SLEEPING PAD & SLEEPING BAG
Camping Gear - Sleeping Pads and Sleeping Bags
Which sleeping gear do you need for an adventurous trip around the world?
It's needless to say a good night's sleep is necessary for a comfortable day in the saddle. For this, you'll need a warm sleeping bad and comfortable sleeping pad.
On this page you can find our findings about the Nemo Tensor Sleeping Pad, the Golden Kazoo sleeping bag (The North Face) and Niels Revelation Quilt.
Search for sleeping material
We thought our knowledge about sleeping materials was quite extensive due to our experience from previous trips. This turned out to be the case, but we used to spend (too) many nights in the cold. There was one important factor that we overlooked, which is that the quality of everything has to be good. Your tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag are inextricably linked. You can buy the most expensive tent, if your sleeping pad does not offer sufficient insulation, you will suffer from cold even in the warmest sleeping bag when freezing temperatures arrive. Once we figured this out, our search went smoothly.
Nemo Tensor Sleeping Pads
Before you start looking into sleeping pads, you should think about the temperatures in which you will spend the nights. This then translates into the R-value, which represents the extremes. For example, if you buy a mat with an R-value of 4.5 to 6, you can use it up to -17C, of course your tent and sleeping bag must also be of good quality.
We opted for the Nemo Tensor Isulated mats with a R-value of 4.2. This allows us to comfortably use this mat down to -7C and extremely down to -11C, which is more than enough for us. The quality of the mats is extremely good and in our opinion they make much less noice compared to the more popular Exped mats. They come with a pump sack, are extremely compact and only weigh 410 grams.
It's also great that Nemo repairs any damage themselves and you get a new mat in the case of irreparable damage. In other words, we can only recommend it, this has been one of our best purchases.
Sleeping Bag vs Quilt
Stefanie uses the North Face Golden Kazoo as a sleeping bag that feels comfortable down to -1C. Niels has the Revelation quilt from Enlightened Equipment and it goes down to -6C. In our eyes, this quilt is clearly the winner. It's super light and you can also use it as a blanket. During warmer nights we use it for the two of us together in combination with our liners. We would without a doubt recommend buying a down sleeping bag or quilt, as these are much lighter and give a nicer feeling to the body. In combination with our liners, which each provide an extra 3 to 4C degrees of warmth, we are still very happy with them.
Stefanie's Golden Kazoo sleeping bag from the North Face served us well for our trip from Belgium to Spain, through the Swiss Alps. However, it is questionable if this will also suffice for future trips to Alaska or South America, so an update on this will certainly follow later.
Camping pillow
For a pillow, Stefanie has chosen the Exped Rem Pillow in size Large. Niels uses the Nemo Fillo Pillow. Stefanie is happy with her pillow, although the downside is that it takes up quite a lot of space when packed together. Niels is still not convinced of his pillow, although we think this has more to do with hime than with the pillow. If you are a good sleeper, in our opinion you can easily save some weight by sleeping on your down jacket or other clothing, for example.
Conclusion
The market for camping equipment seems saturated to us, especially for sleeping bags. So if you have no idea where to begin, feel free to contact us. There is a very big difference in quality between different brands and the materials used can also be a decisive factor. During our time of searching for the right camping gear and our experience with less qualitative things, we can certainly add value in your search for the material that suits you best!