NEMO - Riff Women's Endless Promise Down Sleeping Bag 30

The Western Mountaineering bags look the best to me in terms of quality and specs, but I haven’t tried one. Have a Nemo Riff 30 which isn’t the lightest for its warmth rating, but it’s good quality down, I got a great deal on it and it’s roomy for side sleeping.

I just tried a quilt for the first time. My previous bag is a Nemo Riff 30, which I've used down to pretty close to 30F (And been miserable). I'd say that I'm comfortable in the Riff in the upper 30's. My new quilt is a 40F Enlightened Equipment Enigma (950 FP, 7d/7d fabric). When I took it out of the bag I was extremely leery of it. How is a bag I can see through going to keep me warm at night?!?! But I did a test hike on Saturday and slept in it and was very impressed. The low temp was 50F and I was quite comfortable. My feet got a bit chilly but I wasn't wearing socks. I used the same Tensor Insulated that I've had for a few years now. I'm absolutely a convert now. My quilt is about 21 oz lighter than my sleeping bag! I know that's a 30F bag vs a 40F quilt but there's still a huge difference if I had ordered the 30F quilt. And I'm completely confident in the comfort of the bag at a low of 10F higher than its rating, which is pretty much the same way I feel about bags.

Depending on your specific needs for temps, weight, and filling I'd recommend, Nemo's Rift, Forte, or Tempo bags. They have a "spoon" shape (extra space around knees and elbows and tapers around the waist and feet) rather than mummy shape. They're designed to feel less restrictive and I've found them to be so. Of course the bag will take up a bit more space than a mummy bag, but it's better than a regular rectangle bag. I have the Tempo and I think it's good for regular backpackers and I really like it. They're common at REI too so you may be able to try it out.

For clarity - The Riff (and Disco) are down. While the Forte and Tempo are synthetic. Their spoon/peanut shape is definitely very popular with side sleepers, or people who sleep angular or toss and turn. Much more forgiving than a regular mummy, without the draft issues of a quilt. Recommend people getting into quilts, to buy a wide one. This will help mitigate drafts. You mention REI, all of their sleeping bags now come in "wide" versions. Still a mummy for the most part, but about 5" wider than a regular mummy. Their Magma is an excellent bag, as is their Magma quilt, but it's only rated to 30 degrees.

I’ve been backpacking with my Nemo 30 for about 4 years and I LOVE it. I’m a side sleeper and I toss and turn a lot and I find that it gives me (5’ 0”) plenty of room to move around without getting cold. On warmer nights, I just open the zip and get enough airflow to not overheat. It’s lightweight and packs down super well with the provided compressive bag. Generally speaking, I run warm, and have comfortably used this bag in temps well into the low 30s with wool base layers and not felt cold

Nemo down sleeping bag. My most expensive and by far my favorite sleeping bag.

Nemo down 15F is my favorite. I felt warm sleeping when outside was below 30F. Wait for the next sale in REI you can snag it for nice discount.

I see Nemo has been mentioned a lot, which is what I came here to suggest for a sleeping bag with a Klymit sleep pad. We do a lot of tent camping each summer. Some pack in, some drive in, some canoe in, but always in a tent and always on the ground. As we’ve aged I have been concerned we wouldn’t be able to continue sleeping on the ground, but the Klymit has never let us down. We’ve had our pads for over 11 years and only this year did we finally “upgrade” to the wider version. For sleeping bags, the Nemo spoon, down filled was our choice. Lightweight and has been excellent for MN camping. Good luck!

Mummy can be a bit or very claustrophobic. Depends on a person. There is a great design by Nemo, they have spoon shape bags where you can actually bend your legs. They are for side or stomach sleepers.

If you want something in between, look at Nemo spoon-shaped sleeping bags.

BLUF: Test fit at a store or use the 30 day return policy. Only you can determine what length you need as there are multiple factors that go into that. Cost is based off several things and comfort isn’t usually one of them. A few things. For determining length: Most camping stores or stores that sell sleeping bags will let you try them on at the store, plus there is usually a 30 day return window. I’ve noticed a difference in actual bag length both from the same brand and definitely between brands so doing a test fit is always beneficial. Finally, how do you sleep? Do you keep your feet at a 90* angle from your legs like you are when standing and measuring your height? Do you relax them or point them away from your head (some side and most stomach sleepers)? Do you put your “pillow” in the hood of the sleeping bag or leave it outside? Do you put your clothes in the bag with you to keep them warm for the next day? All of these things will determine what the right length of bag for you is while remembering that large unfilled space will require you to heat it or fill it. Bag temp should be based off of night time temperatures. Yes, you can use a colder rated bag when it’s warmer, but people often can’t figure out why they are cold in a 10-15* bag when it’s only in the mid 30s and think they need a 0* bag. Price could be due to better materials, insulation (lots of different qualities between the various “synthetic” insulations, type of down and it’s fill count), “compressibility”, brand, and quality of product. Finally, comfort is entirely subjective. Lighter is definitely better when you have to carry the sleeping bag; however, lighter may mean it’s a tighter mummy fit which may make you more comfortable or may make you less comfortable. As a side sleeper/rotator, while I could sleep in a mummy bag, once I tried the NEMO spoon shaped bags I started sleeping so much better and will now only rock a mummy when I’m really worried about weight or when the temps are in the low teens and below. Also, how noisy is the sleeping bag? How noisy is your sleeping pad and bag? And how does the sleeping bag slide on your pad? Some of the fabrics over the years have not only been very noisy, but also very slippery and both of those can cause issues. Once while on a week long backpacking trip, I was ready to kill my hiking buddy because his new sleeping pad was so F***ing loud that anytime he moved during the night it was like someone getting into a fight with a bag of chips and I would wake up. He also had the problem of the two fabrics being extremely slick and so if we were on anything but perfect level ground he was sliding downhill. Needless to say he never used that very nice and very expensive sleeping pad again.