The best sleeping bags – tips how to find one
Choosing good sleeping bag is not an easy thing as you are making investment for at least few years. Even if you are not going to use your bag to often you still should do research before you buy to make sure it suits the purpose. The other important issue is that there are so many bags on the market that don’t meet the basic quality requirements. Some bags are made of terrible quality down or synthetic fill and weak and heavy fabrics. Spend some time checking what is available before you make the final decision about your investment.
The easiest choice is between down and synthetic sleeping bag. It simply depends if you need to carry it for a long time or if you can pack it to the car and use it only while camping. Choose down when you go hiking, mountaineering, rock climbing or even backpacking. Down is best when you need good warmth to weight ratio and when every gram counts. Synthetic bags are sufficient for all sort of camping, sailing and traveling where you don’t have to worry about the weight or size of your stuff.
Before you buy down sleeping bag always check what it is made of. There are goose and duck down fills and there is huge difference in quality between these two. You will pay more for goose down, especially European goose. It is considered as the best down available and it is used for sleeping bags designed for the most challenging expeditions. Goose down is an excellent investment for many years as it has got self renovating proprieties. And the difference is obvious when you compare two bags: goose will loft much better and it will have much higher warmth to weight ratio than duck down.
Fabric is crucial if you are choosing expedition down bag. The lighter and stronger fabric the lighter obviously the bag is in your backpack. There are fabrics using nano technology for production. They are specially designed for high mountaineering. They are extremely light and strong. Good quality expedition bags should have DRI water resistant coating that prevents moisture from affecting down. There are also waterproof fabrics available for down bags that are constantly in contact with water. Those fabrics are thick and heavy and they are compressing to a bigger size pack.
Are you planning to purchase sleeping bag for your dream adventure? Do as much research as possible and purchase a bag that will retain its qualities for longer than one expedition only. Be very careful as there are so many products on the market that will simply fall apart after just few uses. If you want serious quality than I recommend sleeping bags manufactured for extreme expeditions. Those bags are made with the highest care and of the best quality parts.
Learn more about down sleeping bags, how to choose down products and how to look after your bag.
Author: Kasia Pilch
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