A friend of mine approached me for a sleeping bag recommendation. After some back and forth questions, it occurred to me that my knowledge is only tangential to her needs. I'm wondering if anyone else here can help. She is looking for a bag that:


  • will only be used indoors, so temperature ratings aren't as important, but still no fleece liners please as she has already tried and found them to be too cold
  • can be fully unzipped to be a blanket with no foot box (rectangular bag? no hood? this is where my knowledge fails)
  • can be machine washed (can't they all?)
  • can pack up to the size of a basketball
    this one is my biggest challenge because both of my current sleeping bags: the winter bag and the summer quilt can meet this requirement but they are either too expensive (see next constraint) or are a quilt so don't fit her requirements
  • costs $150 or less
  • Optional Bonus Feature: can come in purple


As I hinted at, above, I use a down winter bag which is way outside of her budget and still has a foot box even when unzipped (thought it does meet her packing requirements) and a delightful, non-winter down quilt from JRB that also meets her packing requirements and fits her budget, is a great rectangular-ish blanket sans-foot box but is a quilt and not a fully enclosed sleeping bag. So recommending to her that she do as I do is useless.

The only other sleeping bags I have ever used were massive synthetic winter bags which pack up to be more than one basketball in size, even in their most compressed form.

Help? I know you creative WhiteBlazers know of or can see options I cannot even think of.

Down insulation is possible, but no need to get fancy with hydrophobic down since she won't be backpacking with it. She's a glamper at best. (we all have to start somewhere; I'll get her backpacking eventually)