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Probably the most important thing after a long day, albeit travelling by car, foot or paddle, is a good night's sleep. The right sleeping bag can help to ensure this. The wrong one can make outdoor travel miserable and sleep-deprived. With a continually growing interest in outdoor pursuits, sleeping bag manufacturers are saturating the market with an almost infinite number of choices. There is a sleeping bag out there for virtually all sleeping needs be it an epic journey, or a cycling trip, winter camping or children's sleep-over parties.
Before the purchase of a sleeping bag it is essential to know what the primary use of the bag will be, how often it will be used, and the absolute ceiling that can be spent for a little bit of luxury.
The basic premise of a sleeping bag is to keep you warm while enjoying pursuits that don't allow you to bring your bed along. They trap the air in their layers allowing the body a chance to warm it up. Once this air is warm, the sleeping bag is a cosy place to be. The less air there is to warm up, the warmer the sleeping bag will be.
There are many issues to consider before making a purchase. Probably the three most important are shape, fill and cost. Each of these factors will be discussed in hopes of shedding some light on the sleeping bag dilemma.
Shapes and Sizes
The two most common bag-shapes are barrel and mummy.
The barrel bag offers a roomy, comfortable sleeping area, with enough warmth for warm spring or summer nights. They are more suited for warmer climates since the amount of air that needs to be warmed by the body is substantial. There is also significantly more fabric and fill in a barrel bag than a mummy bag, thus making it both heavier and bulkier.
A good barrel bag will look more like a mummy bag than a blanket folded in two and will offer the camper a good exchange between comfort and warmth. It won't have the hood as the mummy bag does, but many find this feature claustrophobic.
Mummy bags are lighter and will compact smaller than any other type of bag. They are very form-fitting and therefore leave less air between the body and the bag. The head and neck are well-insulated, thus decreasing the amount of heat lost by the body.
If a mummy bag is the type of bag to be purchased, it must be fitted for the individual in order to ensure a close fit. Mummy bags come in various sizes in order to accommodate even the smallest of campers.
Fill
It used to be that all sleeping bags were filled with natural warming fibres such as down. Now, with the scientific advancements available to us today, there are many options to choose from when deciding what kind of filling will be in your sleeping bag.
No matter how many synthetic fibres are developed, there have been none that can replace the luxury and warmth of down. When looking at warmth for weight, down is unbeatable. It's light, compressible and moulds itself to the camper's body, leaving less frigid air-gaps than any other fill.
Yet another benefit of down is durability. It has an almost unlimited life-span with proper care.
With all its benefits, down is not quite the perfect insulator. It doesn't do its job well when wet. In fact, trying to sleep in a wet down-filled bag can be a miserable experience.
Down is also extremely expensive. A good, down-filled mummy bag could easily be priced in the $300-$400 range.
Synthetic fills can provide quite high warmth to weight ratios, but often have to sacrifice size and bulk in order to provide adequate warmth in cold climates. They are non-allergenic and have a substantially lower price than down (sometimes up to 75% cheaper). They also provide some warmth when wet.
Synthetic fills have a much shorter life-span than down. One of the trade offs made for durability is weight. The heavier bags tend to have a longer life than lighter bags. The fibres will eventually wear, clump, or leave cold spots in the bag. When this happens the only answer is to replace the bag.
Cost
Often cost is the determining factor over whether a synthetic or down bag will be purchased. Ultimately, this is a decision that should be made with great thought. One company recommends spending as much money as possible without breaking your budget to such an extent that you can no longer afford to go camping.
The greatest long-term value is definitely the down bag, but if camping is something that is only done once or twice a year, then perhaps synthetic fill is good enough.
Camping can be a beautiful experience. Or a miserable one. And the right sleeping bag can make all the difference.
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