Carinthia Defence 4 sleeping bag

The Defence 4 may be Carinthia's best all-around sleeping bag. Designed for cold and nasty weather, it's no surprise that (among others) also the Finnish army adopted this very model! This here is a reliable choice, designed for very demanding use!

• Three season bag with comfort rating as low as -15°C / 5°F
• Weight about two kilograms / a bit over four pounds
• Military-grade materials

These Carinthia sleeping bags are designed for military use with the materials and overall properties all made to meet those requirements.

Comes with a compression bag, which tightens both height- and lengthwise.

Buy two bags, get three

By layering the Carinthia Defence 4 inside the Carinthia Tropen, you get a combination that works in extremely freezing temperatures. These two make an excellent pair for users in intermediate weather areas: use the breathable and mosquito net -equipped Tropen in the summer, switch to the Defence 4 in fall, and bring along both into the heart of winter.

The Defence 4 and the Tropen combo is endorsed by Carinthia and zippers of these bags are positioned differently to minimize heat loss. They can be packed together into the Defence 4 compression bag for ease of carrying.

Bag model

• The mummy shape: Here, the criteria of stuff size, weight, and warmth are most important. The tapered foot section reduces weight and stuff size. The main advantage is, however, that from the knee downwards, there is increasingly less internal volume to keep warm. The foot section should not be so small that the feet cause the layers of insulation to poke out. A trapezoidal foot section has proven to be ideal. A wedge shape, declining evenly in width from top to bottom, does not fit the true proportions of the body.
• Two-way zipper: All Carinthia military sleeping bags are equipped with a two-way zipper. The glider on the top does not snag, allowing a quick step out if necessary (in case of alert for example). The glider below does stick and can be opened for ventilation.
• Trapezoidal foot section: Experience has shown that the trapezoidal cut provides the ultimate foot space. In a normal sleeping position, the feet do not poke the insulation outward, avoiding cold spots. There is also enough room to store a shoe bag or extra clothing.
• The outer shell fits loosely over the bag innards, providing an extra insulating layer of air. This also eliminates heat loss due to seams combining the shell with the fillings. Overall this feature enhances the bag's performance considerably!

Materials

• Shellproof outer shell - a lightweight, hard-wearing, ripstop reinforced and specially treated polyamide which is both wind and waterproof (1000 mm), yet breathable.
• Shelltrans lining - a soft to the skin ripstop reinforced polyamide with excellent moisture-wicking capabilities keeps you comfortable through the night.
• Thermoflect, a very thin, very lightweight aluminium material which reflects body heat. Thermoflect raises the sleeping bags heat-retaining capacity by about 11 %.
• G-Loft filling - Carinthias own, in-house "hollow-fibre", made in Austria. Highly compressible, excellent weight-insulation ratio, and also moisture resistant, meaning that it will work even under long term use in damp conditions.
• Defence 4 uses double layered G-Loft filling. Two G-LOFT Plus insulation layers are arranged in such a way that the quilting is offset. The shell is attached afterwards, creating a further layer of air between the quilted insulation and the shell. With no stitch perforations in the shell, it is fairly water-resistant and free of unintended ventilation.

Carinthia sleeping bags are not entirely PFC-free, but do have the Oeko-Tex certificate, Standard 100.

Measurements

Temperature specification

Comfort represents enjoyable-to-sleep temperature while Extreme is the rating where an average-sized male will survive through the night, so go for Comfort when choosing a suitable sleeping bag.

• Comfort: -8.8°C to -15° C / 47.8°F to 5°F
• Extreme: -38°C / -36.4°F

Size and weight

Metric

Imperial