Best Sleeping Bags, Quilts, and Mats on the Appalachian Trail: 2025 Thru-Hiker Survey

YoI’m back once again with another installment of the 2025 Appalachian Trail survey, and today I want to talk about sleeping bags, quilts, hammocks, sleeping pads, and everything in between. Sleep systems are possibly the most important equipment option you have; Staying warm and getting enough, comfortable sleep during a hike are high priorities for most of us.

As always, we’ll look at the best options for long-distance hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 2025, talk about the most popular brands and models, and conclude with some takeaways from the data.

This year, we received 279 responses from the AT Class of 2025. If you’re using this as a resource to help plan your 2026 AT hike, be sure to sign up to take the survey yourself next year! Press the button below to be notified when the 2026 AT Thru-Hiker Survey opens for submissions so you can help the Class of 2027 in planning their trails.

Sign up to take the 2026 AT Thru-Hiker Survey!

Backpacking sleeping bags and quilts

Once again, we see that more than half of long-distance hikers on the AT choose to use a quilt instead of a sleeping bag. We’ve already written about the main differences between these two systems and it seems that more and more hikers are finding comfort and warmth in quilts. The percentage of people using a standard quilt (58%) is higher than in 2024 (53%), and 67% of respondents used a quilt in some way (for example, as part of a hammock).

Quilts are primarily used by hammock sleepers as a source of insulation under the body; 8% of hikers used a quilt with their hammock, more than double the previous year (3%).

About a third of hikers (33%) chose to use a full sleeping bag.

READ NEXT – 2024 Thru-Hiker Survey: Best Sleeping Bags, Duvets, and Pads on the Appalachian Trail in 2024

We have been following the use of quilts and how much they have grown for almost a decade. Hammockers adopted quilts before most tent users and remain more likely to use a quilt to this day. However, the gap has narrowed over time as more and more tent users realize that quilts are lighter, less tight, and, for many people, still warm enough for their needs.

This year, 72% of hammock users and 63% of tent users chose a quilt as their sleeping system. It’s important to note that there are far fewer hammock users than tent users in our survey, which could skew the data.

While duvet use among tent campers increased dramatically after 2019, the growth has become asymptotic in recent years. Only time will tell if duvet use continues to grow or remains constant.

Changes and replacements

Of course, we asked hikers about the temperature rating of their duvet or bag, and recorded the temperature ratings of the initial bags and duvets along with the temperature ratings of the gear the hikers ended up with. The average starting temperature was 22.3℉, while the average temperature respondents finished with was 34.0℉.

An important note: the vast majority of survey responses come from NoBo hikers, who typically start out in much colder temperatures earlier in the year. Most hikers who changed their bags did so when the weather became warmer during their hikes, and most switched to a bag with less insulation.

Finally, we asked hikers about the coldest temperatures they experienced in their sleeping bags. The average low temperature endured in their initial bag was 27℉, compared to 31℉ in the bag they ended up with.

We also asked hikers about the type of insulation they chose for their sleeping bag or duvet. Natural down was, as always, the most popular choice: 70% opted for down. Synthetic fill and water-resistant drainage were also common options.

There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing between natural down or synthetic insulation; We’ve discussed the topic in the past and this distribution has remained fairly consistent over the last few years.

Sleeping mats

As usual, inflatable pads were the most popular type of sleeping pad among hikers, with 74.5% of respondents choosing them. Foam pads are the next most popular option at 13%, which is in line with last year’s numbers. 7.5% of hikers used a combination of foam and inflatable pad, and 6% used neither. The vast majority of hikers who did not use sleeping pads were hammock campers.

When asked about replacing sleeping mats, more than two-thirds of respondents said they used the same mat during all of their hikes. 22% needed to replace theirs, but stayed with the same type (for example, changing from one insulating pad to another insulating pad). Only 11% of hikers needed to change their mat and chose to change the type of mat they used.

Most popular brands and models

Finally, we asked hikers what their favorite model of sleeping bag or duvet and mat was. Let’s start with the bags and quilts!

Enlightened Equipment is once again the leading brand, and Enlightend Equipment Revelation specifically was the top model by a large margin. All the major brands and their popular models are listed below, followed by a table summarizing the best models. This year we asked hikers to rate their satisfaction with their gear on a scale of 1 to 10, and that satisfaction rating is also included in the table below.

The best models of sleeping bags and duvets

The best brands of sleeping bags and duvets

1) Illuminated equipment (105)

2) REI (29)

3) katabatic (18)

4) hammock equipment (14)

4) Nemo (14)

5) Western mountaineering (9)

• Most Western Mountaineering quilt users did not specify which model they had, and no individual model appeared more than once.

6) Marmot (7)

• Most Marmot sleeping bag users did not specify which model they had and no individual model appeared listed more than once.

7) Zpacks (7)

8) From the sea to the summit (7)

• Most Sea to Summit sleeping bag users did not specify which model they had, and no individual model appeared more than once.

9) Great Agnes (6)

• Most Big Agnes sleeping bag users did not specify which model they had, and no individual model appeared listed more than once.

Sleeping mats, best brands and models

When it comes to sleeping pads, Therm-a-Rest was once again the leading brand and their NeoAir X-lite was the top model. The best models are listed below with their popular brands. Below is a table of the best models and their satisfaction ratings.

1) Thermal-rest (114)

2) Nemo (82)

*All submodels summarized here

Great Agnes (20)

From the sea to the summit (11)

The best models of sleeping mats

The best brands of sleeping mats

Summary

• Since 67% of hikers use a quilt in some capacity, the «early adopters» phase is over. Duvets are now the standard choice for most, and future growth will likely be incremental rather than explosive, as we had seen in previous years.
• More than two-thirds of hikers ended up with the same pad they started with, even though two-thirds of hikers used inflatable pads, which have a greater reputation for leaking or bursting on the trail.
• The jump in average temperature from 22.3°F (start) to 34.0°F (end) indicates that hikers are staying flexible with their gear and are willing to change sleep systems to reduce weight as the weather changes.
• The majority (70%) of hikers opt for natural down insulation, but Dri-Down and synthetic fill are also common.
• Enlightened Equipment remains the most popular brand of sleeping bags or duvets; The two best quilt models overall were EE Revelation and Enigma.
• Therm-a-Rest and Nemo Equipment take all the top spots for sleeping pads this year, with the NeoAir XLite the top model again. Nemo Switchback was the most popular foam pad this year.

Thank you!

Congratulations to all of the Appalachian Trail hikers this year and many thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. Future posts will detail backpacks and stoves/filters for AT hikers. To stay up to date on the latest survey posts, be sure to Subscribe to our newsletter.

Finally, if you plan to climb the AT in 2026, press the button below to be reminded to complete the survey. Your knowledge will be incredibly useful to hikers in later years as they plan their hikes, and you don’t want to risk forgetting about the survey after the hike is over.

Sign up to take the 2026 AT Thru-Hiker Survey!

Cover image: Graphic design by Chris Helm.

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