8fnTU
Robens are part of Oase Outdoors, a Danish company that also own Outwell and Easy Camp. They cater mainly for middle market and mid-budget. That doesn't mean cheap and nasty, though some of the products are certainly on the cheap end of the scale. Many of their products serve the purpose and some are excellent value for money. They are not however, in the same league as specialist, technical sleeping bag manufacturers like Rab or PHD etc and it's clear they dont really try to compete. But lets be honest, we are not all mountain marathon runners and while Rab and PHD make some awesome kit, their brief is highly technical. Their designs are all about squeezing the maximum warmth, from the minimum bulk and weight - and they do it very well - for a price. You also pay for the badge. Dropping £300 or £400 on a top line down bag from a premium manufacturer may well be reasonable if you are a mountain marathon runner or an alpine climber, but you are paying for they high level of warmth to low weight and bulk ratio. This almost always means a sleeping bag that is trimmed of all unnecessary material, snug, streamline and figure hugging. They often seem like a gossamer thin sack of air and are almost always incredibly restrictive. Again, if you are in need of the lightest, smallest and warmest, then that is the price you pay. But what if your needs are not quite so extreme? What if you want a sleeping bag that doesn't cut off the circulation in your legs? What if you want to ....turn over inside the bag, instead of wriggling round in circles like a hooked maggot? What if you are at a time of life when meat paste has given way to foie gras and are no longer the racing snake you once were? What if you never were a racing snake? If any or all of these apply to you, then we are on the same page. Some of these technical bags can be a bit much. I like and want comfort. I want to be warm in most of the UK weather, I want shoulder and elbow room, I want to be able to turn over inside the bag without getting all twisted up, I want to be able to move my feet, curl up, stretch out and I dont want to be carrying a ton of bag, or paying a ton of money. The high end manufacturers are never going to cater for me, because my market isn't big enough - or is it?
Some of the bigger brands are changing their ideas, Thermarest have bought out their comforter range, square footed, down on top etc, but even that is a bit too "rigid" for my liking. When I spotted the Outback 700, I was immediately interested. It looked like the good old synthetics we all loved and hated from decades ago. We loved em because they were comfortable and versatile, we hated them because they were cold, heavy and huge. Robens seemed have spotted the niche and gone for it. They have made a large rectangular bag, with full length L-shaped zip, but have added technical features like a full length baffle, horizontal and longitudinal stretch stitching and filled it with 700g of 500 fill power duck down.
I have to say this bag is fantastic. It wont appeal to the mountain marathon runners, because at 1.36kg, it's too heavy. Too much wasted material in the foot box, unnecessarily long zip etc. But for me, it's perfect. It is, by a country mile the most comfortable sleeping bag I've ever owned. The foot, elbow and shoulder room is absolute bliss and being able to unzip the bag into a 5'10" by 6'11" rectangle of puffy duvet to snuggle into, is just wondrous. The weight is in-line with a reasonable synthetic, but it compresses to half the size and the price doesn't make your credit card run for cover. It's not a cheap bag though, top of the line for Robens and only the Outback 900 is more expensive in their whole range. I actually like that, I know I'm not paying £200 extra for a brand, and all my cash is realised in sleeping bag. Works for me.
The material on the bag is a tough nylon on the outside and a softer nylon liner, pretty much of the type you might find on a higher end product. The bag is well finished, the stitching all seems good and there are no threads hanging anywhere. I really am impressed with this thing. I've not slept out in it yet, but I have done extensive garage floor testing and it's easily as warm as my British military bag - if not more so and that thing is three times the size and twice the weight. The draw cord at the head end, cinches it all up into almost any kind of hood configuration you want to make with it, providing you are not too tall. Or you can just snug it round your neck.
The bag also fits well into the snugpak SF bivvi bag if anyone uses that. The bivvi is not rectangular, but it's broad enough to accomodate the Outback at the foot without scrunching up too much and the rest of the bivvi seems like it was made for the bag.
One final point, the sleeping bag fully unzips and if your girlfriend, wife or significant other also has one (that you have cleverly ordered with the zip on the opposite side to your own) then you can zip the two bags together for a huge double sleeping bag of fun.
As mentioned, there is also an Outback 900 in bright orange for those of a chillier disposition or a fondness for the colour.
Love it.
http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/images/pics/robens_outback_700_view.jpg
http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/images/pics/104943_robens_outback_700_large.jpg
Fill: 700g duck down (500 fill power)
Weight: 1.36 kg
Size open: 210 x 90 cm
Size packed (uncompressed): 41 x 20 cm
Shell: 290T nylon ripstop, 100% nylon
Lining: 310T 100% nylon
Compression sack: Yes
Zip: YKK, auto lock, L-shaped, full baffle
Comfort: -1°C
Limit: -7°C
Extreme (survival): -25°C
RRP: £179.99 (street price: ~£135)
Recently took delivery of a new down bag. The Robens Outback 700 - unusual in that this is a rectangular bag that looks more like an old school synthetic than a technical bag. For an overview, here is the manufacturers video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN8YpP8fnTU
Robens are part of Oase Outdoors, a Danish company that also own Outwell and Easy Camp. They cater mainly for middle market and mid-budget. That doesn't mean cheap and nasty, though some of the products are certainly on the cheap end of the scale. Many of their products serve the purpose and some are excellent value for money. They are not however, in the same league as specialist, technical sleeping bag manufacturers like Rab or PHD etc and it's clear they dont really try to compete. But lets be honest, we are not all mountain marathon runners and while Rab and PHD make some awesome kit, their brief is highly technical. Their designs are all about squeezing the maximum warmth, from the minimum bulk and weight - and they do it very well - for a price. You also pay for the badge. Dropping £300 or £400 on a top line down bag from a premium manufacturer may well be reasonable if you are a mountain marathon runner or an alpine climber, but you are paying for they high level of warmth to low weight and bulk ratio. This almost always means a sleeping bag that is trimmed of all unnecessary material, snug, streamline and figure hugging. They often seem like a gossamer thin sack of air and are almost always incredibly restrictive. Again, if you are in need of the lightest, smallest and warmest, then that is the price you pay. But what if your needs are not quite so extreme? What if you want a sleeping bag that doesn't cut off the circulation in your legs? What if you want to ....turn over inside the bag, instead of wriggling round in circles like a hooked maggot? What if you are at a time of life when meat paste has given way to foie gras and are no longer the racing snake you once were? What if you never were a racing snake? If any or all of these apply to you, then we are on the same page. Some of these technical bags can be a bit much. I like and want comfort. I want to be warm in most of the UK weather, I want shoulder and elbow room, I want to be able to turn over inside the bag without getting all twisted up, I want to be able to move my feet, curl up, stretch out and I dont want to be carrying a ton of bag, or paying a ton of money. The high end manufacturers are never going to cater for me, because my market isn't big enough - or is it?
Some of the bigger brands are changing their ideas, Thermarest have bought out their comforter range, square footed, down on top etc, but even that is a bit too "rigid" for my liking. When I spotted the Outback 700, I was immediately interested. It looked like the good old synthetics we all loved and hated from decades ago. We loved em because they were comfortable and versatile, we hated them because they were cold, heavy and huge. Robens seemed have spotted the niche and gone for it. They have made a large rectangular bag, with full length L-shaped zip, but have added technical features like a full length baffle, horizontal and longitudinal stretch stitching and filled it with 700g of 500 fill power duck down.
I have to say this bag is fantastic. It wont appeal to the mountain marathon runners, because at 1.36kg, it's too heavy. Too much wasted material in the foot box, unnecessarily long zip etc. But for me, it's perfect. It is, by a country mile the most comfortable sleeping bag I've ever owned. The foot, elbow and shoulder room is absolute bliss and being able to unzip the bag into a 5'10" by 6'11" rectangle of puffy duvet to snuggle into, is just wondrous. The weight is in-line with a reasonable synthetic, but it compresses to half the size and the price doesn't make your credit card run for cover. It's not a cheap bag though, top of the line for Robens and only the Outback 900 is more expensive in their whole range. I actually like that, I know I'm not paying £200 extra for a brand, and all my cash is realised in sleeping bag. Works for me.
The material on the bag is a tough nylon on the outside and a softer nylon liner, pretty much of the type you might find on a higher end product. The bag is well finished, the stitching all seems good and there are no threads hanging anywhere. I really am impressed with this thing. I've not slept out in it yet, but I have done extensive garage floor testing and it's easily as warm as my British military bag - if not more so and that thing is three times the size and twice the weight. The draw cord at the head end, cinches it all up into almost any kind of hood configuration you want to make with it, providing you are not too tall. Or you can just snug it round your neck.
The bag also fits well into the snugpak SF bivvi bag if anyone uses that. The bivvi is not rectangular, but it's broad enough to accomodate the Outback at the foot without scrunching up too much and the rest of the bivvi seems like it was made for the bag.
One final point, the sleeping bag fully unzips and if your girlfriend, wife or significant other also has one (that you have cleverly ordered with the zip on the opposite side to your own) then you can zip the two bags together for a huge double sleeping bag of fun.
As mentioned, there is also an Outback 900 in bright orange for those of a chillier disposition or a fondness for the colour.
Love it.
http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/images/pics/robens_outback_700_view.jpg
http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/images/pics/104943_robens_outback_700_large.jpg