The weight is low and the warmth feedback almost immediate from the Robens Scoria UL -6C, says Peter Macfarlane.

At first look the Robens Scoria UL -6C is a standard down bag with wide horizontal baffles, and when unpacked it lofts extremely well.

Peter Macfarlane highly recommends

The Scoria is nicely light and compresses well for packing into a rucksack. It’s a good choice for wild camping and backpacking.
Pros
  • comfort
  • warmth
  • weight
Cons
  • snaggy main zip
Quick specs
Price: £365 regular | £390 long (available from Robens)
Weight: 794g (long)
Fill: 445g of 850+ fill power RDS certified 90/10 duck down
Shell: 10D 540T polyester ripstop – 24g/m2
Construction: H-Box baffle, differential fill
Zip: ¾ length, left side
Length: 205cm, 220cm
Rating: 0°C comfort, -6°C limit
Sizes: regular and long
Unisex
robens.de

It’s mummy shaped but slightly relaxed with a little extra room across the full length, perhaps useful for female users as it provides more space around the hips. It does taper toward the foot box, but there’s still enough room to move my feet around and to wear down socks on colder nights without restriction. The foot box is shark fin shaped, so there is room for feet to rest in a natural position, without toes compressing the down filled baffles. The relaxed mummy shape makes for a very easy bag to get inside and get into a natural sleeping position. I’m a side sleeper and there’s enough room in the Scoria for me to turn round inside the bag with the bag staying in position on the mat.

Warmth feedback against bare skin is almost immediate from the down fill. The construction is box wall baffles top and bottom with a very even down distribution. The inner and outer fabric is a silky soft polyester which is very pleasant against bare skin.

The outer shell has good water resistance with spills beading well and only absorbing into the fabric under pressure.

Features, wise, there’s a ¾ length, 2-way side zip which allows venting from the bottom. Even with a chunky anti-snag zip pull, I did find it caught repeatedly, but the zip is well baffled internally and there are large chest, neck and face baffles all of which seal you in very well with elastic drawcords. Inside is a small stuff pocket, handy for keeping camera batteries warm and stowing a small headtorch and snacks.

The Robens Scoria UL is nicely light and compresses well for packing into a rucksack. It’s a good choice for wild camping and backpacking.

How Peter tested

Peter Macfarlane slept in the bags in the same woodland bothy over winter, using the same sleepmat to achieve consistency, and at wild camps in spring. He is a size large, 6 foot (180cm) tall and tested long bags. The bag’s outer shells were tested for water resistance to spills and condensation by applying clean water and light pressure. See how it measures up to others on the market in our guide to the best sleeping bags.

This review was first published in our wild camping kit special issue.