Best Sleeping Bags & Camping Quilts for Backpacking 2020
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 เม.ย. 2020
- www.adventurealan.com/best-ba...
Best Sleeping Bags & Camping Quilts for Backpacking 2020
Find the best sleeping bag or backpacking quilt. No BS. Tested for performance and value.
A good night’s sleep is critical for physical and mental recovery while backpacking. That’s why it is imperative to know beforehand that your backpacking sleeping bag or camping quilt is warm enough to comfortably handle the lowest temperature you might expect. While guiding in the Rockies one summer, night temps unexpectedly dropped into the 20s and I watched in horror as my client fainted when we started hiking the next morning. She had a “30 degree named” bag from a well known manufacturer that she trusted to keep her warm to 30 degrees. But in reality it only had a +40 F degree comfort rating, and thus she had collapsed due to “cold-exhaustion.” Don’t ever let this happen to you!
The Market Place is Confusing | But We Can Un-confuse it!
First, while testing of sleeping bags in the EU is required, it is not in the US. As such, many sleeping bags in the US, even from well known brands are not tested. As such, you only have their say-so that their “xxx 30F” sleeping bag will keep you warm to 30F. Second, if a sleeping bag is tested, it gets two temperature ratings, limit and comfort. We strongly believe (more on this below) that the comfort rating (about 10F higher than the limit rating) most accurately predicts the lowest temperature that most campers will get a restful and recuperative night’s sleep. Unfortunately, most US sleeping bag manufacturers use the limit rating, not comfort rating in the sleeping bag’s name. e.g “Super Warm Company +20 Sleeping Bag” (where +20 is actually the limit rating). We strongly believe that most hikers are better off using a sleeping bag’s comfort rating to assess the lowest temperature they’d want for the bag! Or put another way, many hikers will be uncomfortably cold and get a crappy night’s sleep at the limit rating of a sleeping bag. Buyer beware!
Know the Actual COMFORT TEMPERATURE of your Sleeping Bag or Camping Quilt!
As you can see from the story above, it’s super important to know the actual comfort temperature rating of your sleeping bag or camping quilt. In fact it’s so important, we’ve created our own mathematical model, which can accurately predict any bag or quilt’s comfort temperature, even if it has not been EN/ISO rated (www.adventurealan.com/best-ba.... An added benefit is that in addition to being transparent about comfort temperatures, this model will also save you both weight and money, allowing you to find the best sleeping bag or quilt at the lowest cost.
Thank you for another beautifully done review. Comprehensive yet simple to understand in the world of confusing temperature ratings.
Glad it was helpful! Stay tuned for more good stuff. Best, -alan
Thanks Alan, really appreciate you sharing your experience with us!
Thanks Gorby. Our pleasure. Warmest, -alan
Wow, what a clear demonstrations of the products, it's very helpful.
Thanks.
Glad it was helpful Navel. Our pleasure. Warmest, -alan
This is the video everyone should watch before trying to decipher the temperature rating system given by manufacturers. Holy cow, someone finally made sense of it all and compared the options with a legit system. Very well done, earned a subscriber for this one. I trust the advice one here more because it actually uses science to give me a way to compare bags. Truly superior content here.
Thanks for the kind words Joseph! Warmest, -alan
Great content as always Alan. Superior quality my friend.
Our pleasure. Glad you enjoyed it. Best, -alan
I'm kinda new to TH-cam and I just found your channel. I really like your format and find it very informative. I just subscribed and am going to start looking at your other videos.
Thank you for all your efforts, sir.
My pleasure! Thanks for the kind words. It was HUGE effort to produce both the video and the guide! Warmest, -alan
Another great and informative video. I have never cared for mummy bags. I started using quilts last year. My summer quilt works great. I dont sleep well on hot weather so I mostly sleep just on my pad and when I wake up early in the morning cold I just throw the quilt over me. However my winter quilt is a little harder to adjust in cold weather. I have only used it three times and I am still trying to work out the kinks.
Thanks for the kind words Joe. It was HUGE effort to produce both the video and the guide! If you work at it, I'm fairly sure you'll figure out how to get the winter quilt thing worked out. I know I am good to at least single digits without too much effort. Warmest, -alan
Depends what type of adventure you seek, my friend. I've spent frosty nights in Truckee Ca, to Adirondack's frozen lakes, and in the Talkeetna Glacier, to the Casin Ridge in Denali, and mummies is the only way to go...
I paid $35 for a bag I've been using year round for 20 years. From-10°f through 50°f zipped. 50°f-70°f unzipped and used like a taco. Over 70°f I lay on top and use a sheet. Still looks new till this day.
Great info, thanks.
My pleasure! Thanks for the kind words Mark. It was HUGE effort to produce both the video and the guide! Warmest, -alan
Its cool to hear the voice that goes with half the duo ( you guys are so funny with the body language!!) On your written 2020 tent reviews! I ended up with the hubba hubba nx 2.. really wanted the slingfin portal but we really need the 50 inches wide. I love the nemo dagger but will never understand why they cut that rainfly so far up. MSR gets it and review after review compares the 2 with dagger always on top but id disagree if u have 2 adults in Olympic national park with the rain we get..just to hard to not be accidentally "touching" it in..this is MSR's further away back yard! Sorry I went down a rabbit hole// amazingly informative video that's very helpful. You and Iron Tazz are my go to for reviews and education. Thank you
Our pleasure. Wishing you a great year of hiking/backpacking. Best, -alan
it's funny that you refer to that lightweight mummy bag as a "traditional" bag. Traditional bags to me have a wide cut and they use cotton or other fabrics for insulation, which work without needing a sleeping pad but they're heavy as hell.compared to modern bags and they don't pack down.
Very well produced overview/video.
Thanks for the kind words Chris. Best, -alan
Nice information resources. Fun video.
Glad you enjoyed it! Our pleasure, -alan & alison
Interesting take...good information. But I really wish you would have talked more about how you determine you “modeled comfort temperature rating”.
Hi Backcountry. The video is intended as more of an overview. The details are in the Guide to Sleeping Bags and Camping Quilts post on my Website. The link is in the description of this video. And note that the model has been validated by comparing to known, tested bags and is within a few degrees in most cases. You can see that in the supporting data tables. Best, -alan
UGQ quilts are at a comfort rating. My quilt is 30° and I have had it down to 25° in my hammock. With a 30°underquilt which was not warm. The underquilt is from another company.
Nice work Jay!
There seems to be more emphasis on how these perform in the cold, but what about summer camping? Will the, say, Enlightened Equipment Enigma +30F camping quilt still be usable, or will it be too hot? Do I need a separate quilt for summer vs spring/fall? Or, if I'm camping in the summer, can I skip these quilts entirely and just go with my sleeping pad and a "regular" blanket?
Jasper, quits do much better than sleeping pads in warm weather as you can easily put out a an arm and a leg or just push the quilt down to your waist. And when if you get an unexpected cold snap you can snuggle under to get warmer. I short they have a much broader temperature range than sleeping bags. But yes, if you KNOW FOR SURE that it's going to be warm you could sleep under a fleece blanket but it's not likely to be much lighter than a down quilt. Hope this helps. Warmest, -alan
@@adventure_alan_co Very helpful and reassuring, thanks!
The way you are presenting the cost is like selling a new car without the engine. To reach the temps you are professing you must purchase an expensive pad (r-4 or r-5).
At what temp will these bags be comfortable alone? When I started camping (and backpacking) an upgrade was a ground cloth then in about 25 years we added a 1/2 inch foam pad.
How about a rating of just the bag with nothing added.
Thank you
Roy Whistle
No bag, quilt marketed in the whole world is tested/rated by itself. And besides the pad, and garments that the occupant is using, there are other factors not discussed here which are additional criteria used in the standard test of manufacturers rating; occupant is a fit male, well fed, no wind, enclosed within.
Viet, read the post carefully. The sleeping bag test *requires* a very warm pad for the rating - as well as wearing top and bottom long underwear and a warm hat. That's just a fact of the test standard, so not open to debate. Therefore, if you use less clothes or an R2.0 sleeping pad (or no pad) you are not going to be at all comfortable at the tested/rated temperature for the sleeping bag. [And for what it's worth the test pad was originally based on a 1" thick, self-inflating, foam air mattress (the original Therm-a-Rest) so that pad has been around a very long time. So this is nothing all that new. Bottom line is that the insulation (R value) of pad under you matters a lot to sleep warm. That is simply the physics of the real world and not marketing hype. Hope this helps, -alan
@@adventure_alan_co I reckon I owe you an apology. The last time I was backpacking was 30 years ago on the AT. I got my pack weight down to about 45lbs. Had a canvas tent tarp with a canvas ground cloth. Army surplus mummy bag. No pad and the recommendations were to sleep in the nude or underwear at most due to condensation. My JanSport external frame pack was the latest and a big splurge.
Being old is a bitch but I plan on thru hiking the AT next year while I am 75 years old. Thank you for the info
Viet Advisor67 Wish you all the best! Hope you get out there and do it... even sections.
Those were the days.... lol.
Have fun!
A sleeping bag needs a good pad in much the same way that a desktop computer needs a good monitor to reach full potential. This is because a sleeping bag is designed to have less padding underneath so that it will weigh less, and it relies on a good pad to insulate underneath.
Good info. Thanks. A bit wordy and redundant though... 🙂
Noted! Authentic, non-scripted video is not always the most polished. But the information is good and the science solid. We feel the latter is more important. Best, -alan
What if you are in a hot country and you get too hot in a sleeping bag but too cold without one?
Yehya, use a quilt. They are far more flexible to a broader range of temperatures since you can put an arm or leg out or even push it down to your waist when it's warm. But can completely tighten it up when it's cold. Also see my recent video review on a quilt th-cam.com/video/t2EOrm-0qpk/w-d-xo.html. Best, -alan
@@adventure_alan_co Thank You.
This is great...would be better if it was half as long.
Yeah, somehow a 6 min set of talking points never seem to go that way. Best, -alan
im sleeping bag manufacturer
950 down is not warmer than 850 down. It is simply lighter.
For the same weight, 950 FP IS warmer. That is, it has more insulating value per ounce. That is the correct definition of warmer for an insulating material - especially for an activity like backpacking where every bit of weight counts. Warmest, -alan
The majority of quilts are more expensive than the majority of sleeping bags...I've never known a sleeping bag that was so tight it would fit a puffy in...
Adam Ashor, I am confused. Did you read all of the guide? Because the guide clearly proves the opposite. Quilts are both less expensive and lighter vs. sleeping bags. The *data* in this guide supports that. "Camping Quilts 4.3 Performance, 3.8 Value | Sleeping Bags 3.2 Performance, 2.7 Value." Best -alan
Take a look at the category averages on the supporting table for top picks. Quilts are less expensive, and provide better warmth to weight performance.