rab quantum 250 endurance the story so far

Sat, Nov 7, 2009

A few months ago I took the plunge and replaced my old trusty Buffalo Bag with a Rab Quantum 250 Endurance. Lots of bloggers helped me with information so I thought I’d reciprocate with a small review of how it’s performed so far. I’ve used it at around 750m in the Mamores, at the top of the Glenshee road, next to the Kingshouse high on Rannoch Moor and on my mum’s floor! And the overall impression? It’s a very warm bag. Too warm for me in summer I think. In the Mamores I almost sweated to nothing in the night, despite a gale force wind hammering the tent all night but the bag started to work for me at Glenshee, as autumn approached. The night at the Kingie I was toasty warm even though I woke to the hardest frost of the season in the morning. It was a real scrape to get the car clear and the tent folded like cardboard but I slept warm all night with a silk liner.

The hood is superb as it pulls down to a tiny tiny wee hole through which I can poke my nose but it also opens up for warmer nights. The zip is a mess though. It’s always catching on the fabric and for some reason, no idea why, the pull came off completely after I’d packed it in the bag. It was easy enough to put back on in the dark though as it’s a quarter length zip. Another problem for hot summer nights as you can’t open it right up. It lofts wonderfully though and is very comfortable and there weren’t any cold spots at all. I like to roll about in the night and the bag just rolled with me.

I doubt I could use this bag in the height of summer though as it is very warm. It seemed to come into its own around September and it was perfect during October when the first of the frosts arrived. I suspect I’ll get most of the winter out of it which means a small pack size as the bag really is very small and light. If I used it with the silk liner it should be fine away from the summits. But I have a big Rab for that. I’m also glad I got the Endurance version as I used my old Force Ten at the Kingie on damp ground and the 25 year old groundsheet has a lot of holes! Plus when it’s cold, your breath condenses around the hood and the condensation in the Akto is horrendous. It was actually raining inside the tent at Glenshee. A blast of wind would shake the drops from the inner!

On the whole, it’s a good bag for autumn/low level winter use. I’ll more than likely head for the high tops to test its winter mountain performance but I should really take the big Rab as a backup just in case. As for summer? Maybe a PHD is looking like an option.