NEMO Canon -40 Sleeping Bag

“You’ll never sleep cold again,” says our tester after spending a month in central Alaska’s backcountry. Credit the nearly 3 pounds of 850-fill down that loft to a whopping 10 inches (at the torso) the moment you whip the bag out of the sack. Although it earned its keep in arctic environs, testers also lauded the Canon’s versatility. “When you’re out for weeks on end, not every night is 30 below. But even when temps rose to a relatively balmy 0°F, I didn’t feel like I was in a sweatbox,” says one. How did NEMO do it? There are two auxiliary 16-inch side vents (which also allowed testers to use both arms for breakfast chores without leaving the sleeping bag). Plus, you get another unique venting feature: a pair of 29-inch-long “gills” that run from mid-torso to mid-thigh. Simply unzip the gills to expose the nylon liner, allowing cool air to flow in. The Canon also has an effective stovepipe design. A 5-inch-tall, PrimaLoft-insulated chimney situated directly above your face creates a pocket of warm airflow when you’re fully zipped in, and it also eliminates the potentially uncomfortable bunching from a cinched-down hood. “Thanks to the stovepipe, I never felt claustrophobic in this bag, even when I was completely sealed in on long winter nights,” said our tester after an ice climbing trip in western Canada, where nights plummeted to -30°F. Some testers noticed a loss of loft (but not warmth) after several weeks in the backcountry. $1,050; 4 lbs. 7 oz. (mfr.); -40°F; nemoequipment.com