The ins and outs of sleeping bags

-->

It’s a point of contention in the world of rough travel. Whether you’re bikepacking, boat touring or hiking, your sleeping bag is one of the most essential pieces of gear you carry, and so the construction and quality of that item can mean a lot in terms of whether or not you sleep well or at all.

We’re talking about, of course, Down vs. Synthetic fill. One is the champion of numerous long distance hikers, weight conscious backpackers and those super annoying Californian jerks that think they’re so cool because they get to play around in the goddamn Sierras and never get rained on. Fuckers.

The other is heralded by Boy Scout leaders, old men and Ray Jardine.  Also me.

Shit, wait, please keep reading. The argument may look like it’s over, but it isn’t, I swear. I have points. Several, valid points.

AN OVERVIEW (In case you didn’t get a good one from Backpacker Magazine or that kid who works at REI)

-Down is made of insulating feathers. From a goose. It is lighter, warmer and packs smaller than  modern synthetic insulation. Down also has a longer lifespan, meaning that when you get a high quality down bag, you can be set for the next 15 years as long as you care for the bag properly (intermittent washing, etc)

-Synthetic insulation, on the other hand, is heavier, less warm and bulkier than down bags of equal temperature range/design. Synthetic bags also lose their effectiveness quicker than down, which means a good syn bag can be expected to last 5-10 years even with excellent care and storage habits.

So, why would anybody ever pick synthetic over down as a sleeping bag fill?

1.     Cost-Synthetic bags are generally much cheaper than down bags

2.     Ability to maintain loft when wet. Down completely craps out when it gets wet, whereas synthetic retains 80% of it’s warming characteristics. Before you get going on how exacly duck and goose feathers are not considered water-friendly, remember that these are the second, insulating layer of feathers. The outer layer of a waterfowl’s plumage is oily and completely waterproof

a.     Loft is how “poofy” a sleeping bag is. The poof creates little pockets of air that reflect your body heat back at you, resulting in more warmth and a better night’s sleep. Down is loftier than synthetic naturally, but there are different grades of down, for instance 650 vs 850. 850 fill down will be loftier (lighter and more compressible) than 650 fill.

Before you start arguing with me, I know. You’ve triple-crowned with one Feathered Friends bag and have never spent a night wishing you carried a heavier, inferior sleeping sack in your life. Besides, there’s so many drysacks ,trash compactor bags and DWR coatings out there. What kind of idiot gets his sleeping bag wet?

The answer is Me. I’m that idiot. I’ve gotten bags wet in all sorts of weather, for all sorts of reasons. Of course, there are the obvious cuprits, botched river crossings, but other times, the issue has been trickier. I once got a synthetic bag wet while it was inside a trash compactor bag inside a pack that was shielded from the rain with a waterproof pack cover. How? Condensation. I hiked through a summer storm where the temperature dropped significantly and the rainfall was sufficiently heavy for water to gather in the bottom of my pack cover; an elusive phenomenon known colloquially as “holy shit I’ve been carrying a water balloon for the past 3 hours” syndrome .  I’ve also gotten a bag wet when during winter camping simply because moisture formed on me during the night while I was in my tent.

So even if you’ve never found yourself trying to throw your pack onto the opposite bank of a creek so that you can make the final rock hop more effectively, you can still get that sleeping bag wet. Also, congratulations, you are probably a much more sensible backpacker than me. You will never die trying to zipline across an Alaskan canyon with paracord and a titanium spork (if you’re interested sporklining, or other utensil-based adventure travel leave me a message in the comment section and I’ll forward you to my other blog, Tines On-Lines) and I admire you.

So trashbags, as effective as they usually are, aren’t foolproof. In addition to condensation problems, even trash compactor bags get old and full of holes. So what are you to do?

Well sleeping bag makers already came up with a solution, where they stick DWR (Durable Water Repellent) on the outside of sleeping bags so that water simply beads off the material and, ideally, never reaches the down at all. You may have seen a demonstration of this in your local outdoor store, where that surly, dreadlocked employee poured a cup of water on top of a draped sleeping bag and let puddles form on the fabric before scoffing at the local bouldering scene and trying to get you involved in the storewide Bean-filled vs Sand-filled hackey sack debate.

That kid is kind of right; that coating will keep your sleeping bag dry in the store. The water will not soak through the fabric and you’ll leave reassured and confident. Unfortunately, sales pitches are not always as they seem and there are two obvious problems with that chemical, hydrophobic treatments.  

1.     For some reason the paper thin nylon fabric rips during a trip, exposing the guts of your bag to the elements

And

2.     DWR doesn’t last. It’s like that college girlfriend that you think you’ll love forever only instead of her dumping you in a parking lot senior year, DWR will just slowly fade away until it’s just a distant happy memory. And no amount of Nikwax will ever really bring her/it back. This all means that stuffing and restuffing your bag, sleeping in it, using  it will eventually wear out the water-resistance. Oils, dirt and rough use will eventually mess up the DWR and leave you with a very normal down bag, one that you will have to treat appropriately if it is to stay dry.

Companies are starting to make “hydrophobic down” sleeping bags, where the actual down is coated with DWR. The idea is that the down itself rejects water, and these bags are promising to revolutionize the way we look at sleeping bag filler. Unfortunately, a lack of data at this point in time makes any claims manufacters make dubious at best: who knows whether or not this material will work.

So, I use synthetic bags the majority of the time for a few reasons.

1.     My backpacking style, habits and experience demand a water resistant bag.

2.     I generally hike in 3 season weather on the east coast (Appalachia) which means it’s gonna rain no matter what.

3.     I want a bag I can count on night after night on a long hike, no days where I have to spend a long time drying a bag out and no cold nights.

4.     I’m cheap as shit.

5.     I made my last sleeping bag and find that syn material is much easier to work with than down.

Having said that, I have a 0 degree winter bag that is 850 fill down, and I sometimes use it for winter backpacking. My reasoning is that at 0 degrees, any moisture I encounter will be frozen or dry, powdery snow. If I have a winter river crossing en route, I’ve got my sleeping bag in a drysack inside of a trashbag.

So there’s a time and a place for each material. Those Western kids can pretty much carry what they want, as rainstorms are less likely to occur out there, although it is important to note that when it rains in Colorado, it rains hard and cold. If you’re on the east coast or a beginner backpacker, synthetic may be a good option for you to consider, at least until you get some miles under your hipbelt and start refining your foolproof backpacking system.

A final note about synthetic bags: sleeping in a wet bag sucks no matter what’s on the inside. Synthetic isn’t comfortable, but it is warm-a quick protip is to try to squeeze or gently wring out the water before going to sleep in it, but prepare for a gross night no matter what.

Go into the sleeping bag world with a good idea of what you want and need from a bag. Use previous experience or just plain old brainpower to determine how to invest your money, and then pull the trigger. Don’t listen to Backpacker Magazine, that outdoor store kid or some knucklehead on the internet. Listen to your heart and your local weather forecast.

Stay Warm, Stay Dry.