The Backcountry Bed by Sierra Designs is not like any other sleeping bag I have seen. I was interested in how well it would work in a hammock when I first saw it. Sierra Designs provided a pre-production 3-season size long with 600 fill power duck DriDown for testing and review and so I had a great excuse to go camping! As best I can tell, the only difference in the test bag from the production models is the lack of a vented foot box. My test bag has a totally sealed foot box.
As you can see from the photos, the Backcountry Bed is sort of shaped like a mummy bag, and uses the same materials as a mummy bag, but the similarities end there. There are no zippers on the Backcountry Bed. At the bottom of the bag is an enclosed foot box while the top has an elongated opening that gets covered with an insulated blanket large enough to totally cover you. This free floating blanket is sewn to the main body of the bag much like the tongue of a shoe. Cozy little pockets for your hands are incorporated into the top corners of the blanket. The outer shell is made of 30D polyester ripstop. The inner liner is 30D polyester taffeta. Sierra Designs says their DriDown stays drier, keeps warmer, and dries faster than regular down, so this bag should perform well in wet conditions.
One of the first things I noticed is that the Backcountry Bed is very roomy. Since you have the ability to tuck in the blanket as closely as you like, or loosely throw it over the top, the sleep experience is really customizable. I slept in it when the temperatures dipped into the mid-twenties and was never cold. Note that the 3 season Backcountry Bed is rated to 16 degrees, and I am confident that rating is accurate. On nights with the temperatures in the 50s, I left the blanket much looser and uncovered myself when I got too warm.
To be honest, after getting into the Backcountry Bed while in a tent, I was certain that using the bag in the hammock would be no easier than a sleeping bag. I was wrong. In a tent, a sleeping bag is marginally easier to enter. The lack of zippers on the Backcountry Bed really put it ahead in the hammock though. Let‘s say that getting into a sleeping bag in the hammock is a 10 and a topquilt is a 1. I‘d rate the Backcountry Bed a 3 or 4. If using an underquilt, you can even fold the top half of the bag under the foot box and use the bag like a top quilt. I think this bag‘s ease of use in the hammock make it a super option for those who will sleep on the ground as well as the hammock.
The Backcountry Bed has a sleeping pad sleeve on the back to help with staying on a pad. I used the bag with a couple sleeping pads and found than when using with my larger square cornered pad, the upper portion of the bag was tight and the hood was almost unusable, so I wouldn‘t advise using the large sleeping pads with this bag.
The only other issue I had with the Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed was simply getting used to it. Staying inside the upper torso portion of the bag is easy but takes practice. It felt as though my sides were not covered and I tended to repeatedly check to make sure I was in the bag. I suppose that says something for how roomy feeling this sleeping bag really is. It’s available in both men‘s and women‘s 2 and 3 season temp ratings. These are available in long and regular sizes. You can get the bag with 600 and 800 fill power DriDown insulation in all versions. The MSRP on the test bag is $299.95. Take a look at these great bags at www.sierradesigns.com/sleeping-bags/bed-style.
– Mark
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed for free from Sierra Designs in consideration for review publication.