How to Read Sleeping Bag Temperature Rating
(Final Updated On: December 8, 2020)
When it's time to shop for a new sleeping purse, there are two master considerations for selecting the right bag for you: type of insulation (read about why we retrieve you should avoid down) and temperature rating. Every handbag has the latter, ordinarily right in the proper noun of the bag, but those numbers may not hateful what you think they hateful. In fact, they could be up to 20º off, pregnant you could exist spending a very chilly dark in the woods if you're non conscientious! So allow united states to enlighten yous. Right here, right now, nosotros'll pause downward sleeping bag temperature ratings and help you find the correct sleeping bag for you by explaining what the temperature ratings actually hateful. That way, you can slumber comfortably in the neat outdoors any time of twelvemonth.
Agreement Sleeping Pocketbook Temperature Ratings
In the name and clarification of every sleeping bag on the market place, in that location will be a number, like in the REI Zephyr 20 or Marmot Trestles Elite Eco 30. About numberless–at to the lowest degree for those of united states of america not attempting to elevation Everest–will exist rated between 0º-55º. Simple enough, right? You'd likely desire a 55º handbag for warmer summertime temperatures when you lot won't demand equally much insulation to continue your tootsies warms and a 15º bag for cooler autumn or wintertime nights, correct? Mayhap. Only it's not always and then simple. Basically, that temperature rating that first catches your eye may non mean what yous think it means.
For example, If you look at the temperature ratings for a bag with a standard EN rating, there will be 2 numbers: a "comfort limit" and a "lower limit". The lower limit will probably match the number in the name of the bag. In a unisex bag, The lower limit is the coldest temperature at which a man volition likely feel comfortable. But the "comfort limit" is the lowest temp at which a adult female volition probable sleep comfortably. And that comfort rating is usually 10º-20º college than the lower limit, (pregnant a unisex bag rated as a 15º purse will probably only be comfortable downwardly to 27º for a woman)! Which explains why Josh feels cozy in his 20º bag most downwards to 20º while I start shivering in the same exact pocketbook at 35º or 40º…
It too explains why women's specific numberless from the exact aforementioned brand are both bigger and heavier than the same men's model–because to offer the same temperature rating, they do, in fact, require more than insulation!
Information technology's as well of import to go on in mind that the labeled temperature rating on your bag isn't commonly the optimal operation temp of the purse; it's where things start getting a fiddling too chilly for comfort. Meaning if 30º is the lower limit, past the time temps actually reach 30º, you could exist quite dank. So if yous regularly camp in 30º temps, maybe opt for a pocketbook that's rated for colder conditions to proceed you lot as comfortable as possible.
I say unremarkably considering to brand things fifty-fifty more than disruptive, some bags (by and large women'due south bags from REI), rate the pocketbook with the comfort rating, not the lower limit rating. Basically, you but have to dig into the description and specs to notice out if that'due south the case.
To further complicate things, non all outdoor gear manufacturers utilise the same rating arrangement. Big Agnes, for case, uses their own contained rating organisation; yous merely accept to go by the stated temp in the proper noun of the bag (the Sunbeam 15º, for example, has a lower limit rating of 15º) and trust that it's authentic as it wasn't third-party certified. Marmot, on the other hand, just publishes one temperature, which customers have to presume is the lower limit).
To farther further complicate things, these numbers don't account for what type of tent or sleeping pad you'll be using (some sleeping pads, similar insulated pads (which nosotros wrote about in this post) or closed-cell foam pads, will keep you warmer than many inflatable pads) or how many layers yous take on, and they certainly don't consider whether yous accept a fast metabolism or less built-in insulation (aka fat) and slumber colder than your same-gendered camping buddies. So basically, sleeping handbag temperature ratings are more or less simply a rough estimate. Even Big Agnes states that temperature ratings are highly subjective! Plus, a sleeping pocketbook's temp rating is based on a person who is wearing a base of operations layer and socks and is using an insulated pad with an R-value of approximately 5.5 (which usually consists of an insulated pad stacked with a closed cell foam pad).
That said, now that y'all have a chip of insider knowledge as to how the whole convoluted rating system works, hopefully yous tin choice a sleeping bag with confidence. And too, you know, not freeze to death on your next camping ground trip and spend the unabridged night wondering why…
Did we help demystify sleeping pocketbook temperature ratings for you? Did you learn about the convoluted system the hard way? Let us know in the comments! Want a list of synthetic sleeping bags organized by temperature rating? Cheque out this postal service. And then go out in that location and spend a few nights sleeping under the stars. Wander on!
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