What is the WarmCube Expedition?This ultra-warm sleeping bag uses Marmot's WarmCube construction to provide one of the warmest sleeping bags we stock. It's designed for some of the coldest environments on earth and features a mixture of down and synthetic insulation.
What is it made of?Insulation: Starting with the insulation, Marmot use a mixture of high-quality 800 fill power goose down and their own ElixR Micro synthetic insulation. The down is used throughout the main bulk of the bag with the synthetic insulation layered over the top. Both of these insulation types have their own unique features — the down offers higher amounts of warmth and lighter overall weight, while the synthetic counterpart performs better when damp. ElixiR has been created with three different synthetic fibres to make it super soft, lofty and durable.
Fabrics: Just like the insulation, there are a multitude of different fabrics to make it as warm, comfortable and protective as possible. Pertex Quantum is used throughout the majority of the bag, offering high amounts of wind-resistance, water-resistance, breathability and durability, while Pertex Shield is used in the head and footbox to offer total waterproof protection. Both of these fabrics also use recycled nylon in their construction.
What's the construction used?It isn't so much the insulation itself which is the impressive bit, though, it's the way it's distributed around the bag. You may have guessed by the title of the bag that it features lots of warm cubes! Rather than the traditional method of blowing the down into baffles, Marmot have placed the down into tonnes of cubes — these cubes sit snugly next to one another in a sort of 'sleeping bag igloo', trapping more warmth with virtually no negative effects. The synthetic insulation is then placed over the top in sheets to catch any small amounts of heat that pass through the down.
What are its features?A full-length two-way zip allows you to open it up from the top or bottom to ventilate and can be locked to prevent it undoing in the night. A thick down-filled tube runs next to the zip to prevent heat loss, while a draft collar with a drawcord seals in warmth around your neck. The hood has its own drawcord with large zip pulls to make it easy to find in the night. Finally, an internal zipped pocket provides a handy space for you to store your phone or other electronics in the night (stops the battery draining!).
How does it fit?This bag is shaped a little larger than your regular sleeping bags to allow you to wear multiple layers while inside. A tapered mummy shape makes it quick to warm up and the footbox has been anatomically shaped to allow your feet to sit upright in their natural position without compressing the down.
- 800FP goose down insulation
- WarmCube construction
- ElixR synthetic insulation layered over the top
- Pertex Shield waterproof footbox and head
- Pertex Quantum main fabric
- Anatomically shaped footbox
- Cinchable draft collar
- Internal stash pocket
- Large hood drawcord
- Two-way zip with draft tube
- Recycled outer fabrics
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.