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Zenbivy Review: The Core Bed Sheet and Quilt Combo in 2024

We slipped inside the all new Zenbivy Core Bed over a few car camping trips out here in Colorado and we’re here to tell you all about it.

A unique sleeping bag system that acts more like a bed, and less like a classic bag, the Core Bed aims to give you all kinds of options for staying warm (or cool) and creates space for lots of movement and different sleeping positions and styles.

Before we dive into what we like about this newest sleeping bag that’s more like a bed, we will briefly cover the different characteristics that you should be considering when shopping for your next camping trip.

Then, we’ll show you why Zenbivy sleeping bags offer fabulous options for both car camping and backcountry camping.

The Zenbivy Core Bed offers a build-your-own sleeping bag system, making it one of the best car camping and backpacking sleeping bags in 2024

What to Look for in a Sleeping Bag

Warmth

Let’s face it, this is the first factor most people are looking for when it comes to finding the right sleeping bag for camping.

We believe a sleeping bag’s temperature rating is the most important factor to consider since no one wants to sleep while too cold or too hot overnight.

The goal is to choose a sleeping bag that will maintain your warmth at or below the lowest temperature you expect overnight on your camping trip.

So if the overnight low temperature will be 30 degrees, you will want to bring a bag that is rated 20-30 degrees.

In other words, the warmth of a particular sleeping bag is rated by the lowest night-time temperature you can sleep in the bag comfortably while maintaining body warmth.

Note, there are some tricks to adding warmth inside your bag, like buying a sleeping bag liner, or adding clothes inside the bottom of your bag to take up any extra space and add insulation.

Shop Zenbivy Core Bed Options

Zenbivy sleeping bags are some of the best value sleeping bags in 2024

Here where we live in Colorado, we are camping at higher elevation, where night time temps are cooler. Even in summer, night time temps can be in the 30s, so our go-to sleeping bag is one that’s rated 20-30 degrees. We can always sleep in it partially unzipped if it’s a warmer night.

But if you’re camping in Missouri in summer, a sleeping bag rated 50 degrees will be more than warm enough.

Many avid campers own more than one sleeping bag, so they can grab the bag that makes most sense for each camping trip.

Insulation: Down or Synthetic?

The decision to be made when buying a sleeping bag is do you want it filled with down or synthetic fibers for warmth?

Zenbivy offers both options, so let’s review the pros and cons of each.

Down sleeping bags are filled with soft, fluffy good or duck feathers.

Pros: Undeniably warm, pack up easily, lightweight and compact

Cons: Loses warmth if caught in rainy, wet conditions

Synthetic sleeping bags are filled with polyester fibers.

Pros: More durable over time; do not lose their warmth factor in rainy or wet conditions

Cons: Bulkier and heavier to pack

Shape and Size

Each person sleeps differently, therefore the shape and size of a sleeping bag is an important consideration.

Most sleeping bag brands will suggest which length sleeping bag to purchase based on your heigth.

When purchasing a new sleeping bag, you’ll need to decide if you need a boxier, rectangular fit or a mummy style sleeping bag.

For example, if you move around a lot in your sleep or you sleep on your side, you will likely prefer a roomier, boxier sleeping bag allowing room for movement. Or if you generally don’t like the feeling of being closed in, mummy style sleeping bags are not for you.

But, if you sleep on your back most all of the time and you love feeling swaddled and cozy, a mummy bag can be just right for you.

Zenbivy offers creative options for all types of sleepers. We like their two-piece sleeping bag system that also attaches to your sleeping bag.

The best part about Zenbivy’s sleeping bag system is that each night you can choose between a Mummy style foot box or a roomier box style foot box.

See Zenbivy Core Bed Color Combos

Comfort

We’ve already mentioned warmth and roominess, important factors that definitely affect your comfort level.

A couple of other quick things to consider when it comes to the comfort of a sleeping bag are:

Softness of the material, especially as it feels around your face if you’re cinching the bag closed for warmth
Ease of using the zipper or clip enclosures, especially in the middle of the night if you’re needing to make adjustments.

Weight and Packability

The weight and packability of a sleeping bag are most important for those who are backpacking or through hiking. This is when every ounce counts.

Packability is also a necessary consideration for car campers too, since you’ll need all the space possible in your car for all your other important camping gear.

When shopping for a sleeping bag that’s ideal for 3 season camping (spring, summer, and fall), know that temperature rating, size, and insulation type (down or synthetic) will all impact the weight of your sleeping bag.

We say aim for a sleeping bag that is around 3 pounds in weight and packs down tight into a stuff sack.

Most well-made lightweight sleeping bags come with a stuff sack to help you make it compact for packing.

The Zenbivy Core Bed is one of the best value backpacking sleeping bags in 2024

Durability

When looking for a new sleeping bag, choose one made with high quality materials that are lightweight and can handle the wear and tear of several camping or backpacking trips.

Now that we’ve covered the most important factors to consider when looking for a new sleeping bag, let’s talk about the one sleeping bag system that could meet all of your expectations: the Zenbivy Core Bed.

What are the different Zenbivy sleeping bags?

ZENBIVY BED (ORIGINAL)

The Zenbivy Bed is Zenbivy’s original, full-featured bed offering maximum comfort and convenience.

Features zippers, Pongee liner (feels like a bed sheet), Convertible Footbox (offers mummy, wide, or completely flat modes), and filled with 700 fill HyperDRY down.

LIGHT BED

This Zenbivy sleep system is built with backpackers in mind who are looking to carry minimal weight without sacrificing comfort.

Features clip closures, taffeta liner (buttery smooth, but not like a bed sheet), Fast Footbox (choose between mummy or wide mode) , and contains 800 fill HyperDRY down.

CORE BED

The Core Bed is Zenbivy’s simplest, softest backpacking bed — the perfect balance of weight, comfort, and affordability.

Features clip closures, Pongee liner (feels like a bed sheet), Fast Footbox (choose between mummy or wide mode), and 650 fill down.

2024 color combos for Zenbivy Core Bed

NOTE: Wide mode is a footbox configuration available for all Zenbivy clip quilts—both our Fast Footbox™ and Convertible quilts. Wide mode is configured by leaving the top clip on the footbox undone.

This means you can have maximum space for your legs while still forming a footbox for your feet to tuck into. It's simple, warm, roomy, and makes your sleeping bag feel more like a bed.

Looking for a car camping bed?

The Zenbivy MotoBed is the easiest, quickest, most comfortable camp bed ever designed. If you never plan to backpack, and only plan to car camp, this may be the sleeping bag system for you.

They even have couple’s sleep systems!

What we Like about Zenbivy Sleeping Bags

The best part of Zenbivy sleeping bags is that you can build and pack your sleeping bag bundle the way you want it.

Beds consist of a quilt + fitted sheet. Additionally, you can purchase a mattress and pillow to complete your system.

You can compress the quilt, sheet, and pill into a Zenbivy dry sack. Plus, roll your mattress into its own dry sack that doubles as an inflation bag.*

*Purchase the inflation bag separately for the base mattress.

Or keep it simple and build a complete Zenbivy sleep system that includes everything you need to sleep outdoors comfortably:

Quilt
Sheet
Mattress
Pillow
Compression sack

Core Sheets are Lighter Than Ever in 2024

Customers talked and Zenbivy listened! Here’s what changed for Zenbivy Core Beds:

New Core Sheets are comfort-mapped, swapping panels of 50D Pongee for our soft 30D Taffeta to save weight.
Core Sheets feature our new headboard clips to keep your Zenbivy SoftTop™ Pillow in place.
Sheets are available in a NEW 650fp down insulated style.
All clips are attached with webbing instead of cord for added strength and durability.

How to Choose your Zenbivy Sleeping Bag

WIth Zenbivy, you can mix and match quilts, sheets, and mattresses for ultimate comfort. Sleep everywhere with a sheet below you and a quilt above you, just like you’d sleep at home.

All Zenbivy clip quilts are compatible with all clip sheets. So mix and match your quilt with different sheets and mattresses to optimize your setup for your next adventure at hand.

Choose Your Quilt

Choose between down or synthetic in temperature ratings of 10, 25 or 40 degrees (F). If you’re a “cold” sleeper, add 10-15 degrees to the rating to keep you warm.
Fast Footbox option let’s you choose between mummy or wide mode
or pick the Convertible Footbox if you want mummy, wide, or completely flat modes as options
The quilt is designed to fit you and according to your size. Always choose a roomier bag, versus a tight sleeping bag, to keep you warm.

Choose Your Sheet

Choose between an uninsulated or insulated hood.
The sheet is designed to fit your size mattress.

Choose Your Mattress

Base mattress offered in four different length/width combinations.
Flex mattress offered in four different length/width combinations. The most comfortable mattress, comes with inflation dry sack.
Light mattress, comes with inflation dry sack in four different length/width combinations. All-season, great for backcountry adventures.
Flex 3D Mattress for those looking for maximum comfort at camp available in three sizes. Comes with inflation/storage sack.

Pros and Cons of Zenbivy Core Bed

Pros:

Build-Your-Own-Sleep-System option is fabulous, making it possible for all kinds of options. You could even buy additional pieces so that you can customize your bag depending on the climate of the upcoming camping trip.
Love how the sheet easily attaches to the mattress, meaning you never slide off of your mattress when shifting in your sleeping bag.
The stuff sacks and inflation sacks are respectively designed to really get your bag compact AND to help you fill your matress quickly and easily.
The different footbox options let you decide just how cozy or free you like to sleep, which also means you can more easily regulate the warmth of your sleeping bag.
You really do feel like you’re sleeping on a bed with a quilt on top of you, and a sheet and unmoving mattress beneath you.
When fully zipped or clipped in, the quilt "floats" above you, letting you sleep in any position and giving you freedom to move without feeling restricted.
Affordable and lightweight, Zenbivy sleeping bags provide great options for car camping or backpacking.
With choices between down and synthetic, and different temperature ratings, you really can build the right bag for your specific backcountry trip.

Cons:

The sheet is not insulated, but you can choose to have an insulated hood. For those who like the feel of an insulated sleeping bag all around them, this is currently not an option.
Would be cool to get a discount when you order multiple pieces; the more pieces you order, the more significant discount.

Is Zenbivy Good for Backpacking?

The Zenbivy Core Bed's patented 2-piece design is the first hybrid backpacking sleeping bag of its kind to match the warmth-to-weight ratio of a mummy bag while completely eliminating constriction.

The separate top quilt adds wonderful options and the fitted sheet means no more sliding off off your sleeping bag.

Combined, the quilt and sheet create a complete sleeping "bag" that is just as warm and light as a mummy sleeping bag but a whole lot more comfortable.

Build your own Zenbivy sleeping bag system

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How to Store and Keep Your Sleeping Bag Clean

Never store your bag in the compression sack. Zenbivy provides a large netted bag to store your quilt and sheet inside loosely. Alternatively, hang your sleeping bags on a hanger in your closet.

After a camping trip, turn your bag inside out to clean the inside first. Using a pan of warm (not hot) water with vinegar (one part white vinegar to 3 parts water), take a clean washcloth and wipe the bag down inside and out. Repeat on the outside.

Finally, lay your Zenbivy bag and sheet in the sun to dry. Allowing your bag to soak up some rays will kill bacteria, improving your sleep ecosystem.

Zenbivy Core Bed Sleeping Bag