The Magmatex is a complete 3-5 season sleeping bag system from Cyprinus and is an astonishingly well-conceived product, with every feature you could possibly wish for in a fishing sleeping bag and a build quality that‘s second-to-none. The design team behind it obviously have a lot of night fishing experience behind them!
Before I get to the main plus-points of this bag, I’ll point out some of the smaller features which really take this beyond what you might expect. Features such as a central strap which wrap underneath your bedchair to hold it in place, aided by hoods at each end of the sleeping bag which slide onto the top and bottom of your bedchair. No more waking up to find yourself in a crumpled heap halfway down your bedchair, or leaping out of bed to land a fish, only for your sleeping bag to slide off into the mud!
Another feature I loved was having a full-length zip down both sides, so no matter which side of your bedchair is facing the bivvy door, you can be unzipped quickly and ready to slide straight out to get to your rods when a take materialises. To help prevent unwanted drafts, both of these zips are baffled internally too.
The Magmatex is essentially two sleeping bags in one, because a pair of separate inner and outer bags zip into one another to create the full package. Both parts are filled with 100% new hollow-fibre material, which traps a lot of air so it has excellent insulating properties and it is stitched into 12 segments down the length of the sleeping bag, to keep the filling evenly dispersed.
The inside surfaces of both parts of the bag are lined with micro-fleece for additional warmth and comfort, whilst large crash zips join the outer and inner bags together and these are designed to really take some hammer. The teeth and zipper are so large that it makes their operation effortless, even when zipping around the curves at the top and bottom ends of the bag.
With the inner bag zipped inside, you have a 5-season sleeping bag which is capable of handling even the chilliest of British weather conditions. Remove the inner and you have left a 3-season bag, suitable for most spring to autumn sessions. The outer shell is made of a dense, exceptionally waterproof and breathable material, so you should stay dry as well as very warm, as I certainly did when I tried it out.
On longer sessions these properties are essential in a sleeping bag, because non-breathable materials can retain sweat inside the bag, so it will remain damp right through to the following night and a cold and wet sleeping bag does not make for a good night’s sleep! When testing the Magmatex in conjunction with a bedchair which featured a memory-foam mattress – also from Cyprinus – I had the most comfortable night I have ever spent beside a lake or river. Thankfully my slumber was punctuated by a few fish, but I spent most of it well and truly off with the fairies!
I’m quite a long fellow at over 6ft 3in and the Magmatex swallows me up easily. In fact, when rolled out it measures 2 metres (over 6’ft 6in) from top to bottom and the width is a huge 90cm (35in), though this is not obvious when it is rolled away in its stuff-sack.
Previously I’d owned and used the same fishing sleeping bag for over a decade; a so-called ‘heat control’ model with an additional layer which you can either lay beneath or on top of, depending on the season. The Magmatex takes this idea to a whole new level!
Besides the inner bag being completely removable, it is also possible to part-open the zips that hold the two bags together, allowing you to slide between the layers. So with the Magmatex in its standard format you lay with two layers above you and two layers beneath you, but with some creative zipping you can, instead, have three layers above and one below for cold weather (if combined with a memory foam bedchair you still have plenty of insulation beneath you) or for warmer times, you can have three layers below and a single layer above. That is true flexibility, which can surely only be found in a top-end product, which is a classification that I would assign to the Magmatex without reservation.
If there is a better angling sleeping bag available, I would struggle to believe it and I certainly haven’t seen it yet!
If your night fishing consists solely of very occasional, single night sessions in the summer, then you will not fully benefit from the virtues the Magmatex offers. If, however, you are looking to invest in a sleeping bag that will keep you as comfortable as it’s possible to be on the bank, for multiple-night sessions in all weathers, year after year, then I think you’ve found your next sleeping bag.
The dimensions of the Magmatex, when packed away into its stuff sack are as follows:
Length = 53.5 cm / 21in
Diameter = 35.5cm / 14in
Weight = 12lb 9oz / 5.7Kg
The Magmatex has an RRP of £149.99, but you can purchase one through the Tackle Discounts website HERE for just £69.99
