Sleeping Bag FAQs

Down is the unrivaled king of sleeping bag insulations, and most outdoorsmen (and women!) will not consider anything else. It is natural, extremely light, has excellent loft (fluffiness) and heat transfer resistance (r-value), is very compressible and will last a lifetime. Care must be taken because down doesn't insulate when it gets wet and wet down can't be remedied in the middle of a cold, wet night.

Synthetic insulation is extremely durable, transfers moisture away from the body, can insulate fairly well even when wet, and is less expensive than down. Water can be wrung out of soaked synthetic insulation to restore decent insulative quality to get you through a miserable night. A synthetic bag will be heavier and pack larger than a down bag of the same temperature rating.

Horror stories about the ruinous effects of wet down have circulated for years, but I think the stories are overblown and were probably told originally by the makers of cheapo synthetic bags. The exterior/shell fabrics of premium goose down sleeping bags are wonderfully water-resistant, and anyone can keep the insulation dry by applying a little common sense to their situation.

Goose-down purists have long eschewed synthetics for being inefficient insulators as well as being bulky and heavy. However, synthetics have improved greatly and are closing in on goose-down in just about every category. The nod still goes to goose-down, but if cost is a big factor, or if you are allergic to down, there are some great synthetic alternatives.

Ruined? Nope. Not true at all. In fact, your annual care of your down bag will probably involve a good soaking.

Wet goose down will ruin your night - no doubt about that - but it won't ruin your sleeping bag. Goose down isn't the Wicked Witch of the West; it doesn't melt when it comes in contact with water.

Customers routinely tell me that they don't want a down sleeping bag because "it's no good if it gets wet." They say this as if their sleeping bag is likely to get wet. Weird expectation if you ask me. Geez, I live in Western Washington and my goose down bags have never gotten wet.

The shell fabrics of Big Agnes bags are water resistant, as are the standard stuff sacks, and precautions can be taken to keep a bag dry even in very wet conditions. If you transport your sleeping bag in a dry sack (or even just line your regular stuff sack with a plastic garbage bag) and lay it out in a waterproof tent, how is it going to get wet?

If you know your bag is going to be exposed to moisture often - if you usually camp in dense fog out on the coast, high humidity in the tropics, continual rain wherever, a puddle in a lousy tent, or you're just super careless or have incontinence - you should go with synthetic insulation. Otherwise, get down.

If your bag's down insulation does get wet, stick it in a large dryer on low heat for 20-30 minutes. If the bag was soaked, put it in a front-loader washer and put it through a SPIN cycle to expel most of the water, then put it in the dryer and figure on a couple hours at the laundry mat. Bring a good book. Pull the bag out of the dryer every five minutes and fluff it up, gently pulling apart any large clumps of down you can feel. That "ruined" bag will be as good as new.

Clumping is a pretty common problem, especially on longer trips. Goose down needs to dry and loft (fluff up) frequently, but on long trips that's sometimes neglected. Here's what happens: The down absorbs some moisture from your body during the night; you stuff the bag into its stuff sack in the morning (trapping the moisture inside); it stays in the stuff sack all day; and then you get into it at night and add more moisture to the down. If it goes on like that day after day, night after night, it won't take long for the moistened down clusters to mass into clumps.

To prevent such clumping while on a trip, take time every day to let the bag bask in the sun and expel any moisture. Turn it inside out, fluff it up, let it breathe. But don't overdo the sun treatment - the UV rays can damage the shell fabric. If you nap during the day, don't lie on top of the sleeping bag - open it up and lie on the interior or directly on your sleeping pad. Also, lay out your sleeping bag at least a half hour before you go to bed to let the down loft up.

To remedy the clumping you presently have in your bag, put the bag in a commercial dryer (you know, like at a laundromat) and dry its lowest heat setting for 20-30 minutes, taking it out every five minutes or so to fluff the down and gently pull apart the clumps. Consult Big Agnes' sleeping bag care info at http://www.bigagnes.com/sleeping_bag_care.pdf

That's like saying you'd rather carry a pound of lead because a pound of gold is too heavy for you, or you'd rather have electric heat because gas heat is too warm for you. A down bag with a 20° rating won't keep you any warmer than a synthetic bag with a 20° degree rating. Insulation does not generate heat, so one insulation isn't warmer than another. A pound of lead is the same weight as a pound of gold.

A lot of us remember those old down-filled military mummy bags from the 1940's and 1950's. What we remember about them is how damned warm they were, and because of that we've long equated goose-down with extreme warmth. But the reality is that those bags weren't warm because of the type but because of the amount of insulation used in them. In most cases, they were rated for zero or sub-zero temperatures.

Stick with synthetic if you want, but not because down is too warm. I mean, you should come up with a better reason than that. For instance, one that makes sense.

Don't your just hate that?!! Believe me, just about everyone has experienced a sleeping bag that doesn't seem to measure up to its claimed temperature rating. This is the rule of thumb: get a bag with a temp rating at least 15 degrees lower than you ever expect to camp in. Is 40 degrees the coldest temperature you ever expect to camp in? Get a bag rated at 25 degrees or lower. Seriously.

Now, the above is just a rule of thumb and something we tell people just so they get the point: you can pretty much forget about being comfortable if the temperature drops to your sleeping bag's temperature rating. I've found that I can be comfortable in my 40 degree bag down to about the mid 40's, but start getting uncomfortable in my 15 degree bag when it gets to the low 30's. You'll have to figure out what works for you.

The temperature rating of a sleeping bag tells you the coldest temperature the "typical" person is likely to endure in the bag, not the coldest temperature they'll be comfortable in. In other words, the temperature rating is more about survival than comfort.

Thermal undies and/or a fleece or silk liner will be the most effective remedy to an under-performing sleeping bag.

Determining the temperature rating of a sleeping bag involves something called the r-factor - basically, a measurement of how effectively a particular material impedes the passage of heat, the "r" standing for "Resistance." The National Commercial & Industrial Insulation Standards Manual defines R-Value as a measure of the ability to retard heat flow rather than transmit it. The various insulations used in sleeping bags and sleeping pads have known r-values, so the manufacturers determine the sleeping bag's temperature rating based on calculations involving the r-value and the amount of insulation used. For the manufacturer, the temperature rating is just a matter of basic mathematics, but your comfort involves a much more complex calculus. In addition to an insulation's r-value, there are a lot of other factors that effect how you'll feel in your sleeping bag. These factors include elevation, humidity, the drop in night temperature relative to the day's heat, your circulation, hydration, and presence of alcohol in the bloodstream (yes, some riders have been known to drink alcohol), among others.

The most likely reason for being cold in a well-insulated sleeping bag is ground temperature. A sleeping bag offers virtually no protection against cold ground no matter what the bag's temperature rating is, so if you don't use a well-insulated sleeping pad, you're going to be cold. In fact, sleeping bag temperature ratings are based on using a 0° pad that allows no body heat to radiate groundward, so if you don't use a 0° pad (and most of us don't), your bag's temperature rating will be somewhat skewed.

Without a pad, your body heat is going to transfer right through the underside of your sleeping bag (the underside insulation will do virtually nothing), so there'll be a continual loss of the heat your body is generating. Without a sleeping pad, it's like you're trying to heat the planet instead of your sleep environment. A cot, hammock or non-insulated air mattress will be no better - heating the air circulating underneath you would be an even bigger task than heating the planet.

Body heat also escapes through the top of your head, which is like your body's chimney. Heat flows right out of it all the time. That's why cold-weather sleeping bags have hoods - to retain the heat that would otherwise escape via the top of your head. If your sleeping bag doesn't have a hood, you need a good stocking cap.

At rallies, I overhear people making disparaging remarks about mummy bags as they pass by our booth, evidently thinking that the bags we carry are mummy bags. Actually, we don't carry or dispaly any mummy bags at all. Every sleeping bag we display on this website and at events is rectangular. They might look like tapered mummy bags at first glance, but their footprints are rectangular. The mummy-like appearance is caused by the bags' generous cut through the chest and shoulders, not by a narrowing at the feet and head (the distinctive feature of a mummy bag). Many of the Big Agnes sleeping bags have two-tone color schemes that create the illusion of tapering where there is none.

Big Agnes makes some fine mummy bags, and we can always get you one if that's what you want, but we have found motorcycle riders to overwhelmingly prefer the roomier rectangular sleeping bags.

Big Agnes' cold-weather bags are hooded, and the hoods have a drawstring that creates that small breathing hole when fully cinched. The hoods work great, and I wouldn't want to be without one on cold nights, but you aren't stuck with that tiny opening - you can have it as open or as closed as you want, depending on conditions. You cinch the drawstring only if you need maximum heat retention. If you do not want to use the hood, you can lay your head on top of it or even sort of roll it out of the way.

It will depend on your dimensions, your range of movement when getting to the fetal position, and your bag's width and cut. A Big Agnes bag stays in one position - it won't fold, bend, curl or scrunch - so you can't inch-worm your way to a new location, use the bag as padding between your legs, sit upright while remaining in the zipped bag or, depending on the factors mentioned above, curl into the fetal position. These restrictions take some getting used to but are a small price to pay for staying on your pad all night.

Not to sound like a smartass or anything, but there is no such sleeping bag. All sleeping bag manufacturers expect their bags to be used in conjunction with a ground pad, and the temperature rating assigned to every bag in the industry is based on using a zero-degree pad! The bag's own underside insulation isn't even part of the equation because it is known to be useless! That "normal" sleeping bag you are talking about requires a sleeping pad no less than a Big Agnes sleeping bag does.

The underside insulation in sleeping bags has almost no value at all, and all manufacturers know that. It's simple physics. The insulation value of the sleeping bag's fill (down or synthetic) is based on lofting - the material's ability to fluff up and trap heat - but body weight eliminates loft and renders the insulation useless! That is, when you get into your sleeping bag and your body mashes down the underside fill material, body heat radiates groundward with almost no resistance.

Camping comfortably on the ground requires a pad both for cushioning and insulation no matter what kind of sleeping bag you have. The uniqueness of Big Agnes sleeping bags is not that they require a pad - all sleeping bags require a pad - but that they have a sleeve in which to insert the pad. The result is a sleeping bag that NEVER slides off its pad. Additionally, the sleeve/pad combination allows Big Agnes to eliminate the otherwise wasted underside insulation/fill, resulting in lighter, smaller-packing sleeping bags!

A "normal" sleeping bag does have an advantage over a Big Agnes sleeping bag if your sleeping pad springs a leak or you are otherwise forced to sleep without a pad. Unlike a Big Agnes, a "normal" sleeping bag has at least some underside fill that will provide slight cushioning.

Our decision to carry Big Agnes sleeping bags exclusively was based on two factors. First, they've solved the two biggest problems in the sleeping bag universe: 1) sliding off the pad and 2) wasted insulation on the underside of the bag. With Big Agnes, you're always on top of your pad and there's no wasted insulation.

Second, the guys behind Big Agnes are hardcore wilderness recreation fanatics who are like fish out of water around motorcycle riders, yet they are making an effort to understand us and meet our camping equipment needs. At our invitation, one of Big Agnes' owners joined us for a few days when FTC launched at Sturgis, and their sales manager has hung out with us at Sturgis, Street Vibrations, Laughlin, Arizona Bike Week, a couple CMA rallies and a few BMW events. You don't see the owners and managers of other companies showing that much interest in motorcyclists.

When Big Agnes expressed openness to tweaking gear to make it more rider friendly, we put them to the test. "How about 15" poles for Parkview tents so they'll fit in saddlebags?" we asked. They made them for us, and Full Throttle Camping was the only source in the world with those 15" poles! The Parkview tents were eventually terminated, but it was pretty cool that Big Agnes was that responsive to motorcyclists.

We heard from a lot of riders that they hate the hoods on sleeping bags, so we asked Big Agnes if they'd take the hood off one of their more popular sleeping bags, the Hog Park. They did it for us, creating another Full Throttle Camping exclusive: the Chopped Hog Park ("chopped" because we had the hood chopped off!). Again, Big Agnes was willing to do something for motorcyclists that no other manufacturer would do.

Big Agnes' rider-friendly attitude wouldn't mean squat to us if their equipment was crap, but their stuff is some of the best on the planet. We want to support them just like we support motorcycle-friendly campgrounds, motels, restaurants and watering holes.

We are not averse to carrying other kinds of sleeping bags, and we'll probably add some to the website in the years ahead, but until another company puts a sleeve on the underside of their sleeping bags, Big Agnes will be our preferred manufacturer.

Yes, two bags can be zipped together as long as you have a left-zippered bag and a right-zippered bag with the same zipper lengths and sizes. You can pair different models together, and even different sizes of different models because almost all Big Agnes bags have 70" YKK #8 zippers. The result will be a double bag with a zipper right down the center and individual foot boxes for each occupant.

We've found that zipping bags together leaves a gap between the two bags so you have to scrunch them together. During the night, that gap might appear again as turning and shifting causes a bit of drift.

We've found that zipping the bags together is more hassle than it's worth. My wife and I have opposing zippers, but we don't usually zip the bags together. If the bags are zipped together, you can't get out and back into the double bag without disturbing the other person because the zipper is right down the middle rather than along the sides.

So, getting back to your question, yes, two Big Agnes sleeping bags can be zipped together. However, a Big Agnes sleeping bag cannot be zipped to most non-Big Agnes bags.

The first rule these days is this: don't roll your sleeping bag. Sleeping bags are meant to be stuffed into their stuff sacks, and if you roll it first you'll have nothing but trouble.

Hold the stuff sack in one hand and choke the foot end of the sleeping bag with the other hand (don't choke the head end; doing so will trap air in the bag and make it hard to stuff). Plunge the foot end of the sleeping bag to the bottom of the stuff sack, raise your arms (sleeping bag and stuff sack included) over your head (like the Statue of Liberty) and pull the stuff sack down your arm as far as possible. In this upside-down position, cram the foot end of the sleeping bag into the bottom of that stuff sack, then lower your arms (keeping the sleeping bag stuffed in the sack) and set the stuff sack upright on the ground or other flat surface. Release your grip on the foot of the sleeping bag, withdraw your hand from the bottom of the stuff sack, grab a new handful of sleeping bag, and stuff it into sack. Withdraw your hand, rotate the stuff sack a quarter turn, grab another handful of sleeping bag, and stuff it into the sack. Repeat until the bag is fully in the sack. Rotating the stuff sack about a quarter turn with each new handful of bag ensures proper stuffing.

Don't store it in the stuff sack; the stuff sack is just for trips. When you get home, remove the bag from the stuff sack and put it in a large cotton or mesh sack to let the insulation breathe and loft. Many sleeping bags come with a storage sack. If yours didn't, or if you've lost it, just go to any department store and get a large laundry sack, either cotton or mesh. If you don't want to shell out the $10 or whatever for a storage sack, just hang, spread flat or fold your sleeping bag lightly in a dry place. The main thing is to eliminate any constriction/compression so the insulation can remain fully lofted between trips.

No, don't risk your bag with a dry cleaner. They use chemicals that are likely to strip the essential oils from the down. Launder your bag yourself or, if you prefer, send it to a specialist like Rainy Pass Repair, Inc. (4415 Stone Way North, Seattle, WA 98103. www.rainypass.com; (206) 523-8135).

Bags typically don't need to be washed more than once every couple of years, especially if they are well taken care of and spot cleaned with a damp cloth whenever they pick up some camp or road grime. Letting a bag air out and dry in the sun after use will help, too.

You can wash your bag at home if you have a large, front-loading washer. NEVER wash a sleeping bag in a top-loader. The agitator will do more than just agitate, believe me. Use ReviveX Down Cleaner (we've got it).

There are lots of sleeping bag care instructions on the Internet. Big Agnes has excellent a good set in pdf format at http://www.bigagnes.com/sleeping_bag_care.pdf

Inflate the sleeping pad, lay it on the ground logo side up, and put one knee right about in the middle of the pad, with you facing the foot end of the pad (your back to the valve). Open the Velcro flap at the head end of the sleeping bag's underside sleeve, work the mouth of the sleeve around the foot end of the pad, and then pull the bag over the pad like you're pulling a pillow case onto a pillow. Slide yourself backwards on the pad as you pull the bag over the pad. When the foot of the pad is all the way to the foot end of the sleeve, tuck the head end of the pad into the top portion of the sleeve, pull the valve through an opening at the top corner of the pad sleeve (so the valve sticks out and is accessible for adjustments later), and close the Velcro flap. Practice this a few times and you'll soon be doing it like a pro.

By the way, pairing bag with pad is a lot easier on your living room floor than in the close confines of a tent. By all means, do it on the living room floor a few times, but don't neglect practicing in your tent, too.

Because the bags' position is fixed by the pad, it's really hard to do the bunny hop in a Big Agnes bag.