A great sleeping bag is among the greatest investments you can also make as an outside fanatic. Packability, heat, weight, and flexibility are all vital elements to think about when shopping for the most effective sleeping bag for backpacking, and there’s lots to select from. From expertise to new materials, a fast Google search would possibly depart you with a dizzying quantity of choices, so we determined to do a few of the be just right for you.
On this weblog put up, we checklist the most effective sleeping baggage for backpacking, plus data on how to decide on a backpacking sleeping bag. They’re a few of the hottest available on the market as a result of they adhere to the requirements of heat, weight, and luxury.
Why belief us? The Bearfoot Staff has greater than 20 years of collective mountaineering and tenting expertise and have backpacked in distant areas of Alaska, the John Muir Path, South America, and extra. We’ve tried dozens of sleeping baggage and are at all times staying on high of the newest traits and developments in tenting gear and tools.
Finest Backpacking Sleeping Baggage at a Look
Backpacking Sleeping Baggage Comparability Desk
See the comparability desk under for a fast abstract of every of the highest sleeping baggage for backpacking. You’ll be able to click on on the columns to type by what’s most vital to you.
Nemo Disco 30
Most Comfy Sleeping Bag for Facet Sleepers
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: aspect and abdomen sleepers, individuals who toss & flip, 3-season backpacking
- What we like: supplies most consolation, roomy to maneuver round, pillow pocket, foot field is product of waterproof supplies which is useful in defending the bag in opposition to tent condensation
- What we don’t like: doesn’t compress down tremendous properly, roomy baggage take longer to heat up, loose-fitting stuff sack
The NEMO Disco 30 is among the hottest backpacking sleeping baggage available on the market with its distinctive Basic Spoon™ form, which supplies additional assist on the elbows and knees so aspect sleepers can shift positions comfortably. This bag has Thermo Gills™ expertise which vents physique warmth to assist regulate temperature with out letting chilly drafts in.
It can be zipped along with one other NEMO bag (one proper zip and one left zip bag will zip collectively), making a two-person cocoon. You will discover the lads’s model right here.
REI Co-op Magma 15 Sleeping Bag
Finest All Round Sleeping Bag
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: 3-season backpacking, again sleepers
- What we like: nice worth purchase for consolation, weight & value, strong warmth-to-weight ratio
- What we don’t like: cosy, slim bag match (particularly the foot field)
This is among the greatest light-weight sleeping baggage for backpacking on actually chilly nights. The REI Magma 15 has a trapezoidal footbox designed to maintain your toes additional heat. It additionally has an anti-snag zipper so that you don’t have to fret about middle-of-the-night zipper snafus and a contoured hood so it matches cosy to retain heat round your head and neck. For the value, high quality, and seasonality, this is among the greatest backpacking sleeping baggage you should purchase. You will discover the lads’s model right here.
Sea to Summit Spark
Finest Ultralight Mummy Sleeping Bag
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: ultralight backpacking, 1-4 season backpacking
- What we like: most light-weight bag on our checklist, accessible in a number of temperature scores to suit your wants, extremely compressible
- What we don’t like: doesn’t match properly within the included compression sack
The Sea to Summit Spark is the most effective sleeping bag choice available on the market for ultralight backpacking. With most Spark baggage weighing properly underneath 1lb (lower than some sleeping pads!) and packing all the way down to the dimensions of a soccer, it’s excellent for saving a ton of weight and area in your backpack.
BFT’s Director Linda makes use of the ladies’s model of the Spark (Sea to Summit Flame 25F) and it’s by far the lightest and warmest backpacking sleeping bag she’s ever used. Each the Spark and Flame are available quite a lot of temperature scores, so you’ll be able to determine which most closely fits your wants.
What units the Ember/Spark other than a conventional down sleeping bag is that they use a water-repellent remedy on the material which protects the down from exterior moisture and condensation. Anybody whose ever handled a moist down bag is aware of that it’s not enjoyable (and may shorten the lifespan of the bag), so this additional safety is an added bonus.
If you happen to choose a quilt over a mummy bag, the Sea to Summit Ember is the quilt model of the Spark, created from the identical high-quality supplies and baffling system. BFT Staff Member Courtney makes use of the Ember on backpacking journeys and as a aspect sleeper who tosses and turns typically, she prefers the quilt vs. a full-zip sleeping bag with extra freedom of movement.
Store Sea to Summit Ember at:
Enlightened Tools Revelation Quilt
Finest Backpacking Quilt
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: ultralight backpacking, 3-season backpacking, individuals who transfer round lots whereas sleeping or don’t wish to really feel constricted in a sleeping bag
- What we like: one of many lightest baggage on our checklist, customizable, extremely compressible, can simply be used as a blanket across the hearth
- What we don’t like: requires a correct sleeping pad for max heat, customized orders can take some time to ship
If you happen to’ve ever thought of ditching the sleeping bag for a quilt, Enlightened Tools’s Revelation quilt is the one to make use of. This quilt is ideal for backpackers – ultralight and ultra-versatile, and it may be custom-made to your peak, desired fill weight, and temperature score. For heat nights, you’ll be able to merely lay it out as a blanket and on colder nights, you’ll be able to cinch the adjustable footbed and neck collar closed. This design is ideal for thru-hikers and anybody who needs a bag that can be utilized in numerous temperatures and climates. The quilt comes with a set of elastic straps that will let you connect the quilt to your sleeping pad to get rid of drafts and forestall it from shifting round through the evening.
Together with the opposite benefits, this quilt weighs properly underneath 2 kilos (relying on temperature and fill), making it excellent for ultralight backpackers. I’ve been utilizing Enlightened Tools 2-Man Confederate Quilt and I like it. If you happen to’re trying to snuggle up along with your associate, take a look at our roundup of the most effective 2-person sleeping baggage.
The draw back of the Enlightened Tools Quilts is that they don’t have a hood, a design meant to shave weight. You’ll be able to both put on a beanie to mattress or Enlightened Tools additionally sells a separate Torrid Hood that solely weighs 2 or 4 ounces relying on fill.
Marmot Trestles Elite Eco 20 Sleeping Bag
Finest Artificial Backpacking Sleeping Bag
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: 3-season backpacking, vegans, moist climate tenting, newbie backpackers
- What we like: budget-friendly, holds up higher than down in moist climate
- What we don’t like: one of many heaviest and least compressible sleeping baggage on our checklist
The Marmot Trestles Elite Eco 20 Sleeping Bag is a good 3-season bag that provides all-synthetic building that can preserve you heat even in moist tenting circumstances.
This bag is created from recycled supplies, making it a sustainable alternative for environmentally-conscious campers. Moreover, the bag encompasses a distinctive wave building that helps to get rid of chilly spots and supplies glorious insulation.
Nonetheless, one potential draw back of artificial insulation is that it’s typically heavier and bulkier than down insulation making it much less excellent for these trying to decrease their pack weight.
Moreover, some customers have reported that the bag’s zipper might be tough to make use of, which might be irritating when attempting to get out and in of the bag. Regardless of these minor drawbacks, this bag stays an awesome alternative for anybody searching for a sustainable and dependable artificial sleeping bag.
Mountain Hardwear Phantom 0F
Finest Sleeping Bag for Sub-Freezing Temps
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: winter backpacking, chilly climate journeys, individuals who run chilly at evening
- What we like: warmest bag on our checklist, pretty compact for a way heat it’s
- What we don’t like: costly funding, bag is kind of slim
The Mountain Hardwear Phantom 0F Down Sleeping Bag is our alternative for winter backpacking resulting from its high-quality insulation and environment friendly design. With a temperature score of 0F, this sleeping bag is particularly designed to maintain you toasty heat in chilly winter circumstances.
The bag is stuffed with high-loft down that gives glorious insulation, whereas the light-weight and compressible design makes it simple to pack and carry. Moreover, the bag encompasses a draft collar and hood that assist to lure warmth inside and preserve you snug all through the evening.
For temperatures all the way down to 0 levels, you’ll be able to’t discover a sleeping bag higher than this one. It might be on the high of your value bracket at round $650, understandably. However, with correct care, this sleeping bag ought to final you a really, very very long time.
Kelty Cosmic 20
Finest Price range Down Sleeping Bag
Key Options
The place to buy
- Nice for: 3-season backpacking, newbie backpackers
- What we like: nice worth for value, tremendous snug and heat
- What we don’t like: delicate within the washer, not as compressible as different baggage
For lower than $210, the Kelty Cosmic 20 Sleeping Bag has received many awards for being an all-around good-quality sleeping bag. Made with hydrophobic down, it’s light-weight nevertheless it won’t carry out as properly in moist climate. Out there in 0° and 20°, it’s probably the greatest sleeping baggage for backpacking in its value vary and an awesome choice for brand new backpackers trying to get into the game. It’s additionally accessible in a males’s model.
The best way to Select a Backpacking Sleeping Bag
Choosing out a brand new backpacking sleeping bag for any outside journey might be tremendous overwhelming. There are such a lot of selections and so many options to think about, to not point out the value tag. So, we’ve put collectively this straightforward information on how to decide on a backpacking sleeping bag on your subsequent nice journey. Hopefully, this makes your gear-buying course of simpler.
Sleeping Bag Temperature Score
The sleeping bag temperature score is the primary place to begin when choosing out a brand new backpacking sleeping bag. Take into consideration when and the place you propose to make use of it essentially the most.
Sleeping baggage might be damaged down into three easy classes: summer time, 3-season, and winter primarily based on the temperature scores proven within the desk under.
Most individuals might be pleased with a 3-season bag, which can preserve you snug many of the yr. Keep in mind you’ll be able to at all times zip down the bag for a summer time tenting journey or add a sleeping bag liner to your bag for an occasional winter tenting journey. Most 3-season backpacking baggage will checklist a European Norm (EN) testing score with two temperature scores referred to as the “consolation score” and the “lower-limit score”. EU scores are standardized score programs that preserve temperature scores constant throughout manufacturers.
Consolation score is the bottom temperature at which the bag will preserve the typical girl or “chilly sleeper” snug. Decrease-limit score is the bottom temperature at which the bag will preserve a person or “heat sleeper” snug. Girls are likely to run colder and for girls’s sleeping bag scores that’s typically taken into consideration. Word that EN scores are primarily based on a sleeper sporting one lengthy underwear layer and a hat, and sleeping on a single one-inch thick insulating pad.
The quantity listed with most sleeping baggage (instance: Nemo Disco 30) is the EN Decrease Restrict which is often 10-15 levels decrease than the EN Consolation Score. So, for most individuals, the Nemo Disco 30 can be snug in 40F sleeping temperatures.
Sleeping Bag Form
Whereas the sleeping bag form may not appear vital, it’s for two massive causes:
First, sleeping baggage preserve you heat by trapping air and holding it in a layer subsequent to your physique. Your physique heats up this layer of trapped air to maintain you heat. The much less air area there may be within the bag, the quicker you heat up and keep heat! Choosing a bag primarily based in your physique dimension and form is vital for effectivity and heat. Roomier sleeping baggage will typically be heavier as properly, however they are going to be extra snug for side-sleepers.
We advocate deciding on a semi-rectangular bag or mummy bag which is flexible and may work for backpacking in addition to automotive tenting. Semi-rectangular baggage are good for backpackers with bigger frames or those that don’t just like the constrictive feeling of a mummy bag.
To Quilt or To not Quilt?
Some light-weight backpackers received’t even entertain the concept of a sleeping bag, and as an alternative, go for a tenting quilt. Quilts are a light-weight backcountry choice usually designed to be paired with a sleeping pad. It’s mainly a blanket with a foot field that can preserve you heat with none pointless insulation or weight. Quilts provide a greater warmth-to-weight ratio since they lower out materials that’s usually compressed underneath your physique in a conventional mummy bag.
Nonetheless, quilts are extra drafty than mummy baggage, so in chilly or windy circumstances we’d go for a mummy bag. Make sure you take a look at Enlightened Tools when you’re occupied with going ultralight with a sleeping quilt.
Artificial vs. Down Sleeping Bag Insulation
Since switching to a plant-based weight loss program and eliminating all animal merchandise from my weight loss program, I’ve additionally questioned whether or not or to not change out my outside gear created from animals – one of many largest culprits being down (feathers). I’ve outlined the important thing variations and execs/cons under, however you’ll be able to deep dive into the ethics of shopping for/utilizing down on this weblog put up that will help you perceive the ethics and sustainability behind down feathers.
Artificial Backpacking Sleeping Baggage
Artificial sleeping baggage are often insulated with polyester. Artificial baggage are quick-drying and nonetheless maintain as much as their insulation energy even when damp or moist. Usually, they’re cheaper than down, they usually’re non-allergenic. One of many downsides of artificial baggage is that they don’t compress as small as down sleeping baggage, they usually are typically heavier than down (however that’s not at all times the case as expertise improves). Additionally, polyester is often derived from petroleum, though recycled polyester is now being created from plastic bottles and different recycled plastics for extra sustainable choices.
Down Backpacking Sleeping Baggage
The largest benefit of down over artificial sleeping baggage is that down baggage are typically lighter and compress smaller when packed away – key traits while you’re searching for the most effective backpacking sleeping bag. Typically down is dearer than artificial, and a few folks say it’s extra sturdy, so it’s a long-lasting funding. The first draw back to down is that it loses its insulation energy when it will get moist. So, it’s most suited to cool, dry circumstances. Nonetheless, many down sleeping baggage are actually coated with a water-repellent end that can preserve you heat and dry in damp circumstances. In any other case, down sleeping baggage are a light-weight, heat, and packable alternative for backpacking.
A lot of the notable outside gear firms have instituted the Accountable Down Normal (RDS), or World Traceable Down Normal (TDS). These requirements make sure that the down and feathers utilized in these merchandise got here from animals that have been handled properly, and weren’t force-fed or live-plucked. All the down sleeping baggage listed below are licensed to the RDS or TDS.
Different Vital Backpacking Sleeping Bag Options
Sleeping Bag Hood
Having a hood in your sleeping bag could make or break your sleeping consolation. It will probably imply the distinction between being freezing at evening or toasty heat. As a result of the remainder of your physique is encapsulated in your mummy bag, your physique’s warmth would escape via the top with no hood. And, that defeats the aim of the sleeping bag. So, go for a bag with a hood if you wish to be heat and cozy. Most mummy baggage and semi-rectangular baggage include a hood anyway. Quilts usually don’t have a hood, however many firms promote hoods as an add-on buy. If you happen to plan to backpack in heat environments at all times, it’s not as essential. However, it’s higher to be protected than sorry.
Pockets
Some baggage include pockets that you may stuff with garments to create a pillow. Others include stash pockets to maintain your glasses, a watch, headlamp, or cellphone close by. Some baggage additionally include a pocket or sleeve designed to suit a sleeping pad so that you don’t roll off in the course of the evening. The additional material would possibly add to the overall weight of the bag, nevertheless it’s a matter of non-public desire and desires.
Associated
