Sleeping Bags vs Quilts | Foam Pads vs Inflatable Pads | Down vs Synthetic

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to cover another back to the basics of backpacking topic which is sleep systems we're going to talk about quilts versus bags down versus synthetic and foam pads versus inflatable pads and sleep is very important when you're doing something as physical as backpacking you're carrying a lot of weight you're exerting yourself up and down mountains or Hills or even on flat land if you're from like Florida but regardless you're tired at the end of the day and quality sleep is very important if you got to get up and do it again the next day so hopefully covering this topic will help some of y'all pick a sleep system that works well for you first let's cover sleeping bags there gonna be a lot of different options a lot of variety when you're choosing a sleeping bag the first thing that you want to look at is the shape of the sleeping bag most people use mummy bags for backpacking you can also get the more traditional rectangular sleeping bag but mummy bags are designed to cut material which will save you weight because the less weight on your back the better as long as you're still using something that's comfortable and functional because mummy bags are more form-fitting there's less space to heat up so you're generally gonna stay warmer at night now there are some people who just feel way too claustrophobic in a mummy bag and they'll use rectangular bags but again that's not common and most people just try to get used to the idea of a mummy bag so again that they carry something more lightweight and something that they'll stay warmer in one of the first things I look at when choosing a sleeping bag for backpacking is the weight of the bag most lightweight backpackers aim for a sleep system that's around three pounds so that means your sleeping bag and your sleeping pad so the general rule of thumb is to aim for two pounds or less for your sleeping bag and then a pound or less for your sleeping pad now not everyone has the budget that will allow them to get a sleeping bag that's that lightweight because the lighter the weight usually the more expensive in fact the 2030 degrees sleeping bag that I carried on the Appalachian Trail weight a little over two pounds but again that's just a general rule of thumb I would definitely say though aim for less than three pounds if you can another thing that you might notice about the shape some sleeping bags is that some will have hoods and others will be hoodless the idea of the hood is that it keeps your head warm while you sleep and keeps you all cozy down inside your sleeping bag this is nice if you're a back sleeper but if you're like me and you tend to toss and turn in the middle of the night and go from your side to your stomach you might find yourself feeling somewhat suffocated by the hood because it can flip around and cover your face I woke up several nights like Oh where's the opening I can't breathe and on the PCT and CDTI opted for a hoodless sleeping bag because one I didn't want to feel suffocated anymore at night and two it was a way to save weight I just kind of felt like I didn't need all of that extra material of the hood to stay warm and instead I opted to sleep with a beanie on my head or use the hood of my puffy coat you know if I wore my puffy coat to sleep at night and also they sell down hoods separately so you could always opt for that and still save weight of the whole hood contraption attached to a sleeping bag next let's talk about down versus synthetic now when you hear somebody ask hey is your sleeping bag a down bag or a synthetic bag what they're referring to is the filler inside the sleeping bag down is very lightweight and it's very compressible so it's not going to take up as much space as a synthetic bag would inside your pack also it's long lasting if treated properly and it has a higher weight to warmth ratio than synthetic materials one of the negative aspects of using down is that when wet down loses its insulating properties so that could be troublesome if you're out in the middle of a several day stretch and that has been one of the major concerns of backpackers over time with using down bags so you do have to be careful not to get it wet they do however have treated down now so it's more water repellent or more water-resistant but if you get a full-on soaking you know it's it's not really going to help you that much but as far as dealing with condensation or just dampness it does help also when down gets wet it does take a while to dry because it tends to get clumpy so you really have to work with it this does mean that it can be more intensive to wash so you do have to have a front-loading washer to wash a down bag have to use special detergent that won't strip the down of its natural oils and then when you dry it some manufacturers say that you can put it in a dryer but some say that it needs to be air dried and that you have to separate the clumps as it's drying so it's not as easy to wash as a synthetic bag down is generally more expensive and then also if your bag gets holes you'll notice little feathers sneaking out here and there it's a synthetic bag if you get a hole you can usually worry about patching it later if you do decide to go with a synthetic bag they are usually a lot cheaper than down bags and they do maintain some of their insulating properties when wet but even if your synthetic bag does get soaked I don't know that it's a good idea to continue laying inside of it if it's freezing cold outside because of hypothermia be warned that synthetic bags are very heavy and bulky compared to down bags they don't last as long so the life of your synthetic bag isn't going to be as long as a Down bag and that's something to consider in the cost aspect when you have a down bag if you treat it well you're gonna maintain 90% of the loft for up to 30 years but with a synthetic bag you might maintain 90% of the warmth for about 10 years so with every option of backpacking gear there always pros and cons but I will say that most backpackers opt for down bags because they're so lightweight compact and they do last a long time if you treat them properly if you decide to go with down you might notice something called fill power while you're shopping for a bag maybe you'll see 700 fill or 900 fill and what this means is that if you were to take the down that's in that bag and put it in a cylinder whatever that number is that's how much volume in cubic inches the down would take up in space so in other words if you were to take 700 fill power down and dump it in a big cylinder it would take up 700 cubic inches of volume so the higher the fill number the more lofty or fluffy and also the higher the warmth to weight ratio next let's talk about temperature rating I remember when I was picking out my sleeping bag for the 80 PCT and even on the CDT I wondered what temperature rating do I need from a sleeping bag so that I'm comfortable when I at night and if you're wondering the same thing the best answer for that is it depends and I know people hate that answer but it's really true it's gonna depend are you a warm sleeper or a cold sleeper what kind of weather are you gonna be in what kind of clothes are you sleeping in do you have a warm sleeping pad it's just all of these factors that go into a sleep system so the temperature rating of your sleeping bag just plays one part in this whole thing and then comes the issue of how do you know if all temperature ratings of different manufacturers are created equal prior to 2005 there was no real standard that sleeping bags were tested by there is a standard today but not all manufacturers go by it but there does exist one and it's called the en / ISO standard and the way that this works is there are three ranges of temperature there's the comfortable range where an average woman would be comfortable sleeping not in a fetal position but you know in a normal relaxed position in the sleeping bag then there's the transition range and this range is where an average man would kind of be fighting the cold in this temperature range will be kind of curled up but he's not shivering or uncomfortably cold but you know he is kind of curled up and and is more or less you know okay at that temperature and then there's the extreme or risk range where really you should not be in that sleeping bag unless it's like a survival situation and that's really all that you have because at that point there is a risk of hypothermia the reason that these ranges exist is because not everyone's going to be comfortable at a certain one number because again there are so many factors that play into this so the rating of the bag is something to definitely be mindful of when you see that number you need to know if the rating is 20 degrees am I going to be comfortable at 20 degrees are you saying I will just survive at 20 degrees and if you talk to the manufacturer look on the website a lot of times in the frequently asked questions if they don't directly go by that Ian / ISO standard then they can give you some kind of relation based on feedback from people or their own testing that they've done so if you have an idea of exactly what that temperature rating means I also encourage you to do additional research so read reviews on what people have to say with their experience with a certain bag maybe they will tell you hey I'm a cold sleeper but I was warm in these temperatures in this certain temperature rating bag you can read blogs and find this information and also there are a lot of groups and forms on Facebook including my own the homemade wanderlust backpacking forum there are a lot of people in there that have a ton of experience backpacking and might be similar to you in the way that you sleep and if you post in there a question about a specific sleeping bag somebody in there might have some feedback that it could help you realize yes this bag will work for me or no it will not and one more thing that I want to say about temperature rating of bags is that 5 degrees to 29 degrees is usually the typical range for what is considered a three-season bag and both of the bags that I used on my through hacks have been in that range on the 80 I had a 23 degree sleeping bag and then on the PCT and CDT I used a 10 degree sleeping bag and finally just a note on the outer materials of the sleeping bag so not the fill but the material itself you'll notice that most sleeping bags are made of nylon or polyester and you might notice a number with the letter D next to it which stands for denier and that's just thickness of the threading and water resistance ties into that also so most ultralight backpacking sleeping bags are going to be anywhere from 10 to 20 D and that just means that the 20 D is gonna be a little bit more durable and again water-resistant than the 10 D this is not really something to stress over or not necessarily a deciding factor when I choose my sleeping bags but I just wanted to mention it so if you see it while you're doing some sleeping bag shopping you'll understand what it means now let's talk about quilts they're becoming more and more popular in the backpacking community because they're generally more lightweight and usually a little bit cheaper too so you can think of a quilt as basically like a sleeping bag but has less material and no zipper if you think about when you're lying down on your back in a sleeping bag you're usually compressing the down behind you so it's not really insulating your bag so the idea what the quilt is to remove that unnecessary material from the back and you they use straps to strap around your sleeping pad that way it prevents any drafts from getting in while you're trying to sleep and I have been cautioned that if you're a side sleeper you really need to make sure that the quilt is wide enough to wrap around you if you're on your side because it's gonna take a little more material to cover you on your side then if you lay on your back in addition to being more lightweight quilts are usually more packable because again there is less material also they offer more versatility for temperature control while you're sleeping so if you tend to get hot while you're asleep then you can more easily kind of hang a leg out or flop down part of the quilt to keep yourself cool at night I've also heard that quilts are more comfortable if you tend to toss and turn in your sleep because you're not having to worry about where the zipper is on your bag and keeping that under you to trap more heat you're not like squeezed inside of this mummy bag and you know you feel like a little caterpillar trying to turn over it's just more easy to move your body inside of the quilt that's strapped to your sleeping pad quilts are also great for ham making just because it's a little more easy to get into the quilt in your hammock instead of the sleeping bag I've been a little hesitant to do a test run on a quilt just because I feel like they would be more drafty than a sleeping bag and I'm a very cold sleeper but I think this summer on the PCT when I head back out there I'm gonna give it a try and I personally am going to opt for a sewn foot box so it seems that you can choose either a non sewn foot box or a sewn foot box and I think that that's gonna help me transition into trying a quilt a little easier knowing that I don't have to worry about the materials saying tucked up under my sleeping pad at my feet because that's where you need to worry about trapping some warmth to stay warm at night so me personally I'm gonna opt for that but there are options another general concern about quilts is that they're supposed to be paired with a sleeping pad so if you use an inflatable sleeping pad and it ends up popping then you could really end up being cold at night if you have to lie directly on the ground but even with a sleeping bag like I was mentioning before you compress that material under you so you're really not gonna get a whole lot of insulation anyway if you've been hesitant to try a quilt like me but you're interests in potentially making that transition ee or enlightened equipment apparently has a bag quilt hybrid called the convert and basically it just unzips and can be used like a quilt or it can zip up and be used like a sleeping bag so something to check out if you're interested sleeping pads let's talk about those there are generally three types that you will see when searching for a backpacking sleeping pad and that is a closed cell foam pad a self inflating pad and then your typical inflatable sleeping pad first let's talk about the closed cell foam pads now these things are pretty much bulletproof you'll see them where they either roll up or they fold up accordion style these sleeping pads are relatively cheap they run anywhere from like $10 to $50 for a decent closed cell foam pad one of the great things about these sleeping pads is that they're lightweight and you can cut them to size so if you decide I'm gonna prop up my feet on my pack while I sleep at night so I can really cut off the material that goes from my knees to my feet then you can save a lot of weight so you can customize them to be the exact size you want them to be you can typically expect these pads to weigh less than a pound they're great to have if you just want to relax and take a break you don't have to worry about it popping and when I used a foam pad on the Appalachian Trail I always loved this part because I didn't have to sit on the ground and prepare my lunch on the dirt I could just chill out on my closed-cell foam pad and cook my food and it was just nice to be able to throw it down and not really worry about it being destroyed the worst thing about closed-cell foam pads in my opinion is that they are just not comfortable especially if you're anything but a back sleeper now I know there are exceptions to every rule and I'm sure there are some people who sleep on their side or on their stomach that are able to do so on a closed cell foam pad but for me personally after several hundred miles on the Appalachian Trail I decided I cannot sleep anymore at night if I don't upgrade my sleeping pads also they're kind of bulky so inflatable sleeping pads are easily rolled and put inside your pack with the closed cell foam pads they generally have to be strapped to the outside of the pack because they're too bulky to fit inside but again they're durable so you don't really have to worry about them getting torn up because they're on the outside of your pack self inflating pads are a mixture between a closed cell foam pad and your typical inflatable pad the way they work is that you open the valve and then air flows in and you can always adjust it and add more if you would like self inflating pads are known to be a little more comfortable than your typical closed cell foam pad but maybe not quite as comfortable and as cushiony as an inflatable pad these pads aren't going to be as durable as a closed cell foam pad so you do have to worry about them popping and they're also pretty heavy and bulky typically heavier than a pound and they're gonna run you anywhere from fifty to a hundred dollars well I have seen some self inflating pads being used on trail it is much more common to see a closed cell foam pad or a regular inflatable pad and finally the third option is an inflatable pad and in my opinion these are the most comfortable they're pretty much a side sleepers dream the way they work is they have a little valve that you either blow up with your mouth or some of them come with little air sacs that you just catch air in this little bag and roll it and push air into the sleeping pad also you can get these little battery portable pumps that if you don't want to blow up your sleeping pad for a few ounces you can have that as a luxury item I actually saw dibs one of my friends from the Pacific Crest Trail use one of those and I was kind of jealous in the evenings but it just wasn't worth the extra weight to me but that is an option while most inflatable pads are more lightweight than self inflating pad some of them are gonna run a little heavier than your closed cell foam pads I would say as a general rule of thumb you can expect close to a pound but they do have some pretty lightweight options on the Pacific Crest Trail I use the NeoAir extra light and the regular length is 12 ounces and then the shorter one that I used on the CDT only weighed eight ounces now with this a sleeping pad only covered from about my head to my knees and I just slept with my legs and feet on my pack and now they had this NeoAir uber light that I really want to try this summer it's only eight point eight ounces for the regular length and the short one that again would cover from like your head to your knees is only six ounces so that's actually lighter than the sleeping pad that I used on the Appalachian Trail while the inflatable pads might sound like the perfect answer there are of course some negative aspects that could exist if you use one of these for example the inflatable sleeping pads are not going to be as durable as a closed cell foam pad so you can end up popping one and if you don't have a patch kit that you might have a pretty uncomfortable night of sleep I have had a sleeping pad pop once on the Pacific Crest Trail and once on the Continental Divide Trail but both times I was able to patch it in the field and it continued to function just fine until I finished my through hack some people complain that inflatable sleeping pads make too much noise and they sound like you're sleeping on a bag of Fritos or something for me having my hip not dig into the ground was way more important than the sound but it's all about personal preference the biggest drawback in my opinion of the inflatable sleeping pads is that they are pretty expensive they'll generally run you anywhere from 100 to 200 dollars something to keep in mind though regardless of the type of sleeping pad that you use is that not all sleeping pads are created equal in warmth so you'll notice that often times the ability of a sleeping pad to keep you insulated and warm is going to be measured by what is called the r-value the higher the r-value the warmer the sleeping pad and I know some of you are wondering well what our value do I need from a sleeping pad well again that depends on the temperature that you'll be hiking in on the temperature rating of your sleeping bag etc etc but it is a general rule of thumb that for three season backpacking so spring summer and fall that you would want and our value of two or higher are y'all well that covers the basics of sleep systems if y'all have any questions about what I talked about today if I wasn't clear enough or something was confusing please feel free to comment below and leave your question and I'll be sure to answer those also if you are a more experienced backpacker and you have found a sleep system that works perfectly for you in certain conditions please feel free to share that also because there are folks who are just beginning that might can benefit from learning about your experience and you know if you're a cold sleeper or warm sleeper and why what you do works for you so I just want all of us to be able to help each other here because I know that it can seem like a lot when you're first getting into this you know all of the folks who are experienced backpackers at one time we're freaking out about the details you know what our value should I have or what temperature rating do I need so I completely understand just don't get too bogged down in the details where you have like analysis paralysis and you don't get out there so I want all of us here in this community to help each other out so more folks can get out and enjoy nature and backpacking thank y'all so much for watching today don't forget to subscribe if you enjoy the content of this channel and we will see y'all next time you

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 259,437

Rating: 4.9190998 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic

Id: gX-U28GqR_E

Length: 20min 53sec (1253 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2019