What is the Earthrise 600 XL?
The Earthrise is the ideal bag for those who truly care about sustainability and ethical sourcing, and don’t want to sacrifice top performance and reliability (and you shouldn't have to!). We were really impressed with the construction and the care that M.E. have taken to bring you a bag that will not only perform well for years but that you can truly feel great about owning.
What is the Earthrise 600XL made from?
Insulation: The Earthrise 6000XL contains 582g of 100% recycled down with a minimum content of 85/15 650 fill power. Taken from post-consumer waste destined for landfill in Europe, the recycled down originates mostly from used bedding. The down and feathers are removed from source and then washed, sterilised and then sorted. The majority of this recycled down goes into new bedding products, whilst only the highest quality down clusters, with a fill-power of 650 or higher, are used in Mountain Equipment’s Earthrise products.
All that recycled down has exceptional environmental credentials while maintaining superb performance. It is all sourced from a European facility powered by solar power, is washed in a plant with extremely efficient water recycling before being graded for quality. Mountain Equipment’s use of only the finest grade of recycled down, guarantees not only an ethical purchase but a high performance one. This process saves a valuable material from landfill and by eliminating the farming process that produces virgin down, it vastly reduces the carbon footprint of down production.
Fabrics: All Earthrise sleeping bags are constructed using 100% recycled outer and inner fabrics. These are environmentally-sound fabrics with excellent performance characteristics.
Earthrise 20D is used on the outer and is incredibly soft to the touch, wind resistant, comfortable and totally down-proof. It also only weighs 45g/m².
The inner fabric is also 100% recycled and is soft, breathable, down-proof, durable and weighs in at only 59 g/m².
Combined, these fabrics offer exceptional environmental benefits without sacrificing performance or the look and feel of these high-performance sleeping bags.
What is the construction used in the Earthrise series?
Mountain Equipment's bags are very unique in a number of ways. One is the way they optimise their heat efficiency by using slanted box-wall baffles throughout the entire main body of the bag meaningful weight is removed from the bag’s structure. Mid-level side-seams lift potential cold spots away from the floor, irrespective of sleeping position, and allows versatile distribution and optimisation of the filling throughout the bag. Mountain Equipment their vast experience and knowledge to place a higher density of down in the underside, hood and foot, areas prone to compression. Whilst the upper of the bag has larger roomier baffles creating more “loft” space to reduce radiant heat loss. The specially designed foot section is anatomically shaped for a more natural sleeping position and uses four baffles to make sure your feet are cocooned in as much down as possible. A high percentage of your body heat is lost through your head so Mountain Equipment has developed a hood section which uses 5 baffles to create a truly anatomical shape to surround your head with luxurious warmth.
What are the features?
To further optimise insulation M.E have developed the Gemini System that has two overlapping anti-snag draft tubes, a full-length zip and a fully integrated neck collar with Lode Lock closure. This clever, low profile, closure combines all the advantages of a magnetic fastener with those of a mechanical lock, so no more traditional press-studs. The one-handed quick release closure uses two captivated magnets to pull the locking mechanism together to ensure that the insulated neck baffle cannot be accidentally opened, keeping all that lovely warmth where it should be; inside the sleeping bag. Earthrise bags are also supplied with a waterproof roll-top stuff sack and a lofting storage cube to store your bag when it's not out on adventures. Storing a down bag fully lofted (and not in its compression sack) helps to stop the sleeping bag from losing its loft (ability to insulate) over time.
How does the Earthrise fit?
The Earthrise fits into Mountain Equipment’s 'Alpine Fit' block which is tapered in the upper body and the legs to maximise thermal performance and minimise weight.
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100% recycled Earthrise shell and lining fabrics are lightweight and down-proof
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582g of recycled down with a minimum content of 85/15 650 fill power
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Alpine fit maximises thermal efficiency
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Slanted Box-Wall baffles throughout
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Mid-level side seams
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5 baffle anatomically shaped hood
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4 baffle anatomically shaped and offset foot-box
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Full length Gemini zip baffle and integrated collar with Lode Lock closure
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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.