Appreciation post: That REI sleeping bag weight rating I never believed

I was packing for a trip up in the Sierras last month and finally checked the tag on my old sleeping bag. It said the comfort rating was 20 degrees, but I always figured that was marketing hype. Then I actually looked up the EN rating standard online and read how they test these things with a mannequin and sensors in a lab. Turns out my bag was tested to actually keep a average sleeper warm at 22 degrees, not just the survival limit. I slept out at 6,000 feet near Bishop when it dropped to 27 and I was totally fine in just a base layer. Has anyone else had a sleeping bag surprise them after actually looking at the test data?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretc423d ago

Totally feel you on this one, idk why it took me so long to trust the numbers either. I had this old bag I used for years at like 30 degrees and always shivered half the night until I checked the EN rating and realized it was way more capable than I gave it credit for. Actually tested it out on a cold spring trip and was shocked how warm I stayed with just a pad and a liner. Makes you wonder how much gear we're just winging it on when the test data is right there.

shane1703d ago

A static model lying still in a lab? No way.

colegarcia3d ago

You mentioned "shocked how warm I stayed" and that's the part that gets me, because I think we're all conditioned to assume comfort comes from thick, puffy gear when really it's about the seal and the draft collar doing their job. Nobody talks about the bag's shape relative to your body either, like if you're a side sleeper in a mummy bag that's too narrow, the loft gets compressed and the rating goes out the window. I actually started sleeping warmer when I switched to a quilt and just focused on pad insulation underneath, because the EN test doesn't account for how much you toss around. It's wild how much of this stuff is based on a static model of a person lying perfectly still in a lab, not a real human sweating and rolling all night. That old bag you had was probably fine once you figured out the right pad, but the industry wants us to buy new ones every year instead of just learning how to use what we've got.