Looking for a super comfortable sleeping bag that gives you ample room to move around, toss and turn, and still keep you warm? The Exped Comfort Sleeping bag may be just what you are looking for. When I saw what the Exped Comfort had to offer, I decided to test it and put together this Exped Comfort sleeping bag review.
Some people simply cannot do mummy bags. If that’s you, or you just love having that extra room to move, this Exped Comfort sleeping bag review is for you. This bag not only gives you a ton of room to move around, but also allows you to tuck your pillow in the hood and cinch down the draft collar to keep cold air out.
As with all bags like the Exped Comfort sleeping bag that give you extra room to move, they simply aren’t as lightweight or efficient as a traditional size mummy bag. That is one of the trade-offs for the extra space. It takes more body heat to keep the extra space at a cozy temperature. Also, extra material and down is needed to make the bigger bag. All this adds up to extra weight.
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Specs
The Exped Comfort sleeping bag specs speak for themselves. You get a large, high quality, relatively lightweight and comfortable sleeping bag. Here are the Exped Comfort sleeping bag specs (Regular size):
- Weight : Reg – 3lb 9.5oz (45.5oz)
- Compressed Volume: 10.2in x 6.7in x 6.3in
- Fill weight: 26.5oz
- EN Comfort Rating: 23 degrees F, Lower limit: 14 degrees F
- Exterior material: 20D DWR coated ripstop nylon
- Interior material: 30D nylon
- Down: Ultra-Dry 700+ European Duck Down(RDS)
Make sure you know what that temperature rating means before you buy a bag. We discuss how the “EN Ratings” are determined for sleeping bags in our Basics of Selecting a Sleeping Bag article. Don’t get caught out there with a bag that you thought was rated for a much lower temperature than it really is. Maybe you’re looking for lighter weight sleeping bag. Check out our other sleeping bag reviews for others we’ve tested.
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Features
You get a ton of flexibility and some very unique features with the Exped Comfort sleeping bag. The first unique feature is the foot box’s ability to unzip and open up for extra ventilation. You can use the Exped Comfort bag when sitting around the fire with your feet on the ground through the unzipped foot box and your arms out of the zippers.
Additionally, you can fully unzip this bag and turn it into a blanket as well! The zipper opposite the main zipper allows you the use of your arms while still enjoying the warmth of the bag. Whether reading in your tent, sipping a cup of coffee before getting out of bed, or just needing the extra ventilation, the nifty little zipper is really handy.
Differential Cut
As with most good quality down sleeping bags, the Comfort sleeping bag gives you a differential cut (inside of the bag is smaller than the outside of the bag to ensure that the down can properly loft and give you the insulation needed to keep you warm.
Exped comfort Versatility
The Exped Comfort sleeping bag is extremely versatile in that while it functions as a typical sleeping bag, you can also unzip the bottom of the footbox to allow for ventilation in warmer temps. Additionally, you can use what Exped calls their “blanket zip” feature. Once you’ve opened up the foot box you can unzip the main zipper the rest of the way and turn the Exped Comfort sleeping bag into a cozy down blanket. (See pic below) This is the blanket zip option that the Comfort sleeping bag gives you. Pretty sweet feature!
The Comfort bag also features a small zipper on the opposite side of the main zipper which allows you to put your arm through or get some ventilation on warmer nights. (See below) You can use this arm zipper to keep use of your arms while in the bag, or when in blanket mode. Pretty slick design. All of these awesome features come at a little bit of weight and size penalty as noted in the specs above, but given all that you get with the Exped Comfort sleeping bag, it’s still remarkably light weight!
Exped comfort Down/Fill Power
The down of the Exped Comfort sleeping bag is a 700+ fill duck down that is responsibly sourced and RDS certified. While this bag doesn’t compress as much as other sleeping bags we’ve tested, it also offers many more features in flexibility and size.
The Exped Comfort bag has an impressive down fill weight of 26.5 oz which is exponentially more than most in its temperature class. Compare that fill weight to something like the Big Agnes Mystic UL 15, which offers a fill weight of 14oz with a temperature rating of 15 degrees (but a 850+ dry down fill and has a less generous cut), and you can begin to see how the Exped Comfort bag was able to maintain its warmth rating. More down is needed in a larger bag to attain the same warmth rating.
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Dimensions
The Exped Comfort sleeping bag offers a very generous mummy style cut. You’ve got ample room to move around. As a general rule, I’ve found that these larger style bags tend to have more difficulty keeping me warm in colder temps, but this Exped Comfort was an exception to the rule.
- Shoulder Width: 35 in
- Foot width: 21.7in
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Review: Warmth Test
Here is where I expected this Exped Comfort sleeping bag review to get interesting. Given its generous interior space, I expected to get cold well before I hit the “comfort” range of 23 degrees.
The Exped Comfort sleeping bag gave me a welcomed surprise when it kept me nice and warm down to 24 degrees, performing at its comfort rating for me. I tested the bag the same way I test all sleeping bags, (and the way they figure the EN rating) wearing a lightweight base layer. I could just barley start to feel some cool air once it hit that 24 degree temperature, so the rating was spot on.
Of course, a big part of getting all you can out of your sleeping bag is making sure you pair it with a quality, high R-Value insulated pad. Miss that step and it won’t matter what your bag is rated. You’ll get chilled from the ground up. For this test I used the Exped DownMat Winter UL M. It’s flat out awesome!
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Review: Zipper Test
The zipper on the Comfort bag locks nicely into place. While it may seem like a small thing, having a zipper that doesn’t migrate down from where you last left it is a big deal. I’ve used bags that have those kinds of zippers and it’s annoying at best. Also, the zipper pull tabs glow in the dark, making it easier to find the zipper in the middle of the night. The zippers on the Exped Comfort sleeping bag also feature a no-snag zipper guard, making sure you don’t snag any of the interior or exterior material while zipping or unzipping your bag.
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Draft Collar
The draft collar on the Comfort bag is one of the areas that I thought could have been a bit better. While it proved to be sufficient, I did find it a little difficult to keep the cold air out. Given how large the hood opening is on the Comfort bag, I felt like larger, more generously stuffed draft collars around the shoulders would have helped a bit. Again, I was able to seal off cold drafts, but really had to pull the draw cord tight around my face to do it. The draft collars on all the zippers worked perfectly for me and I never noticed any cold drafts coming from that typical problem area for sleeping bags.
Exped Comfort Hood
The hood on the Exped Comfort sleeping bag does a pretty good job of snugging up around your face on those cold nights. As I mentioned above, I’d like to have seen a bit bigger draft collar to make this process easier, but it worked fine as is.
The hood opening is very large and accommodates putting a good size pillow inside the hood (I used the Exped Down pillow- my favorite) and it fits perfectly. One unique thing about the “Exped Comfort Hood” is that you have three separate draw cords. One set of cords (pictured above) controls the outside of the hood, while the other cinches up the draft collar (shown below). This gives you extra control of how you seal out drafts. The two separate draw cords for the outside part of the hood allows you to tighten down either the chin portion, or the top portion, or both depending on your needs. The inside draft collar cord is elastic for added comfort.
Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag Foot Box
One of the unique features of the Exped Comfort sleeping bag is the extremely generous foot box. I’ve seen many great sleeping bags that offer a great foot box, but I must say, this one is the most comfortable of all that I’ve tested. You’ve got ample room to move your feet around and stay toasty warm down to the comfort rating. The foot box is overstuffed and extremely warm.
How to Store a Down Sleeping Bag
Exped gives you the above mesh storage bag with the Comfort sleeping bag, as well as a nice compression dry bag to make sure your Comfort sleeping bag is dry and compressed for the trail.
It’s easy to get home from your final adventure of the season, unload your gear and throw it all in a storage bin for the winter, but make sure you properly store your down sleeping bag as well as your insulated sleeping pad. Don’t leave that high quality sleeping bag in its stuff sack long term as it could reduce the effectiveness of the down. Down needs to be lofted, not compressed when stored, and should be stored indoors if at all possible. Here are a couple of storage options to keep your down sleeping bag at its peak performance.
- Hang in a closet
- Lay under your bed
- Store in the storage sack provided (shown above)
Hanging a down bag is my first choice, but not everyone has the space for that. Most bags come with sewn in loops to stick on a hanger. Second to that, I prefer to store the bag lying flat under my bed. This allows the down to be fully lofted. Finally, storing in the provided storage sack is perfectly acceptable as well. The down is slightly compressed in those storage sacks, but nothing that will cause any damage to the down in your bag.
My ratings for the Exped Comfort sleeping bag
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very clear and good article easy to understand. Thank you
I have been looking at this particular sleeping bag for some time. Your review was very helpful in making my decision to purchase it. I didn’t find any other detailed reviews like yours, but have always been happy with my Exped purchases.
Hey there, Daniel! Glad the review was helpful and enjoy!