Coleman Breckenridge Sleeping bag

Review Score

We've given the Coleman Breckenridge Sleeping bag the Thumbs Up award.

This was a hands-on product review. The product was supplied to us to test and conduct the review.

Price Guide

Coleman Breckenridge Sleeping bag Photos

Our Review

In all our years camping we've never tried a double sleeping bag. Maybe that's about to change with the Coleman Breckenridge double sleeping bag...

So we've been camping for a great many years, and never tried a double sleeping bag.

In theory, a double sleeping bag makes a lot of sense. Sleeping bags keep you warm by trapping your body heat, so with another body in the sleeping bag, it should be a lot warmer.

The problem is, I don't like sleeping bags that much. I find them too constrictive. I must toss and turn a lot when I sleep as I keep waking up to find I've tied myself in knots with the sleeping bag.

Shell and I thought we'd just end up kickboxing one another in our sleep if we tried a double sleeping bag.

However, this year a number of brands have brought out double sleeping bags that are much more like your bed at home, and one of those is the Coleman Breckenridge. Coleman sent one over to us in the post, so it was time to give the old double sleeping bag a try.

A duvet sandwich

When our kids were younger, they used to like folding their duvet over and making a 'duvet sandwich': a layer of duvet underneath, then you, then a layer of duvet on top.

That's exactly what the Coleman Breckenridge feels like.

It fits neatly on our Campingaz Double QuickBed and fills the sleeping compartment of our tent, making it look very cosy and inviting.

Coleman have doubled up on the insulation on the top part of the bag, so it really does look at feel much more like a bed at home than your normal sleeping bag. Plus it is made with 'brushed polyester' that feels more like the sheets at home than your traditional sleeping bag.

Keeping warm - great for Spring and Autumn

The Coleman Breckenridge is rated from between -3C to +3C for comfort, and an extreme temperature of -19C (that's the point at which 'an average man' may start to get hypothermia).

How warm you are depends on a number of things, and typically if you're a lady you'll feel the cold before us blokes ;-)

The comfort range of this sleeping bag makes it ideal for extending your camping season from Spring through to Autumn.

I think on a warm summer's night though this sleeping bag may feel a little too toasty (but then when it's warm, I don't bother with sleeping in the bag anyway). You can unzip the sides of the bag which will let out excess heat, and may be how we'll use the bag when it gets warmer.

So far we've been using the the Coleman Breckenridge from late March through April, and the bag has been a lot warmer than my old one. When it's very cold though (we spent a few nights at frost temperature), you'll need to take additional sensible precautions (e.g. insulate under your sleeping area, wear appropriate clothes, and keep some jumpers and coats around to throw over the top of the sleeping bag if it gets very cold).

And it is good having another body in the sleeping bag for warmth (especially if you get up to go to the loo in the night - it's nice to return to a warm sleeping bag).

The sleeping bag does have a mummy hood, but we don't know how effective that would be with two people in the bag, and we never fully tightened it.

Transporting and Storing

The only downside we've found with this sleeping bag is that it is very big to store and transport. I measure it as 50cm long, 48cm wide, and 33cm deep, though it could be squashed down more.  The large size is to be expected though as you have two 3 season bags in one.

It comes in its own carry bag, which is useful, though a bit of a squeeze getting the sleeping bag back into it.

We're now finding that sleeping bags are taking up a lot of transport and storage space. However, we were able to leave Shell's massive 4 season sleeping bag behind on one camping trip recently, so overall, the large Coleman Breckenridge may have actually saved us some space.

A few compression straps on the storage bag would be useful though.

Did we kickbox each other to death?

No. Surprisingly the double sleeping bag worked really well, and we both survived ;-)

The standard sizes for tent sleeping areas is less than your double bed at home, so we were a little closer together than normal, but compared to a single sleeping bag, this felt a lot more roomier.

I also didn't tie myself in knots when tossing and turning, and didn't feel constricted.

We are quite impressed with the Coleman Breckenridge double sleeping bag, and it gets a thumbs up from us.

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