Down-insulated sleeping baggage are nonetheless basically probably the most well-liked nighttime insulation probability with backpackers on account of they’re terribly compressible and hotter in chilly, damp, or drafty native climate, significantly contained in the spring and autumn when temperatures are near freezing. Whereas mummy bag designs nonetheless prevail, there’s moderately extra selection contained in the forms of sleeping baggage which have flip into available on the market beforehand 5 years, together with ones designed for side sleepers, girls’s particular sleeping baggage, and hoodless quilt-style sleeping baggage.
When selecting a sleeping bag for backpacking, you need one which’s light-weight and really compressible because you’re going to should haul it in a backpack. Sleeping baggage insulated with 800-950 goose or duck down are the best by means of heat by weight, however you’ll pay a premium on the extreme finish. Decrease fill vitality fashions are far more economical and just a few ounces heavier. Whenever you wish to stretch your buck, search for bags with decrease (as in colder) temperature rankings however a number of venting decisions to increase their temperature vary into hotter native climate.
Listed beneath are our extreme 10 down-insulated sleeping bag picks at fairly just a few worth components.
Be certain you examine our suggestions beneath on learn how to find out on the best sleeping bag in your wants.
1. REI Magma 15
The REI Magma 15 is a light-weight and compressible 850 fill-power down sleeping bag that’s loaded with decisions. It has a trapezoidal footbox with body-mapped baffles for max heat retention whereas decreasing weight. The bag has an insulated draft collar whereas the hood has a pillow pocket and two drawcords for versatile adjustment. A hybrid zipper path supplies easy accessibility alongside the shoulders and torso and the zipper is backed by an anti-snap strip for worry-free use. The REI Magma can even be available on the market in a 30-degree model.
Retailer at REI
2. Western Mountaineering Versalite 10
The Western Mountaineering Versalite is a heat and spacious sleeping bag with quite a lot of inside room. It has common baffles so you’ll be able to change the down the place you want it most, on extreme on chilly nights, and to the underside of the bag on heat ones, thereby rising its temperature vary. A full-length zipper makes it easy to vent on hotter nights, whereas an insulated draft collar seals inside the warmth. A “flattish” mummy-style hood can even be easier to make the most of for side sleepers. The Versalite is within the market in three lengths: 5′ 6″, 6′ 0″, and 6′ 6″. Insulated with 850+ fill vitality goose down, it weighs in at merely 32 ounces. It’s available on the market in three lengths, making it excellent for backpackers who hike in cool mountain climates. Examine the SectionHiker Versalite Overview.
Retailer at Backcountry
3. Therm-a-Leisure Parsec 20
The Therm-a-Leisure Parsec 20 is a really heat however light-weight 800 fill-power (hydrophobic Nikwax handled) down sleeping bag relevant for three-season use. It has bodymapped insulation with 60% of the down positioned over the chest and 40% on the underside to cut once more weight and supply enhanced heat when used with an appropriate sleeping pad. The Parsec 20 has a draft collar and zipper draft tube to carry in your physique warmth with a two-way zipper so you’ll be able to vent the bag for individuals who happen to basically actually really feel too heat. Express sleeping pad straps assist forestall you from rolling off your pad at night time, whereas exterior loops allow you to layer relevant quilts or technical blankets on extreme to spice up the Parsec’s temperature ranking. Examine the SectionHiker Parsec contemplate.
Retailer at REI
4. Sea-to-Summit Ascent 15 Sleeping Bag
The Sea-to-Summit Ascent 15 is a 750 fill-power waterproof goose down sleeping bag with two side zippers and a foot space zipper that might be opened in hotter native climate, giving the sleeping bag a giant temperature vary. Topic baffle developing all by with vertical baffles contained in the torso decrease down shift and maximize heat retention. Thermally environment nice, it has a relaxed mummy match with room contained in the hood to go effectively with a pillow. In colder temperatures, you’ll be able to cinch down the technical hood and zip up the draft-tube-protected zippers for a cosy nights sleep. A girls’s mannequin can even be available on the market. Examine the SectionHiker Ascent Overview.
5. NEMO Disco 15 (males’s and girls’s)
The NEMO Disco 15 is a spoon-shaped sleeping bag designed for side sleepers that offers room on the elbows and knees however is formed to stay away from losing a few pounds. It’s insulated with 650 fill-power hydrophobic PFC-free RSD-certified down and comes with a water-resistant/breathable hood and footbox to stop it from getting moist in case your tent develops inside condensation. This bag comes with a full-length double-sided zipper, a pillow pocket, an infinite draft collar to seal in your torso warmth, and thermo-gills which will allow you to vent additional warmth, extending the vary of the bag for hotter native climate. The Disco weighs 2 lbs 11 ouncesand matches males as rather a lot as 6′ tall. A girls’s Disco 15 can even be available on the market.
6. Zenbivy Ultralight Mattress
The Zenbivy Ultralight Mattress is an built-in sleep system that gives the heat of a sleeping bag in a really built-in quilt-based sleep system. Whereas the person elements can nonetheless be bought individually, the diploma of integration between the climate together with a 900-fill vitality down quilt, an inflatable sleeping pad, a sheet, and an non-compulsory hood supplies an unparalleled and draft-free sleep expertise. The Ultralight Mattress is within the market in a number of sizes and at a number of temperature rankings. All individuals I do know who’s purchased a Zenbivy sleep system, together with very knowledgeable backpackers, raves about it! See our contemplate of the Zenbivy Ultralight Mattress.
7. Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20
The Feathered Buddies Flicker UL 20 is a terribly versatile hoodless sleeping bag that’s excellent for side sleepers who uncover a mummy bag claustrophobic. In cooler native climate, the Flicker capabilities as a full center-zip mummy sleeping bag with a heat-saving down-filled draft collar that drapes spherical your neck and over your shoulders to seal in warmth. It has a drawstring foot space that might be cinched tight on cooler nights or opened as rather a lot as vent the bag for individuals who happen to’re too heat. Unzipped, it may be flipped over on hotter nights and used like a quilt or a blanket on condition that foot space opens completely. Insulated with 950+ fill vitality down, the 20ºF Flicker has common baffles that allow you to modify the down insulation to the place you want it. Weighing 26 oz, it’s fantastic for cool summer season season season nights in alpine terrain and thru-hikes. Examine the SectionHiker Flicker Overview.
8. Feathered Buddies Egret UL 20 (girls’s)
The Feathered Buddies Egret UL 20 is a top-shelf technical sleeping bag tailor-made for the feminine selection that decisions further fill contained in the foot space and all through the chest. It furthermore supplies additional room contained in the elbows together with area to attract your knees up contained in the bag for individuals who happen to wish to sleep that technique. The contoured hood opens broad in hotter native climate, making it easy for side sleepers to make the most of, whereas a two-way zipper makes the bag easy to vent. The Egret has a draft collar to assist seal inside the warmth spherical your shoulders, with a trapezoidal foot space that enables your ft to fall in a pure pose with out compressing the sides. Accessible in two lengths: 5′ 3″ and 5′ 9″, the Egret UL 20 is insulated with 950+ fill vitality goose down and weighs merely 27 oz.
9. Enlightened Devices Convert
The Enlightened Devices Convert is a hoodless, quilt-style sleeping bag with a full-length zipper and drawstring foot space that enables it to be completely closed like a hoodless sleeping bag, completely open like a down comforter, or partially zipped up like a backpacking quilt. It’s insulated with RSD-certified 850 fill vitality down and has a snap and drawcord neck closure that permits you to fine-tune draft administration. The shortage of a hood makes it an outstanding selection for side sleepers whereas the full-length zipper and foot space affords it additional temperature flexibility than a quilt or sleeping bag alone. When ordering you’ll be able to specify the temperature ranking or width you’d like. For spring and autumn native climate, we’d advocate a ten or 20 diploma bag, on account of it’s very simple to vent for hotter native climate. For women, we advise along with one totally different 10 ranges’ price of insulation. Examine the SectionHiker Overview.
10. Marmot Helium 15
The Marmot Helium 15 is a mummy-style sleeping bag insulated with 800 fill vitality goose down that’s been handled with Down Defender to make it additional native climate resistant and dry quicker. The Helium, which Marmot refers to as a “gasoline” bag (get it?), has easy, curved baffles that decrease down shift and assist eradicate chilly spots. It has an anti-snag slider on the principle zipper and a fold-down second zipper that gives added air stream and easy accessibility out and in of sleeping bag. An anatomically designed footbox with wrap-around developing, zipper draft tubes alongside the sides, and a multi-baffle hood with draft collar enhance heat retention. Lastly, the bag’s premium Pertex Quantum shell cloth supplies a light-weight however rip-resistant end that retains the Helium’s weight shut to 2 kilos.
Retailer at REI
Sleeping Bag Buy Necessities
Right here is a list of an important issue to contemplate when looking for a sleeping bag for backpacking, so it matches your wants and preferences.
TEMPERATURE RATINGS: The introduction of standardized sleeping bag temperature rankings by the outside enterprise considerably improved their reliability. Baggage examined with the European Norm (EN) 13537 get two rankings: a Consolation ranking and Decrease restrict ranking. The Consolation ranking is the underside temperature at which the bag will keep the frequent lady (or “chilly sleeper”) comfy, and the Decrease Restrict ranking is the underside temperature at which the bag will keep an frequent man (or “heat sleeper”) comfy. The excellence contained in the Consolation and Decrease Restrict rankings is usually about 10 ranges since girls really actually really feel colder than males when sleeping. In case you’re a lady and resolve to purchase a males’s or unisex bag, get one which’s 10 ranges hotter than you want so that you just simply’re comfy at night time
INSULATION and COMPRESSIBILITY: Excessive-quality goose and duck down with fill powers of 800, 850, 900, and 950 present unbelievable insulation by weight and are extensively hottest by backpackers and base campers on account of they’re so light-weight. Some producers solely present down that’s been handled with a water-repellent coating, whereas others want to offer it unadulterated. Down is in actual fact waterproof so the jury stays to be out on whether or not or not or not “handled” down makes a distinction contained in the long-term on account of it’s easy to care for your sleeping bag dry with just a little little bit of care.
SIZING: The match of a sleeping bag is usually measured by means of dimension and girth. Girth measures the utmost inside circumference of the bag, often on the shoulders, hips, and ft. Measure your self at these components and contemplate them to the girth to see if the bag will match tightly or loosely. Folks with greater shoulders or sides sleepers usually tend to really actually really feel additional comfy in baggage with elevated shoulder girths, whereas girls usually want a shorter dimension bag and a smaller shoulder girth on account of they’ve narrower shoulders than males. It’s necessary to get a bag that minimizes the quantity of unoccupied inside area relative to your measurements, so your physique has rather a lot a lot much less air to warmth as rather a lot as maintain heat. If a bag is just too massive, it’s going to really actually really feel colder than one which matches intently, since your physique ought to work further sturdy to fill the additional area with scorching air.
WEIGHT: Whereas gear weight is necessary, watch out to not sacrifice your consolation by deciding on a sleeping bag that gained’t keep you heat or dry contained in the circumstances you want it to. When selecting between baggage with totally completely totally different outer shell provides, ponder their breathability, so that they will vent perspiration that can degrade your insulation, and whether or not or not or not they’ve a DWR coating, which shall be necessary if the foot of your quilt will get moist usually.
FEATURES: Most sleeping baggage are fairly comparable when it comes right all the way in which through which all the way in which all the way down to it, however there are some decisions that set premium sleeping baggage higher than nonpremium baggage. These embody draft collars, common baffles, very excessive fill-power goose down, non-snagging zippers, draft tubes positioned behind zippers to seal out the chilly, ventable foot bins, and full-length zippers that assist lengthen the vary of a bag in hotter native climate.
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