Snug Enough: Big Agnes ‘Expands’ Sleeping Bags With Extra Comfort

Big Agnes targets car campers with new models of its expandable mummy bags that allow you to tailor the fit around your body type and sleep style. 

Feeling cramped and constricted while camping can put you at odds with your sleeping bag. To help ease that conflict, Big Agnes makes sleeping bags that can be expanded at the sides to add up to 10 inches of wiggle room.

Last year, Big Agnes debuted its Torchlight Series of expandable mummy bags and received plenty of praise, including a Best of What’s New 2020 award from Popular Science.

Our own editors awarded the Torchlight UL the Best Women’s Backpacking Sleeping Bag, citing its customizable setup by way of “the very nice and non-catching zippers on each side.”

The new Torchlight Camp models follow in those footsteps with an eye on car camping and the occasional backpacking trip.

Size Up Your Big Agnes Sleeping Bag

One reason campers prefer mummy bags is that the shape allows less air between their body and the bag. The bag has less space to keep warm. (Refresher: Bodies generate heat, and insulation keeps it around.)

However, campers who have wide shoulders or like to splay their legs a bit while sleeping will likely find limbs banging into the side of a mummy bag.

That’s where the expandable sections of the Torchlight bags come into play. Each side of the bag has zippered panels from the shoulder to the footbox that allow for up to 10 inches of additional room inside.

People with wide shoulders can unzip the top and leave the footbox in full mummy mode, while sleepers that ball up in different positions through the night may choose a bit of both.

Similarly, the women’s-specific bags have a less drastic taper from shoulders to hips (and hips to feet) to reduce air pockets becoming cold spots.

The expansion panels are insulated so you won’t experience heat loss while adjusting them to your liking.

Torchlight Expandable Sleeping Bag Highlights

With overall bag weight being less of a concern, the Torchlight Camp models use different insulation than the UL and regular models. The FireLine Pro synthetic insulation is designed for a high loft to trap body heat but still possesses great compression for packability. That keeps the price tag lower too.

There are standard and women’s-specific sizing in both thermal ranges — 20 degrees and 35 degrees. Big Agnes changed up the shell fabric and lining with a PFC-free water-repellent finish.

Camping, Not Cramping

Big Agnes, headquartered in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is celebrating its 20th year of designing and testing camping gear. It put that experience into its new sleeping bags to update the outdoor experience for those who felt too confined by traditional bag shapes.

Its latest addition of its Torchlight Series brings the comfort options of its expandable side panels to car campers just in time for spring. The new Torchlight Camp bags are a worthy addition for new campers, as well as campers who have found themselves in mid-sleep battles with their mummy bags.

This article is sponsored by Big Agnes. Find out more about Torchlight Expandable Mummy Bags here.

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