Yahoo News 9 best sleeping bag liners: Make camping as comfy as possible
A backpacking essential that can add years to the life of your sleeping bag and temperature to its range, a liner – sometimes known as a travel sheet – is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve your camping experience.
In dodgy hostels or warm weather, it can take the place of a sleeping bag altogether.
When it’s too hot and humid to sleep inside a sleeping bag but sleeping without anything to cover you isn’t an option: a silk or cotton liner is the perfect compromise. It provides a layer of protection from ants and the sheets in less-than-meticulous and cheap hostels.
Some even come pre-prepared with insect repellent, which is great if you’re sleeping somewhere with bugs or mosquitoes.
Companies sometimes claim that a liner will add a season (around 5C to 7C) to your sleeping bag, but that’s generous and is very dependent on the material. While they don’t often add a whole season, they do bring an extra bit of comfort. The extra warmth it does add – particularly a wool or fleece one – will make the difference. And if the weather warms up, just remove it.
Although, we would caution against relying on a liner in seriously cold conditions: it’s much safer to make sure your sleeping bag’s “comfort” limit is at least as low as the coldest weather you expect to encounter.
A travel sheet will also make your sleeping bag last longer by providing an extra layer of protection from sweat and dirt. It is also much easier to wash and dry if you’re on the road for a while.
We tested these liners with our favourite sleeping bags – both mummy- and rectangular-shaped styles – looking for how much warmth they added, how breathable they were, and how well they fitted into the bag because the worst feature of some liners is that they bunch up at the bottom of your sleeping bag.
Whether you’re looking to add warmth or just give the bed bugs something else to chew on, these are the best sleeping bag liners we’ve found.
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Cocoon insect shield Egyptian cotton travel sheet: £35.95, Absolute Snow
Perfect for warm or cold camping, this comfortable and breathable liner doubles as a bug proof travel sheet for when you want to pack light. We loved the box construction, which means your feet don’t feel constricted and you can sleep comfortably on your side. The odourless insect repellent the liner is impregnated with protects against mosquitoes, ticks, ants, fleas, chiggers, and midges. The fabric is breathable, which makes this a great bag for bivvying, or summer camping without a tent. While it doesn’t pack down as small as a silk liner, the comfy cotton feels more like a normal bedsheet, making this a good option for hostelling.
Mammut cotton liner: £25.95, AlpineTrek
A lightweight, cotton liner that’s ideal for camping in milder conditions. The Mammut liner is thin and doesn’t add a huge amount of warmth, but it will protect an expensive sleeping bag from wear and tear. The handy tag helps you secure it to the inside of your bag, while the hood – often overlooked on sleeping bag liners – means you won’t get the hood of your sleeping bag grubby if you go a few days without a wash.
Blue Mountain mummy shaped liner: £13, Cotswold Outdoor
Rectangular, travel sheet shaped bag liners don’t work with some mummy shaped bags: the extra liner fabric can get bunched up and uncomfortable at the tapered end of the bag. This small, inexpensive liner is a great way to prolong the life of your mummy shaped bags. It packs down really small and weighs very little. It’s ideal for family camping or festivals where conditions aren’t likely to be too extreme, but campers might get muddy. Our tester didn’t think it added much warmth, so we wouldn't recommend it as a way of adding an extra season for very cold camping.
Rab hooded vapour barrier liner: £70, Cotswold Outdoor
A brilliant innovation from Rab, this liner will seriously prolong the life and quality of your down sleeping bags. Moisture is lethal for down bags – it prevents the insulating clusters inside from fluffing up effectively, which seriously reduces how warm it is inside. This super light nylon liner is a brilliant barrier against any moisture, preventing it from getting into the bag from the inside in cold weather – from sweat or your breath if you’re really hunkered down inside. The hood and drawstring are a nice touch, and means you can pull it snug around your head, essential in very cold conditions.
Sea to Summit silk stretch liner mummy: £70, Sea to Summit
Silk liners can sometimes feel constrictive, particularly around your feet in a mummy shape. Sea to Summit’s clever solution is to build stretchy panels into the sides. This adds a real sense of flexibility – you can sleep with your knees bent inside the liner easily. It doesn’t make a huge difference inside a zipped-up bag – because you’re already constricted – but is a great addition if you plan to use the liner as a very lightweight sleeping bag or as a travel sheet in unsavoury hostels. It adds around 2C to 3C of warmth to the bag.
Thermarest sleep liner grey: £48.99, Gaynors
Thermarest fixes one of the greatest flaws of sleeping bag liners by incorporating a three-quarter-length zip into its design: no more awkward shimmying in and out of the liner. It’s soft to the touch and made of easy-to-wash (and quick to dry) brushed polyester. It adds about 3 degrees of warmth to a sleeping bag, but really comes into its own when paired with Thermarest’s blankets and quilts, which it can fasten to using sewn-in loops to build up a flexible sleep system that’s ideal for huts, bothies or hostels. Mummy shape only.
Quechua cotton liner: £12.99, Decathlon
If all you want is to add an extra few degrees to your bag, or spend a couple of nights in hostels, why overcomplicate things? Quechua’s rectangular cotton liner is a perfect entry-level liner if you’re not sure they’re for you. The rectangular shape gives your feet a bit more space to move around – this is noticeable even inside a tapered mummy bag as well as a rectangular bag. Being made of cotton means the liner is breathable and comfortable: you could happily sleep inside this in warmer, tropical temperatures – perfect for a hammock in southeast Asia – and save hundreds on a lightweight sleeping bag. Be warned, it doesn’t pack up small and it’s not particularly light.
Snugpak TS1 insulating liner: £39.95, Snugpak
If it’s good enough for the military, it’s good for your micro-adventure in the Lake District or your hostelling trip across Europe. Snugpak, a supplier for the army, is unfailingly dependable: its TS1 has a lovely, luxurious suede finish that feels really warm but is also breathable, wicks away moisture and is easy to wash. Best of all, though, are the tie-in loops: paired with a Snugpak bag, they ensure your liner won’t slip down inside your bag if you move around in the night.
Trekmates microfleece liner: £18, The Climbers Shop
A real veteran’s brand, Trekmates has been the backpacker’s brand of choice for decades. Its products are sturdy and cheap and this liner, one of the brand’s more expensive, hovers around the £20 mark depending on where you shop, but because it’s made of soft warm fleece it does beautifully on its own in an over-air-conditioned hostel. The warmth it adds to your sleeping bag might be psychological – you can’t expect too much at this price – and do avoid getting it wet because a cold, damp fleece is horrendous. That aside, there is something undeniably comforting about wrapping yourself up in a giant, warm fleece for the night.
The verdict: Sleeping bag liners
Cocoon’s insect shield sheet is versatile, comfortable and a lifesaver for anyone who suffers badly with insect bites. For a basic liner that’s easy to wash, Mammut’s cotton sheet is a simple and affordable way to extend the life of your favourite bags.
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