Do sleeping bags lose their insulation?
Is there anything I can do to get it back where it was? Eric Miller Biloxi, Mississippi A: First of all Eric, youre not insaneat least not when it comes to sleeping bags. All sleeping bags and jackets lose their insulating qualities, synthetics much quicker than down. The North Face Cats Meow Sleeping Bag is a fantastic 20F bag, but after a few years, the Polarguard synthetic insulation starts to break down and the hollow polyester fibers collapse, losing their insulating qualities. Basically, the more time your sleeping bag spends in a stuff sack or in your backpack, the quicker the fibers lose their insulating qualities. If you only use your synthetic sleeping bag a few times a year, you probably wont see any change for five to eight years. On the other hand, down sleeping bags maintain their insulating properties much longer than synthetics. While down filled sleeping bags are much more expensive, they last much longeroften upwards of 20 years. These bags eventually lose their loft
