I was looking at Gander Mountain's Guide series -40F sleeping bag. It had a note stating: Temperature rating applies when used in an enclosed environment when used on top of a self-inflating pad. (That's the wording as best as I can remember it. I think they were talking about one of the closed cell pads).Is it common practice for temperature ratings to apply only if you're sleeping on top of an insulating pad? Those pads provide quite a lot of insulation, don't they?The -40F bag at Gander Mountain was $130. The ones I was looking at from Cabella's website cost about twice that.
We have one in each bedroom, one at the highest point in living room and one in the kitchen. Just think about how smoke would travel in the house. Smoke can collect in bedrooms as the ceiling is higher than the doorways. If you have any raised ceilings that’s a good place to detect smoke. Also any place a fire is likely to start is like the kitchen is good.
I went out one evening late and forgot to change shields. I could not see a damn thing when it got dark, I had to lift the shield and just let the bugs hit me in the eyes, which is still better than being completely blind. What some folks do is use a clear shield and wear sunglasses underneath when the sun is out and just take them off when it gets dark. I have an issue with sunglasses fogging up so I don't care for that solution. There are helmets out there that have a clear shield with a tinted shield that you can pull down over the clear one and then just push it back up when it's not needed. If you have some way to carry an extra shield just find a helmet that is very easy and quick about changing shields and switch as necessary.
I believe it is currently recommended that you have at least one on each level, including one in each bedroom and in the hallway outside the bedrooms.
