The sleeping bag forms a key part of your sleep system when camping, and along with your groundmat will set if you are warm enough or kept awake with cold. Many children’s sleeping bags are not really warm enough in all but the most warm and settled weather in the UK.
We have been testing out the Sprayway children’s Challenger 350 spider sleeping bag over this summer on our munro challenge and here are our thoughts. This is a relatively low cost sleeping bag, widely available and is clearly well made with lovely details like the spider and web pattern on the front, which caused quite a bit of excitement when we realised that it glows in the dark.
The sleeping bag is 165 cm long and is aimed for children between about 4 and 10. It is synthetic filled which makes it warm even if it gets wet, but also makes it bigger and heavier than a down sleeping bag would be. It is specified to have a comfort rating of -1 0C and given that, the Sprayway sleeping bag packs down to a reasonable size and weighs around 1.2kg.
Other features:
- 210T outer fabric
- Polycotton lining
- Double layer construction with offset stitching
- Top fill: 2x175gsm hollow fibre
- Bottom fill: 2x175gsm hollow fibre
- Temp rating: Comfort lower limit -1degC; Extreme lower limit -12degC; Upper limit 14degC
- Length 165cm
- Supplied in its own stuffsack
We have one little complaint which is that the mummy shape is very strongly tapered at the foot end. This is normal, but in this bag is almost to the point of having very restricted movement around the legs. We are not really used to that as we normally use a single large quilt over us all, so don’t have restricted movement most of the time so our son found this a very different feeling.
Overall the Sprayway children’s sleeping bag offers excellent value for money and in our opinion will live up to its specifications warmth wise. This is a children’s sleeping bag which can be used with confidence not only in summer but also in spring and autumn too, so long as the temperatures are not forecast to dip below freezing. It’s a great sleeping bag to extend the family camping season and would be a great addition to your gear if you are car camping or walking in short distances on your wildcamps.
Despite the narrow foot area, we definitely recommend the Sprayway children’s sleeping bag as a good value and decent specification bag for three season camping and wildcamping with children.
Sprayway are currently updating their sleeping bags for the spring, (which means exciting new products from them!) but they have let us know that the Challenger 350 is available to buy from the following places:
Many thanks to Sprayway for providing us with the sleeping bag to test over the summer! All views and opinions are our own.
An Outdoors Family 
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