Fiona Russell rates the PHD Greenlandic 500, a highly customisable bag with a good warmth-to-weight ratio.

The PHD Greenlandic 500 is not as wide as other bags in this review, but it was enough for me to have a bit of wriggle room. Pulling my knees to my chest was also possible but the bag then felt a bit constraining.

Fione Russell recommends

PHD bags are amazingly warm for weight and highly customisable – but at a price.
Pros
  • warmth
  • weight
  • customisability
Cons
  • cost
Quick specs
Price: From £792
Weight: 965g (start from 890g)
Fill: 950 fill power European Goose Down
Shell: “Ultrashell” rip-stop nylon, 7X rip-stop nylon lining
Construction: straight wall baffle
Zip: 1-way half-zip
Length: standard
Rating: -10C comfort
Sizes: Standard, short, long, extra long (also slim-fit, wide and extra wide)
Women/Men’s version: unisex, customised fit
www.phdesigns.co.uk

Weight-to-warmth ratio is very hard to beat and PHD use a 950-fill goose down that they adjust to give the same warmth rating whatever width and length of bag you choose. The Greenlandic 500 is delightfully warm yet the bag is also incredibly light in comparison to others.

You can read plenty of detail about PHD’s choice of down on their website. If you get particularly cold feet, as I do, optional down-filled socks are a great idea when ordering from PHD. There is a great deal of customising potential with PHD bags. You start with a basic price, then for each extra feature, whether the bag is longer, wider, has a more waterproof or windproof shell, the cost goes up. You can also choose no zip, full zip or half zip and a waterproof foot box, sewn on or “stud on”.

The three fabrics are 7X, which is a fine, seven-denier, rip-stop nylon fabric, and standard across the whole bag, unless you choose another outer fabric. For the outer fabric, you can also pick Ultrashell (I did), which is a ripstop nylon with wind-block and good water resistance. The most breathable and waterproof outer fabric is Dri-LX. The more windproof or waterproof the fabric the more weight you add, although it’s tiny in the overall total weight of the bag. As an example, the Ultrashell fabric adds 18g to the weight of the standard bag.

There are not many finer features. For example, there is no shoulder baffle and the zip is a simple one-way with no zip garage. The zip fastener at the top of the bag is a basic fabric tab and velcro.

PHD do not send the sleeping bags with compression sacks, so you need to buy your own if you want to eliminate more of the air. I have knocked off half a point on the score because of the cost, although PHD bags are amazingly warm for weight.

Testing conditions

Fiona is 173cm tall and UK10. She is a cold sleeper. She is also a side sleeper and likes to be able to move her legs around and curl up inside a sleeping bag. These bags were tested in winter temperates below 0C.

This review was first published in the January 2025 issue of The Great Outdoors.