You don’t need to wash your sleeping bag after every camping trip, but you should clean it once or twice a year, depending on how much you use it. Using a front-loading washing machine (never use a top-loading agitator-style coleman chair machine), wash your sleeping bag with a small amount of mild liquid detergent on a warm, gentle cycle and rinse it with cold water. Coleman recommends using a fabric softener, but do not use bleach.
Our top pick in this category is REI Co-op’s Siesta Hooded 20, which replaces the Siesta 25 for 2023. For a reasonable $139, you get a high-quality bag with a useful 20-degree temperature rating, which is great for three-season car camping in a variety of conditions. Added up, the Siesta is comfy, well appointed, and a fantastic value. Turn your next adventure into a luxury trip with the Coleman® Silverton™ 25 Sleeping Bag, a mummy-style bag that can help keep you warm in temperatures as low as 25°F.
As we touched on above, temperature ratings tend to be fairly generous and often require adding a sizable buffer to ensure you’ll stay warm throughout the night. For those who run cold or simply want to bring their bag into lower temperatures, adding a sleeping bag liner can help keep you cozy without breaking the bank. Liners are made of soft materials like fleece, wool, polyester, or silk and typically add around 5 to 15 degrees to the warmth rating of your bag. They also serve as a barrier between you and your bag’s interior, which can help boost lifespan (you can wash the liner after use rather than getting your bag dirty). Liners typically cost between $30 and $60, and a couple of our favorite options are Sea to Summit’s Thermolite Reactor for mummy bags and their Silk-Cotton Blend Liner for rectangular models.
It’s constructed with lightweight Coletherm® hollow polyester insulation to help keep you warm from top to bottom. An adjustable hood and special quilting construction surround your coleman sleeping bag head and body to help eliminate potential cold spots. The Thermolock™ draft tube blocks heat loss through the zipper, and a box-shaped foot gives you extra room to move your feet.
It’s also got a handful of features like a no-snag zipper and plush draft collar that add to its appeal. It’s a suitable choice for someone who wants to start camping but doesn’t want to shell out a ton of coleman canopy money for a more performance-oriented sleeping bag. If you’ve ever had a pad deflate or slept directly on the ground in cold weather, you know firsthand the importance of an insulated pad beneath you.
When not using the Big Bay sleeping bag, store it in a large, breathable bag. Keeping it compressed in the stuff sack for long periods can reduce the loft of synthetic insulation and cause the bag to develop cold spots. I’m a journalist who writes about outdoor and fitness gear for several publications, including Outside, Forbes and the REI Co-op Journal.