Marmot Down Sleeping Bag

If staying warm when camping or backpacking is an issue it is hard to beat the warmth and comfort of a Marmot down sleeping bag. With 30 years of sleeping bag design behind them Marmot produces down bags that are light weight, durable, and most importantly warm.

There are some major advantages and a few disadvantages to using a down filled sleeping bag. First we’ll look at the advantages.

Weight - The first thing you’ll notice about a down filled bag is its weight. Down bags are normally much lighter then a synthetic bag when you compare the warmth to material ratio. While this might not be much to think about when car camping, backpackers know that lighter bag is important when it comes to saving weight.

Warmth – It’s hard to match down’s weight to warmth ratio, which explains why geese seem to be immune to even the coldest temperatures. Down is simply a better insulator then any man made fiber and will make cold nights in the outdoors a thing of the past.

Compactness – With the help of a stuff sack many down bags can be compressed down to the size of a small toaster. It’s hard to match that with a synthetic bag. So you can not only save weight but also space in your backpack.

The one major disadvantage of using a down sleeping bag is moisture. If you plan on camping in very wet conditions most of the time a synthetic bag will work better because down will lose its insulating ability if it gets wet. Fortunately this is not as much of a problem with modern down sleeping bags as they are made with water resistant or water proof outer linings.

You will pay more for a Marmot down sleeping bag but the trade off in warmth, comfort, weight savings, and compacting ability more then makes up for the price difference between a down filled bag and a synthetic bag.