razcob said:
I would like to purchase (less than $200) a 'down' sleeping bag (around 30 degree rating)
My biggest concern is whether or not you'll be able to get a quality
down product at your stated price point. Admittedly, your temp rating requirements aren't very extreme, and that'll help, a lot. But still, the good quality, high loft down (600 fill and above) gets expensive fast. Now start adding on the cost of the water resistant outer shell materials/coatings and you can be up over $400 in the blink of an eye.
If water resistance is a serious concern and you're on a budget, I'd be taking a closer look at the synthetic bags. For $200 or $250 you could get a top of the line synthetic bag. It will keep you warm even if wet, and the weight and compressibility of these high quality bags is improving constantly. Again, at a relatively modest temp rating of +30 degrees you might not even notice the difference where weight and size are concerned. Don't forget, down isn't a poor insulator when soaked, it's essentially useless. Many backcountry experts who swear by down are operating in climates where the temp is low enough that water is generally not encountered. Top quality synthetics, on the other hand, work tremendously well when wet (though I still recommend you make every effort to keep them from becoming so
).
I once set up a hasty winter camp after midnight in the SoCal mountains. At about 2am the rains came and pounded us all night. I awoke in the morning to find that the downhill corner of my tent had turned into a small swimming pool (my fault due to bad setup). Needless to say, the bottom of my bag was sitting in this pool and was completely soaked, as were my feet. The amazing thing to me, however, was that despite the fact my feet were also sitting in this puddle, they remained warm to the point that I never even woke up. Once the rain passed and the sun returned, I was then able to lay out my bag over my tent and I was good to go by the next night.
