The Xeros is a fairly specialist bag. Guaranteeing a good nights sleep at -14 degrees celcius, the Xeros is aimed at high altitudes and winter summits.
Using a super high quality 800 fill power Russian Goose down, the Xeros will pack up smaller than a similar bag with an inferior quality down and will be warmer for the weight too. What makes Mountain Equipments down different to others however is that they became one of the first outdoor brands to introduce independant autiding of their down supply. This provides the ability for M.E to trace 100% of their down, allowing them to only use responsibly sourced down. This is not only better for the birds and the environment, but also means the down inside the product is a higher quality. This premium goose down is from the very cold North East of China and is collected from geese that live a truly free-range existence. The birds are sold when they no longer produce eggs or when the market price for eggs drops below the break-even point. The birds are normally around 700 days old when slaughtered, they are then plucked and the down is shipped to the processing plant for cleaning and grading. Because these geese are older and have lived in a free-range environment and a cold climate the down they produce is of an exceptionally high quality. All Mountain Equipment bags adhere to the Down Codex, a scheme that was developed to ensure that both animal welfare and down quality were put firmly at the heart of each and every one of M.E's down products. The Down Codex is a completely transparent and auditable system to ensure that:
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The down used does not come from birds which have been live plucked or live harvested
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The down used does not come from birds which have been force-fed
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The down used should be from birds which have raised in good conditions and to high standards of animal welfare
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The down used should be a by-product of the meat industry and come from birds which have been humanely slaughtered
Each down product is marked with a 12 digit code that can be entered at the Down Codex website to gain access to the specific information relating to the down source of that product, go to http://www.thedownproject.me.uk/index.php to find out more about how M.E have become the only brand to go beyond accepting written guarantees from down suppliers and to make their audit results and independent quality reports publicly available.
All this ethically produced and high quality down is encapsulated in M.E's own DriLite Loft Xero fabric. Exceeding the impressive 1500mm hydrostatic head of the original DriLite Loft but with an even more impressive 28g per square metre weight, this super lightweight and water resistant fabric protects the down from clumping together in wetter conditions. It's amongst the lightest highly water resistant shell fabrics in the world, providing the perfect characteristics for an ultra specialist alpine bag. As a consequence of the water resistant coating, it also means the Xeros is fairly wind resistant and highly breathable. After all, you want to be warm but you don't want to be sweating buckets.
Mountain Equipment's bag's are very unique in a number of ways. One is the way they optimise their heat efficiency by changing the layout of the baffles. By using Trapezoid baffles running horizontally throughout the main body, it maximises dead air space, reduces drafts and allows the down to loft to its full ability. This strikes the "sweet spot" for lightweight expedition bags, removing weight from the bag's main structure whilst maintaining higher levels or both loft and down control. As well as utilising the shape of the baffles, M.E also fill the bag with slightly different densities to allow the bag to compress even further. With higher concentrations of down in the foot piece and underside of the bag (where most heat is lost) and lower densities in the sides of the bag, the Xeros is as efficient as it possibly can be.
Each one of their sleeping bags features a unique foot piece section depending on the use of the bag. In this case the bag is designed to be as light, warm and compressible as possible. The Xeros uses 6 individual baffles shaped anatomically towards the position your feet as you sleep to offer the greatest warmth. Slightly more fabric is used here to allow your feet to sit at their natural position facing upwards without feeling restricted by the fabric.
A high percentage of your body heat is lost through your head so Mountain Equipment have developed their hood which uses 7 baffles to create a truly anatomical shape to surround your head with luxurious warmth. To further optimise insulation M.E have developed the Gemini System that has two overlapping anti-snag draft tubes and a fully integrated neck collar. Another unique feature from M.E is their EXL collar, a lightly elasticated system to allow the collar to gently wrap around your neck to improve thermal efficiency. As well as this, the usual adjustment system is in place to adjust the bag depending on your preference.
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DriLite Loft Xero 10D outer shell is ultra light, highly breathable and water resistant
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605g of 90-10 Russian Goose Down (800FP)
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Alpine fit with EXL system improves loft and maximises thermal efficiency
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Trapezoid baffles throughout
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Ground level side seams with V-side baffle
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7 baffle low volume anatomically shaped hood
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6 baffle anatomically shaped and offset foot box
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Full length Gemini zip baffle and integrated neck collar with Lode Lock closure
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DriLite Loft Xero 10D inner foot box and hood lining
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Supplied with waterproof roll-top stuff sack and storage cube
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.