Vango Nitestar 150 sleeping bag review: a one-season bag at a great price

Vango Nitestar 150: first impressions

The Vango Nitestar 150 is new for 2021 and arrives at a cracking price even for a one-season sleeping bag. Down-filled rivals may be lighter and smaller than the Vango, with its synthetic insulation, but pound-for-lb this is a really competitive offering.

It’s a mummy-shaped bag with a full-length zip, and a generous foot box that avoids the feeling of claustrophobia from which some bags suffer. It’s wide across the chest, too, although with its zip fastened, shoulder baffle tightened and hood up, the Nitestar proves a snugly warm place to sleep. 

It has a handful of useful features, too, including an internal pocket, zip baffles to stop the zip catching, and hanging loops to peg it up to air, before stuffing it once again into its compression sack. 

Vango Nitestar 150: in the field

If there’s a more demanding test for a sleeping bag than a hiking expedition, it’s surely a bikepacking trip – not only is space severely limited (there’s no chance to hang extra kit on the outside of a pannier) but every extra gram is a curse when the road turns skywards.

So that is exactly the test I put the Vango Nitestar 150 to. Over the course of a busy summer, the Nitestar has been my bikepacking companion on several missions. And it proved to be one of the best sleeping bags for the job, performing well in a variety of conditions.

In terms of warmth, I found it very comfortable. On balmy, summer nights I started the evening with the zip undone, before fastening it as the mercury tumbled after midnight. And on later-to-bed, chilly nights, the Nitestar’s lovely, soft, brushed polyester lining feels comfortingly warm (but is it an ethical down?). 

Eventually, the Vango Nitestar 150 was snaffled by my son for his Duke of Edinburgh Award practice and final expeditions. 

“How did you sleep?” I asked him afterwards. “Well, thanks. Nice sleeping bag,” he replied. Praise indeed from a teenager, and he’s right.