Camping, Sleeping Bags |
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The comments below are unedited opinions of the colleagues who submitted them. A date (month and year) indicates that the comments following that date are from the given month and year. The most recent comments appear at the bottom.
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11/98 Can't go wrong with L.L. Bean for quality. All items they sell are guaranteed for life, so if anything ever happens to it, you can return it.
| *** "Tent City" in Boston (if it's still there) has good quality at reasonable prices. *** here's a place NOT to go: Hilton Tent City. We tried to shop carefully there for family bags and still ended up with inferior stuff that they claimed was "the same as LL Bean's." I can't tell you how aggravating it is to replace sleeping bag zippers! *** Campmor. They are a mail order house. Web site: www.campmor.com. phone 1800campmor. Their own (Campmor) synthetic bags are a good value. *** I've always had good luck with the Campmor catalogue *** LL Bean, Cabellas, Bass Pro, Campmore, Sierra Trading Post for catalogs. Sierra markets closeouts and seconds, so their prices are often quite low for superior quality goods. Sporting goods stores: e.g., REI, EMS, Lew Horton, Kittery Trading Post, Hilton Tent City in downtown Boston. *** LL Bean for mail order, Sears if you want local. LL Bean is more expensive. Sears has perfectly decent ones for less than $20. Machine washable, too! *** Sears has both "toy" sleeping bags really just good for sleepovers and real ones in various levels of cold resistance. Prices reasonable. On a more down and dirty level, Hilton's Tent City in Boston near North Station has a good selection too at reasonable prices. *** Your best bet may be a department store, like Marshall's, or a sporting goods store (Olympic has better everyday prices, while CitySports has better sales) because it sounds like you just need something moderately warm, easily washable and durable. I have direct knowledge only of sleeping bags at camping stores. They all sell sleeping bags that will fit your needs at a price range of around $40 to $100, but these items are not really made any better than those at department stores, which probably give you better value in the low end of the market. Camping needs include light weight, compaction, moisture resistance and maximum warmth per ounce. These don't appear to be the parameters you'd want to maximize for use in sleepovers and light camping. You probably don't need to maximize warmth to weight ratios; you do want something that can be laundered frequently, and a rectangular sleeping bag (unpopular shape for camping because it is less warm and less space efficient) will probably be best so you can open it up for use as a blanket. A wind and moisture resistant shell may actually be a nuisance to you, because you'd be paying for high-tech polyesters that fray and are less comfortable to the kids than a soft, warm flannel exterior. That being said, the best bang for your buck in sleeping bags for camping is Hilton's Tent City on Friend Street, across from the Fleet Center (North Station). Hilton's offers a wide selection of sleeping bags and has very knowledgeable and helpful staff. The second-best camping store I know in Boston is Wilderness House on Commonwealth Ave., just west of B.U. It has changed ownership, but the staff are still excellent, and the change is more toward family markets rather than hardcore backcountry hikers. This is a good change for your search. Across from Wilderness House, you will find Eastern Mountain Sports, which is a fashion and marketing-driven but decent option. EMS generally offers less bang-for-the-buck than the others, and it hits each price range with only one or a few choices, but it does have some low end selections and earnest but not as informed customer service. L.L. Bean hits the same market as EMS and with slightly better merchandise and prices. If you ever go to Freeport, remember that Bean has a clearance store there in addition to its regular outlet. P.S. The ArmyNavy store in Harvard Square is popular, but it has the highest prices of any place I've comparison shopped at. It does have a goingoutofbusiness sale going on now, so it may be worth a shot, but I've gone through it a couple of times during the sale and still found most of their prices above typical market prices. Even in the best of times, their selection was mediocre. However, there are some good, deep discount items, now, and since camping season is over, they might include an appropriate sleeping bag. | |||||||||||||||