Down vs Artificial Sleeping Luggage: Which Insulation Is Higher for You?

In the event you’re new to the nice debate between down vs artificial sleeping baggage, enable me to clue you in. In a single nook, we have now sleeping baggage crammed with fluffy down feathers. Their defenders say they’re light-weight, space-efficient, and shockingly heat. Their detractors level out that water is down’s kryptonite. As soon as down will get moist, it’s basically nugatory. Within the different nook is artificial fill, which is championed for its affordability and reliability in all situations. However artificial fill is heavier and bulkier than down. 

After which there’s the environmental query. Down comes from animals (geese usually, generally duck). This will generally, although not at all times, lead to animal abuse. However synthetics are mainly plastic. And given the rising prevalence of microplastics and ceaselessly chemical substances in our surroundings, that doesn’t seem to be an ideal alternative, both. 

So which do you have to select? To higher perceive the nice debate, I spoke with supplies consultants Heidi Allen at Nikwax and Tara Maurer at Primaloft. What I realized modified my understanding of the state of sleeping bag insulation and the place it’s going sooner or later.

Desk of Contents

Learn by means of the entire article, or faucet on a subject under to leap straight to it.

Down vs Artificial Sleeping Luggage: The Case for Down

Let’s begin with what down is. Regardless of the frequent false impression, down shouldn’t be the feathers that you just see while you have a look at a goose or duck. Down is the layer of feathers that develop are beneath that waterproof outer layer and sits closest to the animal’s physique. In the event you have a look at a down feather (hold an eye fixed out for one poking its means by means of your favourite puffer jacket), you’ll see that it’s fabricated from innumerable wisps linked to a brief shaft. 

The shortage of construction in these feathers creates a large number of tiny air pockets, which entice warmth out of your physique and insulate it from the chilly exterior air. Down-feather high quality is measured by fill energy (fp), or how a lot down it takes to fill one cubic inch of area. For example, one ounce of 550fp down will fill about 9 liters, whereas one ounce of 900fp will fill virtually 15 liters. In sleeping baggage, utilizing down with excessive fill energy may end up in important weight financial savings — an vital consideration for backpackers and backpack hunters.  

Down and Moisture

The Achilles heel of down feathers is moisture. When down will get moist, the pockets of air disappear, eliminating just about all its insulating properties. That is such a difficulty that Tyler Freel, Outside Life’s Alaska-based employees author, gained’t contact it.

“I don’t take down sleeping baggage sheep searching,” Freel mentioned on a latest Outside Life podcast. “I’ve needed to crawl in my sleeping bag with all my garments on moist too many occasions. And my artificial bag will dry them out in a single day.” Freel’s use-case (weeks spent tenting and searching within the unforgiving situations of backcountry Alaska) may be excessive. Nonetheless, there are many individuals who gained’t contact down for precisely these causes.

Hydrophobic Remedies

In more moderen years, sleeping-bag producers have began making use of hydrophobic therapies to down feathers to handle this problem. I spoke to Heidi Allen at Nikwax to be taught extra about how this works.

“All hydrophobic down therapies are a water repellent therapy that’s been utilized to the precise down feathers,” she tells me. These stop the down puffs from absorbing water. Nikwax sends its proprietary hydrophobic down therapy (what Allen known as “goo”) straight to the corporate that sources and grades the down. This provides a reasonably negligible value to the ultimate product. Particularly when in comparison with the various value of excessive vs low fill energy down. 

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Nikwax even put its hydrophobic down therapy to the last word check. The corporate floated an individual in a sleeping bag on a frigid glacial lake. (The check topic stayed fully dry.) However Allen nonetheless isn’t positive she’d suggest Freel take a second have a look at down sleeping baggage given his use-case. “In the event you’re climbing into your sleeping bag soaking moist, and also you’re mendacity instantly on the down, then the load of your physique might trigger issues by smashing water into the fill.” 

Down Upkeep

One level that Allen stresses is the significance of sustaining your gear to maximise its efficiency over time. “In case your sleeping bag will get tremendous soiled, even when it’s a hydrophobic down, it’s not going to work in addition to it ought to.” She recommends utilizing a sleeping bag liner. Liners assist your sleeping bag’s down keep its efficiency. So does common cleansing. “After which you’ll be able to really add a water repellent therapy at house as properly,” Allen says. “Nikwax makes a waterproofing therapy for each the outer materials and the feathers.”

No matter you do, simply don’t wash your down with a family detergent (extra on this under). It’s additionally vital to retailer down sleeping baggage correctly. No matter you do, don’t retailer your sleeping bag in its stuff sack. Crushing the loft of your down will cut back its insulating properties over time. Sure, it’s normally essential to pack your sleeping bag within the stuff sack for tenting and backcountry journey. Once you return out of your journey, nonetheless, it’s best to air out your bag. Then, retailer your down bag in a big, unfastened sack. (Many sleeping baggage are offered with these bigger storage baggage.) Even higher, rigorously hold your sleeping bag from a hook or hanger for lengthy intervals of time.

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Down Sustainability

One problem with water-repellent down therapies is that lots of them (though not Nikwax’s) use PFAS. PFAS stands for polyfluoroalkyl substances. There’s been rising analysis that reveals these cancer-causing chemical substances are a detriment to human well being and security. Resulting from elevated consciousness and trade strain (plus new rules in California), PFAS will doubtless be phased out of hydrophobic down therapies. Nonetheless, there could also be a drop-off in high quality and effectiveness because of this. 

A typical false impression about down is that these light-weight, barely-there plumes have to be exceedingly fragile. For example: What number of occasions are you able to clear them earlier than they disintegrate totally? “Cleansing and re-waterproofing doesn’t really harm [down] except you’re cleansing with a family detergent,” says Allen. “Family detergents are fairly harsh on down feathers and might trigger them to get form of brittle. You get extra breakage from these little tiny feathers. In order that’s why utilizing a delicate down-specific cleaner is de facto vital for caring for down objects.”

The truth is, it’s so strong that a few of Nikwax’s hydrophobic down is definitely made with recycled down from objects like mattress comforters and pillows.

That’s one problem with down. One other is with how the birds themselves are handled. Nikwax, like many different producers of hydrophobic down, makes use of solely RDS-certified down. RDS stands for “Accountable Down Commonplace” and it’s centered on animal welfare. The usual ensures that down-producing birds are handled humanely all through their lifecycle. There isn’t any dwell plucking of geese in RDS-certified down. (At the moment, most down is produced as a byproduct of the meals trade.) When purchasing for down sleeping baggage, search for the RDS certification.

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Our High Picks for Down Sleeping Luggage

In the event you’re seeking to make the swap to down, listed here are our prime suggestions to get you began:

Down vs Artificial Sleeping Luggage: The Case for Artificial

Down is such an ideal insulator for sleeping baggage that the unique artificial fills have been really designed to imitate it. Primaloft is a type of firms. They have been first tasked by the U.S. Military to create an artificial fill that mimicked the properties of down however didn’t collapse when moist. (Primaloft nonetheless provides the U.S. army with artificial fill to today.) Tara Maurer, senior vp of product technique, defined that Primaloft’s artificial insulation excelled at that. Primaloft is fabricated from polyester, which is hydrophobic. The dimensions of the fibers are very small, which implies they create floor rigidity when meshed collectively. That retains water at bay.

So, in contrast to handled down, you by no means have to fret in regards to the water resistance carrying off. That may be a significant assist if one thing goes flawed together with your sleep system. “Think about a state of affairs the place you’ve an artificial sleeping bag, and it’s downpouring and it will get moist,” Maurer says. “In the event you shake it out or wring it out, it can regain its loft and thermal properties quicker than down sleeping baggage. Notably untreated down.” And when it does, it can are inclined to retain that homogenous protection, relatively than clumping collectively. 

Artificial Thermal Efficiency

Talking with Maurer, it’s clear that that genesis (and intuition for comparability) nonetheless looms massive over the artificial market at present. For example, Maurer defined that Primaloft dislikes utilizing fill energy as a measurement of artificial fill, as a result of it’s extra of a measurement of quantity than it’s of thermal efficiency. The corporate prefers as an alternative to make use of a check known as the Gustin-Bacon. On this check, a weighted plate is positioned on prime of 30 grams of fill to see how properly the fill resists compression.

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Fluff Doesn’t Essentially Imply Heat

However it’s not simply the fill energy measurement that customers have come to count on from each down and their artificial counterparts: it’s additionally the look. Folks see a marshmallowy puffer jacket, full with sewn-in baffling, they suppose heat. So some artificial fill is designed explicitly to imitate that look. And that’s true for sleeping baggage as properly. “We’re continuously attempting to attain a steadiness,” says Maurer. “We wish to make our merchandise as thermally environment friendly as doable, to make use of the least quantity of fabric to get the best internet profit.” 

What which means for shoppers is you could’t eyeball the loft of an artificial sleeping bag and assume the identical guidelines apply as for a down sleeping bag. As an alternative, search for established ISO scores. These scores are achieved utilizing a dummy and thermometers in a temperature-controlled room. Over time, synthetics might even do a greater job at sticking to their ISO temperature scores than down, since they gained’t be as affected by errant moisture. With sleeping baggage that use batting (think about a sheet of artificial insulation) relatively than unfastened fill, you might be additional protected against points with chilly spots. You would possibly count on to have chilly spots when unfastened fill settles to 1 spot or one other within the baffling. 

Artificial Sustainability

One attention-grabbing factor I realized from Maurer is how synthetic-insulation firms can decrease their environmental footprint. The vast majority of Primalofts merchandise are made with 80 p.c or extra recycled fibers. “The sweetness about utilizing polyester is that it may be repurposed and reused time and again,” says Maurer. “We’re taking plastic from recycled bottles. And there’s the potential to take our garment utilizing our insulation and repurpose it into one thing else when it reaches its finish of life.”

Nemo’s new Forte sleeping bag, the primary in its new Infinite Promise sequence, is one latest instance of this. This sleeping bag will be absolutely recycled at finish of life by following connected instructions. 

And when that polyester is lastly headed to the landfill, that doesn’t imply it can keep there ceaselessly and ever, like we count on to occur with artificial or plastic-based merchandise.

“A few of our merchandise even have an additive to them that assist them biodegrade at an accelerated fee,” Maurer says. In assessments, within the period of time it took for untreated polyester to degrade by 1 p.c, the polyester handled with the biodegradable additive had degraded by 94 p.c.

Our High Picks for Artificial Sleeping Luggage

Bought on the reliability and affordability of artificial sleeping baggage? Listed below are two of our favorites:

FAQs

Closing Ideas

If, like me, it’s been a minute because you thought of the state of down versus artificial sleeping baggage, there’s excellent news and dangerous information. The primary is that lots of the seemingly intractable points with each are being tackled head-on by the trade. Down can be water-proof. Artificial fill can be much less environmentally dangerous (and it doesn’t should be so dang thick). However there are additionally some items of the equation that stay the identical. Excessive fill energy down remains to be unmatched by artificial fill for its heat to weight ratio. Artificial fill requires much less care to get the identical degree of efficiency. It additionally tends to be fairly a bit cheaper. Which of those components is a very powerful to you’ll have an effect on your resolution. However each are wonderful choices that can see you thru many nights within the backcountry.