Sea to Summit

Sea to Summit sells bags by temperature rather than by a size number, so the model name tells you how light it is and the rating tells you how cold you can take it. Start with the rating, then pick the model that suits your budget and how much you care about grams.

Lightest for the warmth: Spark and Spark Pro

The Spark is the ultralight down bag and the one most people mean when they search the brand. It uses RDS-certified 850+ fill down with a water-repellent treatment, 10D fabrics inside and out, and a technical hood rather than the big insulated collar you get on a heavier bag. Ratings run from a 7°C summer bag through a −1°C three-season bag to a −9°C bag for genuine cold, and a −18°C bag for real winter, in regular and long, with women's-specific versions cut narrower at the shoulder and wider through the hip. Only the −9°C and −18°C bags have a full-length zip, and only full-length-zip bags will zip to a women's Spark, which is worth knowing before you order two singles. The Spark Pro moves to 900+ fill down and adds Sea to Summit's Free-Flow zips - a footbox zip and a side zip that opens the bag flat as a quilt - so it vents far better on warm nights. It costs a lot more and the extra zips add a few grams, so it is worth it if you want one bag across a wide temperature range rather than the lightest bag possible.

Three-season and easier to live with: Ascent

The Ascent is a down bag with more room through the body and a footbox that opens, so it works as a quilt on a warm night and closes up when it drops. If you sleep hot, or you camp across a wide range of conditions rather than in genuinely cold places, this is a more useful bag than a Spark of the same rating.

First proper down bag: Trek

The Trek uses a lower fill power than the Spark, which means more grams and more packed volume for the same warmth, and a much smaller price. For weekends and hut walks that trade is fine. It is the bag to buy if you are not yet sure how many nights a year you will actually be out.

Quilts: Ember

The Ember is a down quilt - no hood, no back insulation, straps that hold it to the mat. It only works if you have a mat with a decent R-value under it, because there is nothing beneath you, but it saves real weight and it stops the shoulder-and-hip pinch that a mummy bag gives side sleepers.

In short: Spark if weight matters, Ascent if you sleep hot or camp in mixed conditions, Trek for the first bag, Ember if you already own a warm mat.

Two numbers decide this: how thick the mat is, and its R-value. Thickness is comfort - it is what stops your hip touching the ground when you roll over. R-value is warmth, and it matters far more than most people expect, because on a cold night you lose heat downwards faster than you lose it to the air. A warm bag on a cold mat still sleeps cold.

Thick, light and quiet: Ether Light XR

Ten centimetres thick, R-value 4.1, and around 470g for the regular. The Air Sprung Cells are individual pockets rather than a single chamber, so the mat conforms to you instead of pushing back, and the fabric is noticeably quieter than the crinkly ultralight mats. Ten centimetres is the reason this one sells - side sleepers stop bottoming out. It comes in small, regular, and large mummy shapes, plus rectangular regular-wide and large.

Winter and alpine: Ether Light XR Pro

Same thickness, much more insulation - an R-value of 7.4. This is the mat for snow, for the high country between June and September, and for northern-hemisphere ski trips. It is heavier (about 560g for the regular) and it costs more, and in those conditions it is the difference between sleeping and not. It comes in small, regular, and large mummy shapes, plus rectangular regular-wide and large.

Comfort over weight: Comfort Deluxe and Camp Plus

Self-inflating mats built for car camping and base camps, where packed size stops mattering. They are heavier and bulkier than an air mat, they are warmer for the money, and because there is foam inside they still give you some cushioning if they lose air overnight. If the mat is going in a boot rather than a pack, this is the one.

Pillows: Aeros Ultralight and Aeros Premium

The Aeros Ultralight is about 60g in the regular and packs to the size of a golf ball. The Aeros Premium is around 79g with a brushed 50D knit face and a contoured, baffled shape, and it is a genuinely better pillow - worth the twenty grams unless you are on an ultralight trip. Both use the PillowLock system, which clips them to the top of a Sea to Summit mat so the pillow is still under your head at 3 a.m. If you want a pillow that survives being sat on, the foam-core version is the one to look at.

In short: Ether Light XR for three-season hiking, XR Light Pro for winter, Comfort Deluxe if it never goes in a pack, and buy the Premium pillow.

Three families, split by what the weather is likely to do: the Telos Evo for space and airflow, the Sentinel for rain and wind, and the Escapist for going as light as possible.

Space and airflow: Telos Evo

The Telos Evo is the 2026 update of the Telos, whose TR2 won Backpacker magazine's Editors' Choice award. It uses Tension Ridge, a pole geometry that angles the ridge upward instead of flat, which lifts the head height and makes the doors taller - it is the reason the tent feels bigger inside than its floor area suggests. It is freestanding, so it pitches on a platform or rock, and it comes as the Telos Evo 2P (about 1625g packed) and the Telos Evo 3P (about 2069g). The big Apex vent at the peak keeps condensation down, the new Ultra-Sil LS fly absorbs less water and stays tighter when wet, and the fly can be pitched partly open in hangout and stargazing modes.

Wet and windy: Sentinel

The Sentinel is built for bad weather: a floor rated to 25,000mm, a shape that stays stable in winds over 80km/h, and a fly-first pitch so the inner stays dry when you set up in the rain. It comes as the Sentinel 1P, 2P and 3P (about 1700g, 2120g and 2550g packed). It is heavier than a Telos Evo of the same size, and it is still a mesh-inner three-season tent rather than a four-season one, so it is the tent for Tasmania and the high country in a wet spring rather than for snow camping.

Bikepacking: Telos Evo Bikepack

The Telos Evo 2 Bikepack is the same tent with shorter pole segments that fit in a frame bag, and twin stuff sacks so the inner and fly can be packed separately. About 1640g packed.

Tarp and bug shelter: Escapist

The Escapist Mesh Bug Shelter is a bug tent rather than a full tent: fine no-see-um mesh and a zipped door over a waterproof tub floor, pitched with trekking poles, guylines or between two trees. It keeps out mosquitoes, ants and spiders without trapping heat, fits two regular tapered mats with room to sit up, and weighs about 420g packed. There is no fly, so on its own it is for dry, buggy nights. For rain, hang it under the Escapist Evo Tarp, which is made from the same low-stretch Ultra-Sil LS fabric as the Telos Evo fly, pitches with trekking poles or between trees, and has tensioners you can adjust from underneath. The tarp also works on its own as shade or an awning over another tent.

In short: Telos Evo for most three-season hiking, Sentinel if you walk where it rains hard and blows, the Telos Evo Bikepack if the tent is going on a bike, and the Escapist tarp and bug shelter if you want the lightest setup and know your way around a tarp.

Sea to Summit makes four main dry bags that all do the same job, and the choice is entirely about what the bag is going to rub against. Everything else - roll-top closure, taped seams, oval base - is common to the range.

• Ultra-Sil - 30D siliconised Cordura nylon, semi-transparent so you can see what is inside, and light enough that you stop noticing them. These live inside a pack. Not for anything abrasive. The three-bag set is the one most people should start with.
• Lightweight - 70D nylon, a step up in fabric weight for the same shape. The sensible default if you only buy one.
• Big River - 420D fabric, much tougher, in sizes up to 65L. This is the bag for a canoe, a ute tray or the outside of a pack, and it is what to buy if a dry bag has ever failed on you.
• eVac - an air-permeable eVent fabric base, so you can squeeze the air out and use it as a compression sack. Good for a sleeping bag or a down jacket, where volume matters as much as water.

There is also an Ultra-Sil Dry Day Pack - a 22-litre water-resistant daypack that folds into its own stuff sack. It is not a hiking pack and it has no real suspension, but as a summit bag or the thing you take to a beach it is hard to beat for about 110g.

In short: Ultra-Sil inside the pack, Big River outside it, eVac when you want to compress as well as waterproof.

A liner is the cheapest upgrade in the sleep system, and the one people skip. It keeps body oils out of the down so the bag lasts longer, it adds warmth, and it means you can use a summer bag for a shoulder-season trip instead of buying a second bag.

Warmth: the Reactor range

The Reactor liners use Thermolite hollow-core fibres in a stretch knit that moves with you, in lightweight, midweight and fleeceweight versions. The Reactor Fleeceweight is the warmest, rated to add up to 8°C, at about 400g in the regular, and it is warm enough to use on its own as a sleeping bag on a warm night. Snaps at the shoulders clip it to a Sea to Summit bag, which sounds like a detail and is not: the liner stays put instead of twisting around you at 2 a.m.

Travel and warm nights: silk blend and Coolmax

The silk blend liners are for hut walks, hostels and anywhere with a bed of unknown history - light, packable and pleasant against skin, with no real warmth claim. The Coolmax liners do the same job and wick better in heat. We stock the rectangular with pillow sleeve, standard mummy, and compact mummy.

In short: Reactor if you want the bag to work colder, silk blend if you just want something between you and the bed.

The kitchen range splits by whether packed size matters. The collapsible X-Series - X-Bowl, X-Cup, X-Pot - use food-grade silicone walls with a hard base, so a pot flattens to the height of its own base and a whole set nests into something the size of a book. It is the right answer when the kitchen goes in a pack, and the wrong one if you want to fry.

For cooking properly, the hard-anodised alloy cooksets are the ones to look at: real pots with lids that strain, in nesting sets sized for one, two or four people. Beyond that it is bowls, mugs, sets, the long-handled spork that reaches the bottom of a freeze-dried pouch, and the collapsible kitchen sink, which sounds like a novelty until the second night.

Towels

The Pocket Towel is the well-known one: recycled polyester microfibre that absorbs about three times its own weight, in four sizes from about 60g up to 175g. The XL is a real bath towel that packs to nothing. There are also Airlite and DryLite versions with different weights and textures - softer, or faster-drying, depending which you pick.

Packing and organisers

The Ultra-Sil hanging toiletry bag comes with a shatterproof mirror and hangs off a branch or a hook, and the packing cells sort a duffel into things you can find.

Gaiters

The Quagmire is a knee-length gaiter built for Australian scrub and mud, and it comes in two fabrics: 8oz canvas for tracks that will destroy your shins, and evac for the same protection with breathability. Sized by boot size, with a stainless lace hook and a hook-and-loop front so you can get them on over boots.

Sleeping: synthetic sleeping bags, down sleeping bags, kids sleeping bags, sleeping bag liners, mats and mattresses, pillows and bivy sacks.

Tents and shelters: 1 person tents, 2 person tents, 3 person tents, tarps and shelters, tent footprints and tent accessories.

Dry storage and packing: dry bags and stuff sacks and packing cubes.

Camp kitchen: cookware, mugs and cups, dinnerware and cutlery and utensils.

Water: bladders and water storage.

Everything else: towels, gaiters and wash and waterproofing.

Free shipping Australia-wide, bulky items excluded, and you have 80 days to return anything including sale items. Full detail on our shipping and returns pages. We also have two stores, at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast and Brisbane at Skygate, and stock differs between them - the individual product page shows what is on the shelf at each. See store locations.

What size sleeping bag and mat should I get?

Sleeping bags come in regular and long, and the number that matters is the maximum user height on the product page rather than your usual clothing size - most regulars fit up to about 185cm. Women's-specific bags are cut narrower at the shoulder and wider at the hip, and they are rated to the comfort limit rather than the lower limit, which makes them warmer than a unisex bag with the same number, so they are worth considering on fit rather than on the label. Mats come in small, regular and large, in mummy and rectangular shapes, though not every model comes in every size; rectangular is heavier and much more comfortable if you move around. If you are between sizes on either, ask us - it is a five-minute conversation and it is the difference between sleeping and not.

Does the Sea to Summit warranty apply in Australia?

Sea to Summit's guarantee is one of the better ones in the industry, and on a lot of products the individual product page states that the guarantee is offered for the lifetime of that product. Terms differ by product line, though - a sleeping bag and a dry bag are not covered the same way. Separately and regardless of any manufacturer warranty, Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply to everything we sell. If something has gone wrong with a Sea to Summit product you bought from us, contact us and we will handle it for you.

Is Sea to Summit an Australian brand?

Yes. It was founded in Perth in 1990 and the head office is still in Western Australia. Buying it here means no international shipping, no import duty and no waiting three weeks, and it means warranty claims are handled locally rather than posted to another continent.

What's the difference between the Ether Light XT and the Ether Light XT Extreme?

Insulation, and nothing else that matters. Both are 10cm thick with the same Air Sprung Cell construction and the same valve. The XT has an R-value of about 3.2, which covers three-season use in most of Australia. The Extreme is 6.2, which is a winter and snow mat. If you are camping in the high country between June and September, or heading to a northern-hemisphere winter, take the Extreme. Otherwise the XT is lighter, cheaper and enough.

Which Sea to Summit dry bag do I need?

It depends what the bag will rub against, not how waterproof you need it - they are all waterproof. Ultra-Sil is the lightest and lives inside a pack. Big River uses a much heavier fabric and is what you want on a boat, in a ute or strapped to the outside of a pack. eVac has an air-permeable base so it compresses as well as protects, which suits a sleeping bag. If you only buy one, buy the Lightweight.

Can I see Sea to Summit gear in a store?

Yes - we have two stores, Burleigh Heads and Brisbane, and they carry different stock. Each product page shows availability at each store alongside online, so check there before making the trip. Anywhere else in Australia, shipping is free (bulky items excluded) and you have 80 days to send it back.