Who says you have to sleep like a mummy while hiking in the great outdoors? Not Kelty, whose rectangular Galactic 30 bridges the gap between backpacking and camping at a price that’s easy to swallow. At just under $120, this no-frills, down sleeping bag provides decent comfort at a very acceptable weight, rivaling many mummy-style sleeping bags. With the Galactic 30, Kelty has managed to blend a more traditional sleeping-bag design with weight-saving materials to deliver a balance of comfort and packability you simply wouldn’t expect at first glance. It’s more than capable of accompanying you on an overnight hiking trip or serving as car-camping gear, and that versatility is what we loved about this bag. Although we would have liked a few more features, we can appreciate that the value of this no-frills bag was focused on its function rather than nonessential accessories.

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Who says you have to sleep like a mummy while hiking in the great outdoors? Not Kelty, whose rectangular Galactic 30 bridges the gap between backpacking and car camping at a price that’s easy to swallow. At just under $120, this no-frills, down sleeping bag provides decent comfort at a very acceptable weight, rivaling many mummy-style sleeping bags. After reviewing this surprisingly elegant approach to sleeping-bag design, we were left wondering why other companies aren’t doing the same.

Warmth

Comfort

Both the liner and shell are 50D Downproof Polyester Taffeta, which is thick enough to keep the down inside the bag but still soft enough not to feel too coarse on the skin. Although there wasn’t much padding to speak of—we would recommend pairing this with a decent sleeping pad—the DriDown material is incredibly soft and its superiority to synthetic fill was immediately apparent. The regular version of the bag is 6’ long, while the long version is 6’6”, and both have a width of 34” (or a 68” girth). Although most people should find this bag to be roomy enough, the width might be a tad snug for the big-’n-tall set.

Weight & Packed Size

We were somewhat surprised by how lightweight this bag was—the regular size came in at 2lb 10oz while the long was only 4oz more. Those numbers are competitive even among budget mummy bags like the Kelty Cosmic 20—which, at essentially the same weight, is $20 more as well as 9°F warmer—or the Marmot Trestles 30, which is $20 less and 4°F warmer but also roughly 7oz heavier respectively. We attributed much of this efficiency to the DriDown, which has a relatively low fill weight of 21.1oz (regular) and 24oz (long).

The benefits of the packed size of this bag are rather relative to its design. At the same time, its 13.7L stuff-sack volume can’t quite compete with the compressibility of a mummy bag. As far as rectangular sleeping bags go, it is setting a very high bar. We’re sure it could be packed down even smaller if we were to try to cram this into a compression sack. Regardless, it’s still very much a viable option for backpackers.

Features

The Galactic 30 has several ticked boxes in the positive category, but we did find a few drawbacks when it came to features. Although there is an included stuff sack, there’s no storage or compression sack, and we probably would have preferred either/or. There’s also no internal or external stash pocket like you’ll find on many of the bags in our review; however, this isn’t exactly a deal-breaker for many hikers.

Although not high-tech, there’s a decent bit of ventilation to speak of on the Galactic 30. Not only can the two-way zipper be opened at the bottom to get some air on your feet, but the bag can also be completely unzipped to be opened like a blanket—a feature you won’t typically find on a mummy bag. For those couples who like to hike during the day and do a bit of spooning in the evening, you’ll be pleased to know that you can combine two of these bags to form a double sleeping bag.

The Bottom Line

There’s a lot of value attached to the Galactic 30; Kelty has managed to blend a more traditional sleeping-bag design with weight-saving materials to deliver a balance of comfort and packability you simply wouldn’t expect at first glance. It’s more than capable of accompanying you on an overnight hiking trip or serving as car-camping gear, and that versatility is what we loved about this bag. Although we would have liked a few more features, we can appreciate that designers focused the value of this no-frills bag on its function rather than nonessential accessories.

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