[pct-l] Sleeping Bags, Down vs Synthetic

[scrookham at hotmail.com (Sean Crookham)]

I have been thinking long and hard about the pros and cons and whether I 
will use a down or synthetic bag on my hike next year. Down is the obvious 
winner in the weight vs Heat retention category. I know I will have at least 
1 pound excess weight due to synthetic. However, synthetic will retain heat, 
even when wet. This seems like a huge issue to me because I've heard and 
read so many horror stories about hikers with wet sleeping bags. It would 
seem to me that for the sake of morale and comfortable rest that synthetic 
is the winner.

I think that the exhaustion, low morale, discomfort and even illness that 
could be attributed to a wet sleeping bag makes me choose synthetic over 
down. What are everyone else's thoughts on the subject? Also does anyone 
know of any low weight quality synthetic bags out there?

Thanks,
Sean

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