Sleeping

What kinds of sleeping equipment can you get at Mountain Designs?

We offer a huge range of sleeping products to ensure you get the rest you need after a day of adventure. This includes world-class down sleeping bags and synthetic sleeping bags, each designed to provide a specific level of comfort and warmth for certain temperature ranges. Look for the temperature rating to determine the performance of your bag at certain temperatures. We also have foam-insulated sleeping mats, air mats, self-inflating pillows, air pillows, travel pillows, and a variety of sleeping accessories such as liners and sheets.

How can you choose the right sleeping gear for your next adventure?

Choosing the right sleeping gear can be tricky because there are so many options available and each adventure has different weather and environmental conditions to deal with. Consider the following factors when making your selection:

Warmth - Make sure the temperature rating of your sleeping bag matches the conditions you are going to be sleeping in. You don't want to freeze overnight because your sleeping bag doesn't have enough insulation, conversely, there's no need for an extreme alpine sleeping bag on a warm, balmy evening, otherwise you'll be sweating up. Another tip, sleeping bags with foot zips are handy for getting some lower leg ventilation on hotter nights too.

Set-Up - It's not much fun fumbling around with your sleeping gear late at night, especially after a day outdoors on your feet. A quick and easy set-up is what you want, so consider sleeping mats and pillows that are self-inflating, or air mats that come with air pumps. Sleeping bags and sleeping mats should be highly compressible too, so you can pack them away easily into your gear when they're not in use.

Durability - The materials used to make your sleeping bag, sleeping mat or pillow need to be soft to maximise comfort. But they also need to be durable enough to withstand scrapes or abrasions, and stand the test of time. A sleeping bag should be made from ripstop fabrics and use high quality stitching techniques in the construction to optimise wear. With sleeping mats, heat welded seams will increase ruggedness and help to prevent small leaks.

Functional Design - These are the little extras, like sleeping bags hoods for head and neck comfort and warmth, internal pockets for stashing phones or batteries overnight, and built-in pillow pockets.

Weight - Lightweight sleeping gear is not as relevant while you're lying down but certainly is when it's packed up and stowed away in your pack. Whether it's your sleeping bag, sleeping mat or inflatable pillow, you want to minimise the load you have to carry.

How can you choose the best sleeping bag?

The best sleeping bag will be one that delivers the comfort and warmth you need for the specific conditions you are setting up camp in. Primarily, this will be determined by the temperature. Each design in our range of sleeping bags has been made to a set of temperature conditions that it will perform best in, known as the temperature rating of the sleeping bag. The temperature rating comprises three measurements:

• 'T Comfort' value, which refers to the lowest temperature at which a standard user can expect to sleep comfortably in a relaxed body position, such as lying on their back.
• 'T Limit' value, which refers to the lowest temperature at which a standard user can expect to sleep in a curled body position and remain asleep.
• 'T Extreme' value, which refers to the lowest temperature at which a standard user can survive in when using the sleeping bag.

Unless you are using your sleeping bag in extreme conditions, the rating that is most relevant to look at when choosing your sleeping bag will be the T Limit. To learn more about the temperature rating of a sleeping bag, and how these ratings are determined, read on here

What sleeping mats can you choose from?

As a general rule, sleeping mats can be classified into two groups - foam-insulated sleeping mats and air sleeping mats. The former offers excellent support, as well as additional warmth, depending on the foam insulation material, the way the foam is structured within, the thickness and the density. Air mats will also provide cushioning for your body, and are lightweight and packable so you can store them easily in your gear. For ease of use, they come with air pumps to inflate them quickly.

What pillows and sleeping accessories are available?

Mountain Designs has a great range of sleeping accessories to complement the sleeping bags and sleeping mats. Choose from self-inflating pillows, air pillows, travel pillows, and other sleeping accessories such as eye masks, sleeping bag liners and fitted sheets, to help maximise your comfort when you've called it a day. You might be surprised at just how big a difference something like an inflatable pillow can make to your rest.