A canister stove is a backpacking stove that screws directly onto a sealed, pressurized fuel canister containing a butane/propane (isobutane) blend. Light, compact, simple, and fast to boil, canister stoves are the most popular choice for three-season backpacking. Their main limitations are reduced performance in cold and at altitude (as canister pressure drops), and the difficulty of gauging remaining fuel and recycling canisters.
A camp stove is a portable stove used to cook food and boil water outdoors. Types range from lightweight backpacking canister stoves to powerful liquid-fuel stoves, alcohol stoves, wood-burning stoves, and large two-burner car-camping stoves. The right choice depends on trip style, group size, conditions (cold and altitude), and the trade-off between weight, power, and convenience.
Loft is the thickness, height, or 'fluffiness' of insulation when it expands fully — and it's the key to warmth, because insulation works by trapping a layer of still air, and more loft means more trapped air. In sleeping bags, jackets, and quilts, higher loft generally means more warmth. Loft can be reduced by compression, moisture, dirt, and age, which is why storing insulation uncompressed and keeping it clean and dry preserves its warmth.
Fill power is a measure of the quality and loft of down, defined as the volume in cubic inches that one ounce of down fills. Higher fill power means the down is loftier and traps more air per unit weight, so a higher-fill garment or sleeping bag is warmer for its weight and more compressible. Common ratings range from about 550 to 900+; fill power indicates down quality, while fill weight indicates the amount of down.
A mummy bag is a sleeping bag shaped to taper from a wider shoulder area down to a narrow foot, with an insulated hood that cinches around the head. This close-fitting, hooded design minimizes empty air to heat and traps warmth efficiently, giving the best warmth-to-weight ratio of any bag shape. It's the standard for backpacking, trading the roominess of a rectangular bag for warmth and low weight.
A backpacking quilt is a lightweight alternative to a sleeping bag that eliminates the insulation under your body (which is crushed flat and useless anyway) and often the hood and zipper, attaching to or draping over your sleeping pad instead. By cutting that dead weight, quilts save weight and bulk and reduce the constricted feeling of a mummy bag, making them popular with ultralight backpackers — at some cost in warmth sealing and draft control.
R-value is a measure of a material's resistance to heat flow — for campers, specifically how well a sleeping pad insulates you from the cold ground. A higher R-value means better insulation: roughly R2 or less for summer, R3–4 for three-season use, and R5+ for winter and snow. A standardized test (ASTM F3340) makes R-values comparable across brands, and crucially, stacking pads adds their R-values together.
A sleeping pad is an insulating cushion placed under a sleeping bag to provide comfort and, crucially, to insulate the sleeper from heat loss to the cold ground. Its insulating power is measured by R-value (higher is warmer), and the main types are air pads, self-inflating pads, and closed-cell foam pads, each trading warmth, comfort, weight, and durability differently.
A sleeping bag is an insulated bag that keeps you warm while sleeping outdoors, rated by the lowest temperature it is designed for. Filled with down or synthetic insulation, it traps body heat; mummy-shaped bags maximize warmth for weight, while rectangular bags trade warmth for room. Pair it with a sleeping pad for insulation from the ground.
A footprint is a protective groundsheet placed under a tent floor to shield it from abrasion, punctures, and ground moisture, extending the tent's lifespan. Usually a custom-cut sheet matching the tent's shape (or a generic groundcloth), it adds weight and cost but protects an expensive tent floor. Whether you need one depends on your terrain, tent, and priorities.
