UKH

Im in the market for a new sleeping bag and seek advice.
My needs -the ability to handle temps of around -5c easily/Compact/Weight/Quality
Thinking of one of these two

Last years model of the ME Lightline XL with 615 grams of 750+ fill Goose Down- has an ME comfort rating of -5c and an extreme(ie youre not quite dead) rating of -22c. Driloft cover, Ive had ME bags before and liked them but not so sure of EXL systems tightness

A Rab Ascent700 has 700grams of 650fill duck down Rated -9 comfort and an extreme of -27c
Had a Rab bag before and wasnt that impressed with longevity/down leakage however its rated a warmer bag

Both bags weigh almost the same Quality more important than price
Are ME conservative with their ratings or are Rab optimistic?

In reply to rackandruin:

ME are generally conservative/accurate with their ratings. I'd get the Lightline - better quality down (they are conservative with their down ratings too).

In reply to galpinos:
The testing is standardised though (although many bag makers say it stops working well for bags designed for below -20) so I've come to trust it.

Ignore the extreme rating Rackandruin - like you say, that's just about you probably not dying - not anything useful. I've found the comfort limit is very accurate for me across manufacturers so I bet the Rab one does what it says just fine.

But the ME one here has the better down so will be lighter for the warmth. I've reviewed one of the ME bags in that range and it was brilliant. http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=5328 I'm sure the Rab is good too, but you won't go far wrong with the ME I suspect.

In reply to rackandruin:

Have you seen the new range from Montane? I like the look of the Alpinist:

http://www.montane.co.uk/range/sleeping-bags/alpinist-sleeping-bag

In reply to rackandruin:

How about something from the Rab Neutrino/endurance range. They seem to me a more similar bags to the ME lightline series then the Rab Ascent range. The 400 is rated to -4 and the 600 to -9

In reply to alimckay:

Thanks for the replies so far.

Re the Rab Neutrino 600 That claims to be 600grams of 800 fill rated to comfort -5 and comfort limit -12c @
Whereas the equivalent Lightline reg in this version has 580grams of 750+ fill Goose Down with a comfort rating of -1 to -5c
this is where I get thrown as that seems quite a big difference in ratings between the two for quite similar specs.

Think Ive convinced myself to go for the older version of the Lightline (although the new version is even nicer but at twice the price at over £450 for 650 grams of 850 Eu fill)
Numbers numbers numbers, getting obsessed by numbers and still probably wont get it right

In reply to Martin1978:

Even with discount those montane bags are a bit steep.

In reply to mp3ferret:

Depends what discount you get I guess ;P

I thought they were similarly priced to equivalent spec bags, with some nice features. Looks like I won't be needing to replace/repair my bag before next winter now anyway