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Buying Guides
Sleeping Bag Guide | How to Choose the Best Sleeping Bag
Helping you find the perfect sleeping bag.
Choosing the right sleeping bag is crucial for a comfortable night's sleep in the outdoors. With many features and technical details to consider, finding the best sleeping bag for your chosen activity can be challenging. This guide will help you understand the key factors to consider when choosing your sleeping bag and introduce you to our range of down and synthetic insulated sleeping bags.
Sleeping bags we offer & who they’re best for
Our range of synthetic and down filled sleeping bags are perfectly adapted for whatever conditions you face, no matter the activity. They ensure comfort, protection, and reliable warmth in the most extreme of environments.
This part of our guide will help you find the perfect bag for you, depending on where you take your bag or what you do with it.
Extreme Series | Down Sleeping Bags
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Extreme Expedition
Engineered for the most hostile environments on Earth.
Ideal For: Polar and greater ranges expeditions.
Products: Redline, Iceline, Snowline
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Extreme Alpine
Designed for alpinism's leading edge.
Ideal For: Alpine climbing and expeditions.
Products: Kryos, Xeros
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Extreme Light
Our lightest, warmest sleeping bags for the best possible warmth-to-weight and pack size.
Ideal For: Backpacking, trekking, climbing, ultralight hiking, bikepacking
Products: Xenith
Down Filled Sleeping Bags
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Helium Series
Outstanding all-round performance.
Ideal For: All mountain, backpacking and mountaineering.
Products: Helium, Helium GT
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Glacier Series
Developed for all-round performance and protection in unreliable conditions.
Ideal For: Mountaineering, expeditions and trekking.
Products: Glacier, Glacier Expedition
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Olympus Series
A perfect first down bag for warmer months that still has enough insulation for the cooler nights of late Spring and early Autumn.
Ideal For: Camping and backpacking.
Products: Olympus
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Transalp Series
A lightweight sleeping bag to help free up space on your travels.
Ideal For: Hut-to-hut tours and travelling.
Products: Transalp
Synthetic Filled Sleeping Bags
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Klimatic Series
Reliably warm, easy to care for and able to cope with unpredictable conditions. Perfect as an upgrade or your first performance orientated bag.
Ideal For: Backpacking and camping.
Products: Klimatic
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Lunar Series
A superb introduction to the Mountain Equipment sleeping bag range with a simple, lightweight and fully featured sleeping bag.
Ideal for: Backpacking, travel and camping.
Products: Lunar
Key factors to consider when choosing a Sleeping Bag
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Temperature rating & seasonality
It's essential to choose a sleeping bag with a temperature rating suited to your intended use. While you don't want to be shivering, it's equally important to avoid being too warm or carrying a sleeping bag that's too big and heavy for your trip. Align your sleeping bag choice with the seasons and weather you'll be sleeping in, ensuring it provides adequate warmth for the expected conditions.
There are 3 standard temperature ratings quoted on all our bags:
- Comfort: Where a "standard woman" with a relaxed posture is just not feeling cold
- Limit: Where a "standard man" with a curled-up posture is just not feeling cold
- Extreme: Where a risk of health damage to a “standard woman” by hypothermia occurs
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They type of insualtion. Down or Synthetic
Down Insulation: Offers excellent warmth-to-weight ratio and compressibility. However, its performance can diminish in wet conditions unless properly protected.
Synthetic Insulation: Generally more affordable and performs better in wet conditions, though it may be bulkier and heavier than down.
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Shape & fit
A well-fitted sleeping bag ensures better heat retention and comfort. We have a number of different fits to suit all activities as well as bags with regular and long lengths. Women have different requirements than men so many of our bags have a women’s specific shape and specification.
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Weight & packability
For light and fast alpine objectives, a lightweight and compressible sleeping bag is crucial to minimise pack weight and space. Whereas, if you’re on a month-long expedition or simply car camping, the weight and size will be less important.
When choosing which sleeping bag to get, consider the trade-off between a bag's warmth and its weight; the warmer the bag, likely, the heavier and bigger it will be. Certain advanced construction methods can help find the perfect balance.
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Construction & other features
The way a sleeping bag is constructed significantly impacts its durability, ability to maintain warmth in wet conditions, and weight. We use more complex construction methods than any other brand to ensure even warmth throughout the sleeping bag.
Additional features can also enhance comfort and functionality. For instance, a well-designed hood can provide extra warmth, while draft collars prevent heat loss.
To learn more about how we construct our sleeping bags and all the other small details we consider, head to our blog and use the "Product Development" & "Sleeping Bag" tags to find all the relevant information.
Good Night’s Sleep Temperature & Guarantee
We provide a “Good Night's Sleep Temperature” rating for our sleeping bags, in addition to standard temperature ratings. Based on scientific testing and extensive field trials, this rating indicates the minimum temperature at which we believe an experienced user will be comfortable.
We’re so confident in our rating that our "Good Night's Sleep Guarantee" ensures that if your sleeping bag isn't warm enough, you can upgrade to a warmer one, only paying the difference to the new bag.
DOWN CODEX®
Since its inception in 2009, DOWN CODEX® has been the leading programme for down-sourcing across the outdoor industry.
With our individual ‘Trace My Down’ codes, users can access detailed information about the down used, giving them greater knowledge about Mountain Equipment products.
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Get some sleep, tomorrow is a big day.
Sleeping bags can be the difference between a comfortable night's sleep and suffering through the night.
