What is the Solar?
The Solar is a lightweight, super warm and hugely reliable sleeping bag for cold, damp conditions... perfect for our typical UK winters then! It achieves this by using a tough ripstop outer fabric and Rab's own Stratus synthetic insulation. This particular bag also features an extra long length to suit users up to 200cm tall (6ft 6").
What is it made of?
Insulation: Rab use their own Stratus insulation throughout the bag. This is made entirely from a high quality polyester and insulates even when wet, so you won't get too cold if you spill your morning coffee over yourself. When you're ready to pack the bag away, Stratus will compress down super small and weighs very little.
Outer fabric: Surrounding all this clever insulation is a tough yet lightweight 20D ripstop polyester with a durable water repellent coating. Inside, a softer 20D polyester sits next to skin and feels a lot like a duvet you'd find at home.
What is the construction?
This insulation is kept in place via two different construction methods; a shingled and blanket construction. As the name hints, a shingled construction essentially layers pieces of insulation over each other a lot like a shingled roof, while a blanket construction uses a larger sheet of insulation in... well, a blanket. The blanket construction is used for the base as it resists compression better, while a shingled construction reduces the overall packsize yet provides bucket loads of warmth. An angled footbox allows your feet to relax into their natural upright position without compressing the insulation above, in turn keeping you warmer.
What are the features?
An internal stash pocket is the perfect place to store a phone or other electronics to keep them warm during the night, while an internal 3D collar and hood keeps the warmth in by creating a seal around your neck. This can be adjusted via a drawcord in the hood depending on how warm you need to be. A 3/4 length main zip reduces the pack size compared with a full length zip and features glow in the dark zip pulls for ease of use in the night. Lastly, an included compression stuffsack squeezes the bag down to a fraction of its original size. Please note, this compression sack shouldn't be used to store the bag for long periods of time.
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Extra long length fits those up to 200cm tall (6ft 6")
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Lightweight 20d ripstop polyester outer
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Lightweight 20d polyester lining
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Shingled upper construction
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Blanket base construction
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Stratus polyester insulation
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Proportionally designed differential cut
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Internal Stash Pocket
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Anti snag bonded zip guard
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Internal 3D collar and hood drawcord
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Angled foot box
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3/4 length YKK 5 coil main zip with full length baffle and noctilucent pullers
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Compression stuff sack
How warm a sleeping bag do you really need? We’ve tried to help you by grouping our sleeping bags by their recognised comfort ratings. These are the ratings supplied by the brands that indicate the temperature at which you will remain comfortable whilst sleeping on an insulated sleep mat. After all, comfort is what you want when it’s cold and wet outside, and you’re all tucked up in your nice warm sleeping bag.
We always recommend that you choose your bag according to the coldest conditions you will experience; you can always unzip a bag if it is too warm, but trying to sleep when you’re too cold is just miserable. Bear in mind that we are all individuals, so we all feel the cold differently and that our own resistance will fluctuate depending on a whole load of factors, including how much we have eaten, whether we have consumed alcohol, whether we need a wee or what kind of mood we are in!
Sleeping bags do not generate heat; they only trap the heat we produce, so it is vital that you get into your bag when you are giving off warmth, don’t go to bed when you are cold, have a hot meal or a hot drink or do some brisk exercise to get you nicely warmed up.
Traditionally sleeping bag manufacturers provided their own temperature ratings based on their experience, the product's intended end-use and the perceived environment. However, each brand tested their bags in different ways, and it was hard to find a fair comparison between models. So, in 2005 a European standard for sleeping bag temperature ratings, EN 13537, was introduced to give consumers a comparable guide to sleeping bag performance across a range of brands and models. The ratings have four different temperature ratings to give you an indication of the bag's performance.
Comfort Rating: This is the temperature at which an average female should experience a comfortable night’s sleep. On average, women sleep colder than men, so this rating is some degrees above the "comfort lower limit" for a man.
Comfort Limit Rating: This is the lowest temperature at which an average male should experience a comfortable night’s sleep whilst laid down in a curled up position.
Extreme: This is a survival rating where the user is likely to suffer health damage such as Hypothermia. It should be treated with the utmost caution and not be relied on for general use.
However, the EN 13537 European Standard does not apply to down-filled sleeping bags with a fill weight of more than 800g; for those bags, you will have to rely on the manufacturer's experience and technical expertise, which is often more accurate!
Most reputable brands still use their own rating system alongside EN 13537, for instance, Mountain Equipment's “Good Night’s Sleep” and Rab’s “Sleep Limit”. These ratings are often the most accurate guide to the overall performance of a sleeping bag being used by an average outdoor enthusiast because they are based on years of expedition heritage, field trials, technological experience, and constant feedback.
But please bear in mind that all ratings are only a guide and, as mentioned earlier, there are a huge range of factors that can affect your comfort; if you are just not sure, it is always wise to go for a warmer model.
The biggest difference you can make to your overall comfort is to use an efficiently insulated sleeping mat. Once you get inside your sleeping bag, you instantly compress all the filling beneath you, greatly reducing its efficiency. Therefore using a quality sleep mat will ensure you are properly insulated from the cold ground, and you will be a lot more comfortable... Basically, there is no point in buying a top-quality sleeping bag if you are just going to lie down on the floor.