The Exped Ultra 0°C/30°F Down Mummy Sleeping Bag blends ultralight design and premium materials to create a sleeping bag that is fully recyclable when it’s time to retire it. Available in several sizes, including for larger backpackers, it’s comfortable and well-designed, but it comes with the trade-offs you’d expect in the ultralight category.
- Type: Mummy Sleeping Bag
- Comfort Rating: 43°F
- Lower limit rating: 34°F
- Extreme Rating: 7 degrees Fahrenheit
- Gender:Unisex
- Available Sizes: Small, Medium, Medium Wide, Large, Large Wide
- Insulation 850+ Fill Power White Muscovy Duck Down, RDS Certified
- Size tested: Medium wide (1 lb 8.5 oz)
- Down fill weight: 12 ounces
- Zip Length: 3/4, Bidirectional
- Draft Collar, Side Draft Tube: Yes
- Pockets: one, internal
Design and Features
Clothes
The Exped Ultra 0°C/30°F is a mummy-style sleeping bag made from an ultralight 10D ripstop nylon shell and a silky 15D ripstop nylon liner. While these lightweight fabrics will hold up well with careful use, avoid snagging zippers to prevent tearing. If the zipper gets stuck, gently pull on the fabric and it will come free.
A full-length down-filled draft tube runs next to the zipper, preventing drafts from entering the sleeping bag and leaving you cold. The draft tube is protected from zipper snags by additional stitching, but care must still be taken when opening or closing the zipper. The top of the zipper is secured with a snap to reduce pressure on the zipper and allow air to escape at the top of the bag.
zipper
Exped uses a high-quality, snag-free YKK zipper with dual sliders on this bag, so you can take the bottom part out if you get too hot. The top zipper pull can be accessed from both the outside and the inside of the bag, which is useful for a mummy bag as your hands will be trapped inside when closing it. The zipper also has a glow in the dark feature for use at night. The left-zip configuration is standard but worth noting. A large zipper garage on the hood effectively keeps hardware away from your face, and large zipper pulls make it easy to operate with gloves.
Mummy Hood and Draft Collar
The Exped Ultra 0°C/30°F features a low-profile mummy hood with a beefy draft collar that prevents cold air from entering the sleeping bag through the hood and helps protect your face, neck and upper shoulders. The fit of the hood opening is controlled by a cord lock located on the right side of the hood, with two cords emerging from it. The top cord controls the size of the face opening, while the bottom cord controls the tightness of the hood’s draft collar. It is not clear how to use it without experimenting.
Temperature display and ISO testing
It is important to understand the temperature rating with this bag. ISO testing reveals important nuances:
- Comfort Rating: 43°F – where an average woman will sleep comfortably
- Lower limit: 34°F – where an average man will sleep without waking up freezing
- Manufacturer Rating: 30°F – Optimistic for most users
This sleeping pad is named the Exped Ultra 0°C/30°F, which is misleading because the bag’s ISO lower limit rating, the lowest temperature at which an average man will sleep without waking up cold, is high. I don’t believe in that transparent marketing. A transparent product name would be the Exped Ultra 1°C/34°F, or even better, the Exped Ultra 4°C/40°F, since it’s a unisex bag and half the men using it will still be cool at 34°F. Someone had to tell this.
This is consistent with my experience as a cold sleeper: I found the temperature rating of the sleeping bag to be low, and I consider it a summer bag, good for temperatures of 40 degrees or so. Personally, I prefer to use a quilt or hoodless sleeping bag in such situations and would recommend that you take a look at the Exped Ultra Quilt 0°C/30°F instead if using a durable option is a priority for you.
Size and Fit Analysis
The Medium Wide model tested offers excellent size for sleepers with broad shoulders, measuring 72 inches in length and 64 inches in shoulder circumference. The extra 6 inches of shoulder space compared to the regular Medium (58 inches) makes a substantial comfort difference without excessive weight penalty (only 2 ounces more).
The 3D footbox provides realistic space for the natural position of the feet, which is often compromised in ultralight designs. This translates to better sleep quality than more restrictive mummy bags, especially the wide version, which allows side sleeping without any obstructions.
