Wild CampingSimondSleeping Bag

Simond MAKALU II –9°C sleeping bag review: unbeatable bang for your buck

A high-performing winter down bag at an exceptional price.

✓  Best BuySimond MAKALU II –9°C Weight1.41 kgComfort rating–9°CPrice£239.99 The good✓  Very affordable for 800-fill power down
✓  Phenomenal warmth to weight
✓  Comes with both stuff and storage sack
✓  Very packable
✓  Lofts incredibly fast
✓  Front-facing zip — easy one-handed use
✓  Actually delivers stated –9°C comfort rating
The not-so-good✗  White colour shows dirt easily
✗  No shoulder baffle
Check price at Decathlon →

At a glance

Buy the Simond MAKALU II at Decathlon →

Overview

The MAKALU II is a –9°C rated winter sleeping bag manufactured and sold by Decathlon’s in-house premier mountaineering brand, Simond. Designing some of the most technical hiking and outdoor kit Decathlon makes, Simond is similar to the likes of Forclaz and Quechua — only you can expect a slightly more mountaineering-oriented product for your money, which in general means lighter, more packable and substantially more technical.

Over the years, we have tested dozens of items from the French sporting goods powerhouse, ranging from tents to waterproof jackets, trousers, trail running kit and more. And so far, we have been nothing but impressed. Two items we recently tested — the Forclaz MT900 tunnel tent and the Forclaz MT900 –18°C down jacket — are some of the highest-rated pieces of kit we have ever tested. These items offer unrivalled bang for your buck: excellently designed and wonderfully functional, doing everything you would expect from a more premium brand, at a fraction of the price. So how will the MAKALU II — a step-up price-wise from anything we have tested from Decathlon before — fare?

The bag we tested was the long version of the MAKALU II, which weighs a reasonable 1,410 g — bang on par with other down bags with equivalent temperature ratings, though it is worth bearing in mind that the MAKALU II is anything but ultralight. Simond states a comfort rating of –9°C, a limit rating of –16°C and an extreme rating of –38°C — all independently tested per European Standard EN 13537, which assumes full-body baselayers, an appropriate sleeping pad and a suitable tent.

Inside the MAKALU II, 789 g of 800-fill power duck down is exceptionally lofty at this price point. Even sleeping bags 1.5 to 2 times the price do not always come with down this lofty. Rab’s Neutrino 600, for example — a bag with an equivalent temperature rating — is the cheapest Rab bag to house 800-fill power down, and it costs more than twice as much as the MAKALU II (granted, the Neutrino 600 weighs 400 g less, so the rest of the bag is made from more premium materials). When bought directly from Decathlon, the Simond MAKALU II –9°C sleeping bag will set you back £239.99.

What does fill power actually mean?

Fill power is a marker for understanding the quality of down versus the volume. It measures how much the down in the sleeping bag lofts back up after being compressed — higher-quality down lofts more than lower-quality down. In general, the higher the fill power, the less down you need to deliver the same effect, making for lighter and more packable down-filled products. For most brands, 400-fill power is the lowest used, rising to 650, 700 and 800-fill power in the lightest and most packable products. Then, at the top end, 900-fill power — used only in the priciest products — offers the loftiest feathers of all.

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How we tested

To test this bag, we put it firmly through its paces during a busy early winter wild camping season across the UK. We used it on several 0°C wild camps across Dartmoor National Park, on woodland camps where the temperature hovered around freezing, and we put it up against the elements on a sub-zero multi-day traverse of the western Brecon Beacons, using the bag in temperatures down to the proudly prescribed –9°C.

All in, we thought the bag was excellent — and not just for its price tag. The loft of the down is some of the cosiest we have tried, and the speed at which it puffs back up after pulling it out of its stuff sack is quite impressive. We also really like the cut: it fits quite snugly around your shoulders to lock in as much heat as possible while removing the need for an extra shoulder baffle, and the front-facing zip in the centre of the bag is remarkably easy to operate. Being used to zipping sleeping bags along their side, it was a nice change to pull from the centre of the bag — you can simply stiffen out your body to deliver tension to the material alongside the zipper, making it easier to open and close with one hand than we are used to with side-zipper bags.

The bag comes with a plush hood that can be cinched down tight over your face until you have little more than an air hole to breathe through. When we used this in truly cold temperatures, the hood worked well to keep our heads warm, meaning we did not even need to wear a beanie, despite using it in temperatures approaching the comfort limit.

Features and performance

Warmth

This is easily our favourite aspect of this bag: it promises to keep you warm down to –9°C, and it actually does that. In fact, in all our years of testing kit, this is the only bag that really delivers what it says it should. Normally you have to shave off a couple of degrees to find the real comfort temperature, but not with the MAKALU II. We slept in this thing almost eerily in line with the European Standard testing framework and were pleasantly surprised to find we stayed comfortably warm. As a notoriously cold sleeper, all we added to the mix was a thin Patagonia Micro Puff hoody over our full body baselayers when the mercury hit –9°C — which turned out to be too much. We had to unzip the bag slightly overnight to regulate our body temperature.

“In all our years of testing kit, this is the only bag that really delivers what it says it should. Normally you have to shave off a couple of degrees to find the real comfort temperature. Not with the MAKALU II.”

Pack size

The bag is super compressible. The 800-fill power down smushes down to about the size of a watermelon, so it is easy to store anywhere in your pack. As ever, if you compress the sleeping bag into a dry bag, you can easily mould it into a more convenient shape for even better portability. If you do that, you will want to let the bag loft up after removing it from the storage sack — either fluffing it up by hand or leaving it for around 45 minutes to properly come back to life.

Durability

The bag is made from a lightweight shell that is plenty durable. Snagging this material in the zip does not pose a risk of ripping it, and the heavy-duty YKK zippers are smooth and easy to use. All in all, we think this bag is slightly more durable than many other down bags we have tested.

The looks

Finally, the looks — which, granted, when you are sleeping in a dark tent on a cold winter’s night do not really count for much. That said, we really like the striking white outer and the popping red details. It just looks warm — it looks like a campfire amongst a winter blizzard, which makes the whole thing feel even cosier for some illogical reason. Due to the white outer, you do run the risk of the bag quickly getting dirty. As we were careful, ours still looks as good as new after several dozen nights in it, but if you pitch on wet grass or use it on a rainy thru-hike, any smatterings of mud will quickly show up on the MAKALU II.

Buy the Simond MAKALU II at Decathlon →

Our verdict800-fill power down, –9°C comfort rating, £239.99. We’re huge fans.Overall, we are huge fans of the MAKALU II, as we are of lots of other kit from Decathlon. It is very warm — actually delivering the warmth that independent European Standard testing attributed to it, which is a rarity in our experience. The 800-fill power down lofts beautifully, the pack size is excellent for such a warm bag, and the front-facing zip is a genuinely clever feature we did not know we needed until we used it. At £239.99, it is unbeatable value for what it delivers.Buy the Simond MAKALU II at Decathlon →

FAQs

What are the Simond MAKALU II –9°C’s temperature ratings?Comfort: –9°C, Limit: –16°C, Extreme: –38°C — all independently tested per European Standard EN 13537.

How warm is the Simond MAKALU II in real-world conditions?It delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Wearing thin baselayers, we slept comfortably at –9°C despite being cold sleepers. Double it with a jacket and down trousers and we are confident you could take it into the early teens, combined with an appropriate sleeping pad and tent.

Is the Simond MAKALU II easy to carry in a backpack?Yes. The 800-fill power down compresses way beyond its price tag — to about the size of a watermelon — and it weighs only 1.4 kg. Surprisingly packable for such a warm bag.

Is the Simond MAKALU II worth the money?Absolutely. At £239.99 direct from Decathlon, it is substantially warmer and more comfortable than budget alternatives, and offers 800-fill power down that competing bags at twice the price do not always match. Outstanding value for a genuine winter sleeping bag.