Camping Gear Reviews

The Sierra Designs Nitro 800 20-degree sleeping bag.

Review: Sierra Designs Nitro 20-Degree Sleeping Bag

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Three-Season Sleeping Bag
Sierra Designs Nitro 20-Degree
$320, 1 lb. 15 oz. (regular)
Sizes: men’s regular and long, women’s regular
sierradesigns.com

Choosing between sleeping bags can sometimes feel like getting the names of identical twins right—they look an awful lot alike. With bags, you can compare certain key specs: temperature rating, type and amount of insulation (or fill), total weight, and, of course, the price. Using those metrics, the new Sierra Designs Nitro bags look like a pretty good value, so I slept in the 20-degree Nitro 800 while camping on some cool and windy May nights at Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve, and on a three-night, 39-mile backpacking trip in Wyoming’s Wind River Range in mid-September, to see if its performance matches its impressive numbers.

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Gear Review: Klymit Insulated V Ultralite SL Air Mattress

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Klymit Insulated V Ultralite SL air mattress.
Klymit Insulated V Ultralite SL air mattress.

Insulated Air Mattress
Klymit Insulated V Ultralite SL
$120, 1 lb.
One size
klymit.com

Air mattresses for backpacking vary significantly in a few ways: comfort, price, weight, and packed bulk—and you often pay more for better comfort or low weight and bulk. But the Klymit Insulated V Ultralite SL bends that rule. So I took this relatively affordable air mat on a three-night, 39-mile backpacking trip in Wyoming’s Wind River Range in mid-September, and camping in Idaho’s City of Rocks in spring, to see whether sleeping on it proves as sweet as its price.

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The REI Magma 10 sleeping bag in the Wind River Range.

Gear Review: REI Magma 10 and Magma 17 Sleeping Bags

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Three-Season Sleeping BagREI Magma 10 and Magma 17$349, 1 lb. 13 oz. (regular) 10° FSizes: men’s and women’s regular and longrei.com On the last night of a 40-mile May backpacking trip in Utah’s Dark Canyon, a friend and I slept out under the stars and a heavy dew fell during the night. But I didn’t notice it until after waking …

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Petzl Actik Core headlamp.

Review: Petzl Actik Core Headlamp

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Rechargeable Headlamp
Petzl Actik Core
$85, 3 oz./85g (with Core rechargeable battery)
backcountry.com

If you agree that a rechargeable headlamp is the way to go—as it is for any backpacker, dayhiker, climber, trail runner, backcountry skier or other user willing to foot the added up-front cost, knowing it eventually pays for itself through what you save not buying (and throwing away) batteries—then the question boils down to which rechargeable headlamp is the best for most backcountry recreationists. Numerous backpacking and other trips with Petzl’s compact, rechargeable Actik Core have convinced me that this one ranks among the best.

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Gear Review: REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress

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REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress.
REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress.

Insulated Air Mattress
REI Flash Insulated Air Mattress
$100, 15 oz. (regular, 72x20x2 inches)
Sizes: regular, regular wide, long, long wide
rei.com

Spending significantly less money on gear usually means getting significantly less performance, but that’s not the case with REI’s newly updated for 2017 Flash Insulated Air Mattress, I decided after sleeping on it for several nights, on a 40-mile May backpacking trip in Utah’s Dark Canyon Wilderness and camping at Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve in June. While it doesn’t rank number one for any usual measure of air mats (like most comfortable or lightest), it just may deliver the best value, dollar for dollar, of any air mat designed for backpacking.

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