Everybody loves to be wild once in a while. And what's a better way to satisfy this desire than a good old camping trip. When people are camping safety is the top most priority. To ensure safety of people in the trip they must carry the right gear with them. The gear might include enough clothes, utilities like a good Swiss army knife and all terrain shoes. But the most important part is a good night's sleep. For this, one must have the kind of sleeping bag that would suit one's purpose.

The market is loaded with several type of sleeping bags. These bags are distinguished by their shapes. One of them is the full cut rectangular bag. Many people consider it to be the most comfortable one as they are the same shape as of a regular bed. No doubt it is comfortable but they cannot protect well in cold weather. This is because you have a large area that needs to be heated. For this it uses the heat of your body and you get robbed of valuable heat.

The second type of sleeping bag is the tapered bag.

This bag is comparatively smaller and is narrower at the foot. This design helps in reducing the size and also provides better insulation. The third type of bag is mummy style bag. This bag is the better than the rest of the two in heat retention. Its size is not more than the volume of one's body and can be easily packed. This bag is used by professionals on high mountain treks where insulation is important.

Depending on the material used sleeping bags can be classified in two categories. Down bags and synthetic bags. The former one is made up of feathers usually of geese and duck. Synthetic bags are filled with synthetic material like PrimaLoft and Dupont Quallofil.

The type of sleeping bag that you carry depends on the environment. If it is a rainy season then a Down bag is a big no. Because when wet, a down bag might provide even less insulation than no sleeping bag at all. However Down bag is easy to carry around and provides excellent insulation when dry. Synthetic bags have the property to absorb less amount of water and even if it gets wet it can be dried easily. Synthetic material is also resilient and firm. On the other hand it weighs much more than the Down bag and its insulation starts to break down faster than the Down bag. So before going on a camping trip choose your sleeping bag carefully so that you can spend quality time with your friends and loved ones without having to worry about other things.