Rab has
revamped its entire sleeping
bag range for this spring 2010 – see
details – and as part of that revamp, it’s
developed the Top Bag
concept in an interesting direction with two new bags
appearing as a result.

The original Top Bag was an ultralightweight down bag with a mesh base
and down-filled upper that was ideal for racers and lightweight kit
freaks. It was revised to include a slot for a mat and that was it. Its
other use was as a supplementary bag to increase the warmth of an
existing sleeping bag.

Neutrino SL

For spring 2010, it’s sort of morphed into two distinct bags. The Neutrino SL is very
similar to the Old Top bag with 200g of fill housed in Pertex Quantum
trapezoidal baffles on the top and hood and just a Primaloft-filled
area under the lower legs. Like the old Top Bag it has a slot for a
mat. Unlike the old bag it has a zip.

Weight is 680 grammes, just slightly less than a Neutrino 400, but more
of the down is on top of you, so it may actually be slightly warmer in
use.

Module

The other new bag is called the Module
and it’s designed along the same lines but with just 100 grammes of the
same 800 fill power down housed in sewn-through baffles and with Pertex
Microlight inner and outer fabric instead of Quantum, the spec is
lower. There’s no side-zip either, though again the lower leg area has
Primaloft insulation.

It’s intended either as a really minimalist stand-alone bag for racers
and masochists or alternatively, as a liner bag so you could, for
example, upgrade a medium-weight sort of bag, for, say, a Himalayan
trekking trip. Weight is 500g, so almost 200 grammes less than the
Neutrino SL.

Full details at www.rab.uk.com