10 Best Thru-Hiking Sleeping Bags and Quilts

When choosing the best sleeping bag or quilt for your thru-hike, you want it to be warm enough for the lowest temperatures you might encounter on your hike, pack down small, and not be too big or heavy to carry for weeks or months on end. The major factors to consider are as follows:

• Down vs synthetic insulation. Down bags pack down much smaller than synthetic ones, so you can carry more water or food between resupplies.
• Warmth-to-weight ratio. High fill-power down will pack smaller and stay warmer with a lower weight but will also cost more.
• Sleeping bag vs quilt. This is all about preference. Quilts offer more freedom of movement but can be drafty. Sleeping bags are more protected but can be bulkier and more confining.

Here are the best sleeping bags and quilts for thru-hiking, listed in no particular order.

1. REI Magma 15

2. Western Mountaineering Versalite 10

3. Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 Quilt

4. Sea-to-Summit Ascent 15 Sleeping Bag

5. Katabatic Gear Alsek 22 Quilt

6. Zenbivy Ultralight Bed

7. Feathered Friends Flicker UL 20

8. Feathered Friends Egret UL 20 (women’s)

9. Enlightened Equipment Convert

10. Marmot Helium 15

Thru-Hiking Sleeping Bag and Backpacks Quilts

Temperature ratings

Like we said above, most three-season thru-hikers will be perfectly comfortable with a 20-degree sleeping bag—be sure to check the R-value of your sleeping pad to make sure it complements the bag’s rating. If the weather gets colder, you can throw on a beanie or a jacket in the sleeping bag. If it gets warmer, unzip the bag for venting. We’ve listed mostly 20-degree bags in this roundup, and since the majority of models have a high-loft fill, you aren’t getting a major weight penalty by going warmer than a 32-degree bag.

It’s important to understand the nuances of sleeping bag temperature ratings. Most companies two ratings for sleeping bags: a comfort limit rating and lower limit rating.

• Comfort rating indicates the temperature at which a cold sleeper might feel comfortable. This is the temperature rating most brands use on women’s bags.
• Lower limit rating (which is always lower than the comfort rating) indicates the temperature at which a warm sleeper might still feel comfortable. This is the temperature rating brands use on men’s bags.

Many manufacturers use the lower limit in the model name, which can make this somewhat confusing. For instance, when you read the fine print, the Therm-a-Rest Hyperion 20 actually has a lower limit of 20 degrees, and a comfort limit of 32 degrees. So when you buy the Hyperion 20, you probably won’t be super warm at 20 degrees.

There’s always a grey area in temperature ratings. Some people sleep colder, some like to wear a down coat to sleep in no matter what. Aside from checking the ratings and making sure you know what the bag’s comfort limit is, spend time reading the reviews and ensuring it’s accurately rated.

Be aware that some companies do not publish comfort and limit ratings for their sleeping bags. The two most notable of these are Western Mountaineering and Feathered Friends. These are both small companies that can’t afford the testing process. Rest assured that their sleeping bags are as warm as they say they are. Both are arguably the best sleeping bag manufacturers in the business and are favorites with thru-hikers and backpackers alike.

Unlike sleeping bags, there isn’t an independent standardized test to measure the warmth of a backpacking quilt. If you sleep cold, we recommend getting a quilt rated 10 or even 20 degrees colder than you expect to need or to be reading to augment the warmth of your quilt with a sleeping bag liner or extra insulated clothing.

Warmth-to-weight ratio

A higher loft down will pack smaller and stay warmer with a lower weight, but they will also cost more. Most of the top-end sleeping bags are at least 850-fill down these days, with some of the pricier models packing 900 or 950-fill down. The fill weight means how much down is inside the bag, and the fill power refers to the cubic inches of down loft that one ounce of that fill produces. If one ounce of fill results in more loft, that’s the higher-quality down. Synthetic sleeping bags are less common, as they don’t compress as small as down, though they do have the benefit of maintaining insulating properties when wet. Unless you’re in a very wet climate, most people will be fine with down insulation. Treated down and a water-resistant face fabric will also help keep you dry. The Enlightened Equipment Revelation APEX is an example of a synthetic-fill quilt.

Sleeping bags vs backpacking quilts

This is all about preference. Quilts offer more freedom of movement, but be aware of the width and know that some of the “standard” sizes might be too narrow to pull all the way around you. The idea behind a quilt is that the down underneath a sleeper isn’t actually doing anything to insulate, and the sleeping pad is all you need. You can save weight and bulk by choosing an open quilt without a full zipper. Be wary of the temperature rating with quilts, as some users find a 20-degree rated quilt will not be as warm as a 20-degree fully enclosed sleeping bag. Sleeping bags offer more protection, but some people find them constricting, and would rather be able to sprawl in their sleep. However, down fill and zipper weights are so advanced these days, that often the weight penalty of the enclosed bag and zipper is negligible, and worth the added protection.

Women’s sleeping bags vs men’s sleeping bags

A women’s-specific sleeping bag will often be shorter and more narrow than a men’s bag. This means less space to keep warm, and increased thermal efficiency overnight. The less effort you expend trying to keep your sleeping bag space warm with body heat, the more energy you’ll conserve. Women’s bags can also have different fill based on where women lose body heat and are shaped differently to accommodate women’s bodies. They can be narrower in the shoulders and wider in the hips, whereas men’s bags tend to narrow towards the hips and be wider in the shoulders.

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