All-in-One Sleep System

Award Winning Design . . .

Polarmond of  St Gallen, Switzerland, was recently announced as a  Gold Winner at the Outdoor 2015 European trade show.  The jury said: “The All-in-One Sleeping System by Polarmond embraces research and development from the last 20 years” and added that it is “innovative and extremely functional.” The system is reported to have the following benefits:

• replaces tent, sleeping bag and thermal mat
• moisture cannot penetrate the insulation
• dehumidification and temperature management via adjustable vent
• drinks, food, clothing and footwear can be placed in a warm area
• unconstrained movement during sleep

The developers took a page from spacesuit design and created an insulated tent that can keep it’s occupant warm down to -20ºF without a sleeping bag.  It uses a synthetic fiber insulation.  The claim is that when it’s -20ºF outside it will be 77ºF inside.  That sounds great, if a little warm,  but picture yourself in a sealed tent after a night’s sleep.  My picture is pretty damp with water dripping around inside.  That’s not going to happen with the bivouac version, shown to the left,  but could be an issue with the full version shown above.

Since you aren’t going to want to carry an air conditioning system like the astronauts do, Polarmond came up with another idea.  First, they added a vent to the structure that allows some air exchange so water vapor can flow out of the top part of the tent, thus compromising the heat retention somewhat.  The vent is adjustable so that one could get the temperature to a comfortable level for sleeping.  Second, they came up with a breathable blanket that draws moisture from the body and traps it.  The blanket is then shaken out in the morning to release the water.  The thing in the above diagram that looks like a sleeping bag is actually the blanket system.

Weight and Volume

The big question, especially for backpackers is the weight.  Polarmond is proposing several variations on its system that have different weights:

•  The diagram at the top shows the complete system with a reported weight of  10.6 to 11.5 pounds (4.8-5.2 kg)
• The diagram above left shows the minimal system with a weight of 8.6 to 9.5 pounds  (3.9-4.3 kg)
• The diagram to the right shows the bivouac version with a weight of 9.0 to 9.9 pounds (4.1 – 4.5 kg)

Weights vary depending upon the liner/blanket chosen.

This is clearly not an ultralight system, but it’s not too bad if you compare it to what you are currently using.  In my case this system would replace my 2-person tent (7 pounds), my sleeping bag (4 pounds 3 ounces) and my sleeping pad (14 ounces) for a total of 12.1 pounds (5.5kg) with, at most, an 11.5 pound package.  Most serious backpackers will have a lighter combination, but if you carry all three components, one of the Polarmond versions should be competitive with the weight you currently carry.

The second question is packed volume.  I could find no information on this point, but I suspect that it should pack pretty well.  The integrated mat and liner can be removed giving you three pieces (mat, blanket, tent) to pack however you wish.  The tent itself should pack up like a synthetic sleeping bag.

The system is not yet in production, so no one has been able to independently test the designer’s claims.  I’m a bit skeptical about the moisture issue, but if and when the product is released, I’ll be able to provide more information.

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