What is the Cloud 20°?
Well, we should start by saying the '20°' is in F; the comfort rating of this particular bag is -3°C. Now that's out the way, the Cloud is a lightweight, packable, comfortable sleeping bag featuring a completely zipless design, high-quality down insulation and a whole host of useful features that make it perfect for trekking and backpacking.
What is it made of?
Insulation: The Cloud is insulated with ultra high-quality 800 fill-power, PFC-free DriDown. DriDown differs from standard down in the sense that it'll still provide warmth and will resist collapsing if the down does get soggy. The quality of the down means it'll pack down super small whilst still providing tonnes of warmth for colder excursions.
Fabrics: Surrounding this high-quality insulation is a lightweight 15D nylon ripstop fabric. This lightweight fabric coupled with the down insulation results in a total weight of just 880g in this regular version.
What are its features?
The main feature of the bag is its zipless design. Rather than zipping up the bag, you pop yourself in, pull over a smaller duvet and tuck it into the rest of the bag (see images above for a better illustration). An insulated shoulder pocket keeps this smaller duvet wrapped around you, sealing out drafts.
At the bottom of the bag you've got a handy vent for your feet — perfect for dumping excess heat without opening the entire bag up. You'll also notice on the back of the bag there's a sleeve — this is designed to fit around your sleeping mat, keeping the two in place. Clever stuff. Lastly, you've got one compression sack to keep the bag nice and small when on the move and a loft sack for storage.
- High-quality water-resistant down
- Lightweight 15D ripstop outer fabrics
- Zipless design
- Internal shoulder pocket
- Foot ventilation
- Sleeping mat sleeve
- Regular length
How warm a sleeping bag do you really need? We’ve tried to help you by grouping our sleeping bags by their recognised comfort ratings. These are the ratings supplied by the brands that indicate the temperature at which you will remain comfortable whilst sleeping on an insulated sleep mat. After all, comfort is what you want when it’s cold and wet outside, and you’re all tucked up in your nice warm sleeping bag.
We always recommend that you choose your bag according to the coldest conditions you will experience; you can always unzip a bag if it is too warm, but trying to sleep when you’re too cold is just miserable. Bear in mind that we are all individuals, so we all feel the cold differently and that our own resistance will fluctuate depending on a whole load of factors, including how much we have eaten, whether we have consumed alcohol, whether we need a wee or what kind of mood we are in!
Sleeping bags do not generate heat; they only trap the heat we produce, so it is vital that you get into your bag when you are giving off warmth, don’t go to bed when you are cold, have a hot meal or a hot drink or do some brisk exercise to get you nicely warmed up.
Traditionally sleeping bag manufacturers provided their own temperature ratings based on their experience, the product's intended end-use and the perceived environment. However, each brand tested their bags in different ways, and it was hard to find a fair comparison between models. So, in 2005 a European standard for sleeping bag temperature ratings, EN 13537, was introduced to give consumers a comparable guide to sleeping bag performance across a range of brands and models. The ratings have four different temperature ratings to give you an indication of the bag's performance.
Comfort Rating: This is the temperature at which an average female should experience a comfortable night’s sleep. On average, women sleep colder than men, so this rating is some degrees above the "comfort lower limit" for a man.
Comfort Limit Rating: This is the lowest temperature at which an average male should experience a comfortable night’s sleep whilst laid down in a curled up position.
Extreme: This is a survival rating where the user is likely to suffer health damage such as Hypothermia. It should be treated with the utmost caution and not be relied on for general use.
However, the EN 13537 European Standard does not apply to down-filled sleeping bags with a fill weight of more than 800g; for those bags, you will have to rely on the manufacturer's experience and technical expertise, which is often more accurate!
Most reputable brands still use their own rating system alongside EN 13537, for instance, Mountain Equipment's “Good Night’s Sleep” and Rab’s “Sleep Limit”. These ratings are often the most accurate guide to the overall performance of a sleeping bag being used by an average outdoor enthusiast because they are based on years of expedition heritage, field trials, technological experience, and constant feedback.
But please bear in mind that all ratings are only a guide and, as mentioned earlier, there are a huge range of factors that can affect your comfort; if you are just not sure, it is always wise to go for a warmer model.
The biggest difference you can make to your overall comfort is to use an efficiently insulated sleeping mat. Once you get inside your sleeping bag, you instantly compress all the filling beneath you, greatly reducing its efficiency. Therefore using a quality sleep mat will ensure you are properly insulated from the cold ground, and you will be a lot more comfortable... Basically, there is no point in buying a top-quality sleeping bag if you are just going to lie down on the floor.