What's right? It all comes down to what seasons of the year you expect to camp and what your budget is!
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Serious thought and research should be undertaken when purchasing a sleeping
bag. Your sleeping bag provides warmth and comfort during the night so your
body can adequately recover from a rough day on the trail and be fresh and
ready for the next day's adventure. Do your homework, as you should for every
piece of outdoor gear, when considering which sleeping bag suits your needs.
Some areas to consider when looking at sleeping bags are: temperature rating,
warmth/weight/compression, shape, and sleeping pads.
Temperature Ratings
Temperature rating, or comfort rating, is typically the lowest temperature that
an average person will remain comfortable in a sleeping bag. Sleeping bag
manufacturers vary somewhat when it comes to defining the method used to
determine a bag's temperature rating. Some variables in a manufacturer's
equation for determining a temperature rating are: sleeping pad? Bag liner?
Clothes? Tent? Manufacturers may or may not include these factors when
calculating bag ratings. So, the best advice to give concerning temperature
ratings is to use this information to acquire a "ball park"
temperature that will suit your needs and supply comfort. Also, seek the advice
of a good outdoor gear retailer concerning rating values for specific
manufacturers. Again, doing research is highly advisable.
Warmth/Weight/Compression
These three considerations are grouped together because they are all basically
determined by the fill material. Sleeping bags are filled with many different
kinds of material that are grouped into two main categories, down (from goose)
and synthetic. There are advantages and disadvantages for both types of fill
material:
Down
Advantages - Better warmth to weight ratio, easier to compress, years of
effective performance (if properly cared for).
Disadvantages- expensive, loses insulating abilities when wet, long drying
times.
Synthetic
Advantages - more affordable, insulates when wet, quickly dries.
Disadvantages - More bulky (less warmth to weight ratio), not easily
compressed, usually loses performance after several years.
As you can read, the different fill materials can present a backpacker with a
dilemma when choosing a sleeping bag. Each bag performs differently in certain
situations but it's not practical to pack two bags and weather predictions are
not exact, especially in the high country. Therefore, a compromise must be
made. One compromise might be to use an over bag in conjunction with a down
filled bag when winter camping. Nothing warms like goose down and the over bag
will decrease the chance of your bag getting wet.
Shape
There are three basic sleeping bag shapes: mummy, semi-rectangular, and
rectangular. Basically, the closer the bag fits, which is characteristic of a
mummy bag, the warmer you will remain during your night's sleep. However, the
closer fitting bag affords the hiker with less room as a consequence of the
gain in warmth. For some people this might be uncomfortable. The rectangular
bag gives the hiker more room but is not as effective as a mummy bag in
maintaining warmth. The semi-rectangular bag is a hybrid between both. However,
the mummy bag is more favored by backpackers due to its lesser weight on
average due to the smaller amount of material used to construct the bag.
Sleeping Pads
Sleeping pads are essential to comfort. When a person is in a sleeping bag the part of the bag between the ground and hiker is flattened. This renders the bottom of the sleeping bag very poor in keeping the hiker warm. The use of a sleeping pad will offset this effect and keep the hiker comfortable. Along with a good lightweight bag goes a sleeping pad. Pads provide comfort but more importantly they provide insulation. Much of a sleeping bag's rating is based on having insulation under it. Sleeping on the ground can make a cold night in an otherwise warm bag uncomfortable.
I prefer a Therm-A-Rest self-inflating pad. These pads come in two basic lengths: 3/4 length and full length. The 3/4 length provides insulation from head to about your knees where the full-length goes from head to foot. They make them in different thickness and from various materials. You can save a little weight by using the 3/4 length model. The full length modes suit me better because as I have grown older I want more comfort than a 3/4 length will give even though it adds a little extra weight. If you winter camp, get the full length. I, and several in our troop, use the full length, 2 inch thick pad. This pad is thick enough so that you almost never feel rocks underneath.
Another popular pad is the Ridge Rest closed cell foam pad. Closed cell foam is different from open cell foam, (i.e. foam rubber), because it won't absorb water. These are very light weight but a tad more bulky to pack and they work in winter. They are a bit thin and are fine for the lighter weight of the boys. Adults tend not to rest as well on them. Ridge Rest also makes a model called the Z-Rest. It folds up nicer and is a little less bulky.
Expect to pay about $20 to $30 for a good closed cell foam pad and about $50 to $80 for a good self inflating pad.
You can find much more information on websites from hiking and camping stores. See our Links page.