Gear Review: Top 5 Winter Sleeping Bags

It’s time for Simply Hike's top 5 Winter sleeping bags (are you excited?). This top 5 has of course been picked by the Simply Hike team from our personal favourites, to sleeping bags with the latest and greatest tech! Let’s begin shall we.

 

 

 

In at number 5 we have the Chrysalis 5 from Snugpak, this is what you would call a classic 5-season sleeping bag. The Chrysalis has been around for a few years now and it hasn't changed too much! That’s the best thing about Snugpak, they haven’t tried to play around with one of their best sellers.

With the Chrysalis 5 you get an amazing comfort rating of -15°C which is pretty good for a sleeping bag that just scrapes the £100 mark! The extreme temp rating is a chilly -20°c! So even if the temperature drops lower than you were expecting, you are not going to get cold.

The style is the same as any other sleeping bag and is suitable for ladies as well as gents and the mummy-shape design of the Chrysalis is perfect at trapping your body heat quickly to warm you up. The only down side to this sleeping bag is the pack size as it’s pretty big.

 

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At number 4 we have another classic from Snugpak, the very popular and highly rated Elite 5 sleeping bag. The Elite has a comfort rating of -15°C and an extreme of -20°C. Although it’s a mummy shaped sleeping bag you can see from the image above that it has added height on the sides, this firstly gives you more “wiggle” room and secondly this allows extension of the bag via the use of the zip baffle.

Even with the additional room you have with the Elite the mummy shape design still traps your body heat quickly so you get the best of both worlds, more space but it will still keep you warm. The elite 5 also has a great pack size and only weighs in at 2.4kg.

 

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At number 3 we have the Venom 600 from Vango. Now this 4-season sleeping bag might surprise you! Ok let’s get the “stats” out of the way. The venom 600 has a comfort rating of -3°C and an extreme rating of an eye watering (or freezing) -28°C. It uses the mummy shape to keep you warmer for long and has a down fill of 600.

Now you might not think that a comfort rating of -3°C is that great, but the venom 600 works perfectly with its shape and the down fill to give you a warm night’s sleep. And a plus side to this Vango sleeping bag is that if you love camping, whether it’s wild, or not in the UK, you can pretty much use this sleeping bag all year round (of course this boils down to personal preference).

The pack size of this sleeping bag is also a massive plus at 23x17cm, which for a 4-season sleeping bag is pretty impressive. To tie into that, the overall weight is an impressive one as well, it only weighs 1.2kg! Yup what did we say? Told you it would surprise you!

 

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And just missing out on the top spot we have the Mountain Hardwear Women’s Laminina 20. Time for the “stats”; this sleeping bag has comfort ratings of -7°C and has an extreme rating of a freezing -31°C. The Laminina only weighs 1554g and has a pack size of 20x43cm.

This is an ideal sleeping bag for any women who like a bit of winter wild camping. The shape of the Mountain Hardware sleeping bag has been tailored to your every need. From the length, width and overall fit, all of these size considerations will maintain and control your body heat.

The Laminina has a DWR coating which is a nice touch from Mountain Hardware. They have also increased the insulation in the Laminina to give a better set temperature, which of course works perfectly with the cut of the sleeping bag. To top it off even the toe box has been shaped to give you a better and more comfortable fit.

 

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In our top slot we have the Hyerlamina Torch from Mountain Hardware. This sleeping bag has a comfort rating of -9°C and an extreme rating of slightly chilly -37°c. The first thing you will notice with the Hyerlamina is that the main zip is located at the chest or front of the sleeping bag. This gives you a much more comfortable sleep and also if you get too warm opening up the zip at the front will cool you down quicker.

This sleeping bag from Mountain Hardware of course has been tailored to keep you warm but also to be comfortable. The Hyerlamina uses Thermal.Q insulation which has outstanding compressibility but still maintains amazing loft.  The shell is covered in Ripstop material and has a pack size of 18x40cm.

The weight of the Hyerlamina is only 1474g which is pretty lightweight for this type of sleeping bag. Its also  has an ergonomic draft collar which helps block the escaping body heat keeping you warm even if you are a bit of a wriggler in a sleeping bag!

 

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So there we have it our top 5 Winter sleeping bags! I hope this has helped guide you to finding the right winter sleeping bag. Do you already own a winter sleeping bag? We would love to hear which one you have got and why you love it so much! Oh and don’t forget we have lots of other sleeping bags on our website!