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Why a Compact Sleeping Bag Is Great When You Want to Travel Light

If you’re a fan of hiking, and you like to explore wilderness terrain, canyons and similarly remote locations, then there’s a good chance that finding space in your pack is important. A compact sleeping bag is a great choice to ensure that you can do just that. Here are a few hints and tips about why you should consider a compact sleeping bag, and what to look out for.

What Is a Compact Sleeping Bag?
As the name suggests, a compact or compressible sleeping bag is a lightweight bag, which takes up the minimum in terms of volume. That means that when you’re packing your hiking kit, there’s more space for essentials in your pack. It’s also lighter, which makes lugging that pack for miles, through rough terrain, a whole lot easier.

What to Look For
When you’re buying a compact sleeping bag, chances are you will be bombarded with choices. Fabrics, shape and many other factors will all differ from bag to bag, as will weight and packed volume.

Your best bet is to look at down compact sleeping bags first – they’re lighter, and compress more than synthetic fiber filled bags. Compact sleeping bags filled with down also ‘bounce back’ better after being compressed, and for their relative weight, they’re warmer, and more comfortable.

Once you’ve narrowed the search this way, look for a compact sleeping bag that offers the best thermal rating, while still maintaining a low weight and volume. That way, you should be all set for a comfortable sleep, no matter where you hike to!

Other Features
Some of the better compact sleeping bags out there offer various features, in addition to a light weight and low volume. Some of these are:

The Northface Beeline. A superlight compact sleeping bag, which weighs only two pounds, and has a high quality down fill. For its price, it’s one of the best out there.

The Marmot Arroyo, which is another down bag, but this one in a mummy style, that zips up tight for extra warmth. It’s also water repellant, so it’s perfect for less than ideal weather conditions.

The Rei Halo bag is the third of our top choices, especially if you are tall. Among the many features of this compact sleeping bag is that you can order it in an extra long length – great if you’re taller!

There are, of course, countless other compact sleeping bags on the market, all of which offer pros and cons. Whichever you do choose, however, remember the golden rules of caring for a sleeping bag: get yourself a stuff sack, that allows you to pack that compact sleeping bag extra tight, and keep it dry – there’s nothing worse than a wet or damp sleeping bag!
Hopefully, this article will make figuring out whether a compact sleeping bag is for you a little easier, and when you’ve come to the decision, make buying one easier too.