What is the warmest, lightest down vest for the $.

You can have warm, light, or cheap — pick any two. Seriously.

The answer to your question depends on your budget and your needs. There are some very nice, warm down vests from LL Bean and the like that are often on sale for less than $50. Ultralight they are not, but if your budget is $50, they will do nicely.

On the other hand, if you can afford $175 for a vest, the Western Mountaineering Flight vest is 5.5 ounces and plenty warm enough for most any use.

warmest and lightest and cheapest are kind of mutually exclusive :)

the warmest won't be lightest (and not likely cheap)
the lightest won't be the warmest (and not likely cheap)

the lightest down vest I'm aware is the MB exlight- right @ 4 oz- uses 900 fill down so pretty warm for the weight, I have the jacket and it's plenty warm for summer use in the Rockies

they had a good sale on bentgate on MB stuff, but it appears it's over :(

It's the one you make yourself, get on closeout or used.

I will probably just save up the $ for a montbell.

Cabelas has a plain jane down vest for $15 which is hard to pass up for everyday, but I already have 2 synthetic vest that weigh about 18 oz so…

Their superlight is $50 but not sure exactly how superlight it really is. I would bet about 12-14oz just guessing.

This vest is warmer than those above but at 7.3 oz. The vest has 3.1 oz's of 850 fill. Cost is $175.

I would have said the First Ascent on closeout. But I have a Cabela's that works fine. Not super light.

Certainly not cheap, particularly if you’re outside the UK, but PHD make some excellent down tops. I’ve had one of their Minimus Vests for years and it’s a superb bit of kit, splendid quality, but even lighter is the PHD Ultra Down Vest: there’s a good overview of it with initial impressions on Petesy’s blog. 150g / 5oz. and 900 down fill. Expensive, but worth it.

Western Mountaineering flight vest.

–B.G.–

It's tough naming a vest without knowing what you want to use it for. For me personally, I use a light down vest for warm weather (ie. summer) camping and then I switch to a long sleeve down jacket for colder trips.

If you are also looking for a down vest for fairly mild weather trips, then the Montbell Ex-Light vest (4.3oz) is the lightest option. Western Mountaineering claims their Flash vest @ 3.5oz is the lightest, but every review I've read says the Flash vest actually weighs more than claimed at about 4.5oz, whereas the Montbell vest often comes in well under spec. My size medium Ex-Light vest comes in at 3.63oz. Also, the montbell has more coverage than the WM vest because the WM vest has no collar and it's cut really low in the neck area.

I'm a fan of these vests because they are so darn light for warm weather camping. I normally only bring one insulating layer, so a warmer down vest doesn't hold much appeal to me because if it's cold enough to need a warmer vest then I'd rather bring a full sleeved jacket.

I'm with dan on this. an ex vest is great as a single peice for summer or in conjunction with another jacket like a synth for a good wet weather combo. In either case, you wouldn't need or want anything too puffy. i have the mb inner snap vest which is about 3.75 oz. Crazy light and enough for summer in the rockies. Also packs smaller than any down peice i know of.
Good if you are going SUL.

My dad picked up a Golite vest filled with 650fp down a year or so ago… for $35 new. It's in the 10oz range IIRC.

That's hard to beat.

So basically whatever you can find on sale with the highest warmth to weight ratio and the lowest price. You just can't be picky.

go 800+ fill or go home

anything less you might as well get a synth vest … at least you can hike in it then