Sleeping Bag Buying Guide - How to Buy Sleeping Bags

• Person's age, gender, level of health, and fitness
• Weather conditions: humidity, wind chill
• Other external conditions: Do you sleep in a tent? Do you use a sleeping mat?

1. Synthetic Sleeping Bags
   
   In general, Synthetic Sleeping Bags are much cheaper than Down Sleeping Bags. In addition, they are much easier to wash and dry more quickly if the Sleeping Bag becomes wet. However, compared to the Down Sleeping Bags, they are bulkier and have more weight.
   
   For those on a budget and who want to wash a bag regularly, those who will be using the bag in a very damp environment (e.g. sailing, rain forest or caving), and those who are allergic to Down, a Synthetic Sleeping Bag may be the right choice.
   
   
2. Down Sleeping Bags
   
   Down Sleeping Bags are lighter and less bulky than a Synthetic Sleeping Bag. They also have a longer service life - about twice as long as that from a Synthetic Sleeping Bag. In general, a Down Sleeping Bag feels much softer and more pleasant than a Synthetic one and covers a wider range of conditions. Two disadvantages are the costs of these Down Sleeping Bags and the more complicated cleaning process. Cleaning needs to be done much more carefully: either with the dry cleaner or at home with a very careful and time-consuming cleaning process. More of that on the Sleeping Bags Care and Maintenance section.
   
   Down Sleeping Bags are the first choice for people who want the very best warmth-to-weight ratio, those who need a very warm bag ( -15ºC or lower?), those who want a longer lasting bag, and those who prefer the feel and comfort of Down.
   
   

• Fillpower
  
  The fillpower is a measure of how much space a set sample of Down occupies in cubic inches, and hence how much insulation it will provide for it's weight - e.g. a 30g sample of Down with a fillpower of 600+ will occupy a minimum of 600 cubic inches. Therefore, the higher the fillpower, the better the performance of the bag. Be aware, however, that the way in which American companies calculate fillpower differs from the European method, resulting in slightly higher figures.


• Construction Methods
  
  Down is a loose material and needs to be held in separate compartments to ensure that it is distributed evenly (and hence gives a uniform level of insulation) throughout the Sleeping Bag. There are many different construction methods used by manufactures. Methods like stitched-through construction are cheap and simple, but still allow cold spots to form. Methods like V-baffle and trapezoidal construction offer much better Down distribution and resistance to Down shift, but are much more time consuming (and hence costly) to manufacture.