Review kids sleeping bag - Mountain Hardware Mountain Goat 20

I demand the highest from my gear. So when deciding and preparing to take my kids into some wild places I wanted a sleeping bag that would be reliable. Coming up was our first big trip that required more than the kid's Kathmandu Squeak, a real adventure to Tasmanina for a 12 day hike. With the possibility of snow in a remote walk, we needed a good bag.

Here were my requirements:

• Warm enough for just below freezing
• Light enough for a 2 week hike
• Compact for a kids backpack

So from my own experience these technical features were required:

Mummy shape.

While this was a risk for my son who moves all over the place when he sleeps the added warmth and lower weight were worth it. There's less air space to warm up with a mummy bag making them warmer. There is also less material used, making it lighter than the cheaper and less technical rectangular bag.

Synthetic fill

While I always prefer the advantages of down for my own bags I thought the risk of it getting wet was too great. A synthetic bag means it will still be warm even if it gets wet.

3D hood

Many kids bags just have a flat hood, but with a proper contoured hood there is extra warm. It's just more efficient.

Top Contenders

My research led to me either the North Face Tigger or the Mountain Hardware Mountain Goat 20.

Faced between the two options I went with the Mountain Hardware because I have a Banshee SL which I really like. Mountain Hardware tends to be a more technical company. And lets face it the Tigger's internal fabric doesn't inspire the Bear Grylls extreme adventurer feeling in my 7 year old son. Plus how could you go wrong with a rescue red coloured bag?

Field reviews

Summer

Each year we go car camping and near the water and just hang out for a week or two. There's nothing extreme about it but it was a chance to use the bag. Even though most night the temps only got down to 17C (62F). Ideally this bag could be used in a wide range of conditions. Just leave it open on hotter evenings. As it turned out with a full length zipper my son slept well and never complained of being too hot.

Long distance trek

The Overland track was the trip we bought this bag for. It's in Tasmania and the weather can be hot (35C+ during the day) with cool nights and the chance of severe weather and even snow. The walk is remote enough that we couldn't pull out mid way if he was cold at night. We were staying in both tents and huts which can sometimes be colder than a tent.

Again the bag worked very well. He was warm even when we had a few cold night and a "bushwalkers warning" as some snow came in. I was glad I had this bag knowing that should he get too cold when hiking we could always just put him in his bag to warm himself up. This is what I was after, a piece of kit that I could trust. Perhaps slightly over engineered (too warm) for most of our needs. But this was a weight penalty I was willing to pay. It's worth noting he was sleeping on a 3 season 3/4 therm-a-rest Prolite.

As it turned out he over-hydrated one night leaving a moist bag in the morning. He didn't get cold and the bag was easy to clean and dry out at one of the huts. We just left it hanging over a railing for the day as we were doing a day trip that day anyway. I feel confident that if we were moving on we would still be able to mostly dry it and that it would be warm enough for the next night.

Winter camping

Desperate to play in the snow we heading down to Thredbo Diggings in winter for a cold weekend. Either crazy or adventurous with a forecast of -9C (15F) the whole family piled into our Bibler Bombshelter. Armed with extra warm bags I was in my Banshee SL. I thought the kids could be on the cold side, but together in the tent we should warm it up a big and still be ok. We were car camping and so we had a bail option should be need it. We could always sit in the car with the heater on. As it turned out my son was the only one who didn't complain of being cold at some point. He slept next to the tent wall in the coldest position. A cold front camp through with a severe wind and blizzard warning but between the Bombshelter tent and the Mountain Goat we had an enjoyable evening.

Must be time to get another one for my daughter now? Looks like the update to the variable length or 'adjustable' version will be good. My daughter will love the new pink (Dewberry) colour too.

Conclusions

Do I need to say more than we're buying other one?

• I think it is good value for a bag you can take to more remote locations and trust
• The quality is good
• It could be a bit lighter. My 3 season bag to 0C is lighter than his, but it's also down
• It doesn't have too many extra features. Notably the pocket isn't really needed

There are better bags and different things to think about if it was for an adult, but for a kid this hits the mark.