I need a bag!

Down insulation has best warmth/weight/volume story but loses a lot of it underneath you so one cost-reducing trick is a top-bag which slides your mat in a sandwidth underneath, keeps the breeze out but could be a bit cheaper whilst still warm?

don't know any makes but I was wondering if it saves a few $ ?

Not to be a spoil sport but yeah, you are kind of being unrealistic.

A sleeping bag/quilt is probably the one item that is the most important to spend money on. At your price range you're limited to either low quality of down on sale or synthetics. They'll both be heavy and not as packable as higher quality down. The synthetics will also probably be liberally rated, and the down may as well.

If you can stretch your budget to the $200 range you're more likely to find a quality bag on Gear Swap that you'll be far happier with.

There are plenty of cheap/light alternatives to other gear that you can live with various tradeoffs, but with a sleeping bag there's generally little tradeoff. The more you spend the nicer that you'll sleep.

Tim's Revelation X quilts are cheap, very light, and have excellent craftmanship…

Not to try and side track you, but your price is reasonable for a MYOG 20-30 down Quilt. I highly suggest you don't shy away from MYOG and after a couple failures with cheap fabric you can be ready to make your own quilts. The skills you learn along the way can obviously be used for some many other things. There are also many places on the web for instructions on making your first down quilt. my cents

One of my favorites:

http://thru-hiker.com/projects/down_quilt.php

Chase

Im not sure im ready to build my own quilt just yet. Now can I match any quilt with any pad? a quilt is just 3/4 of a regular bag right? from what I understand it just wraps around your pad?

There's a bag called the Kelty Cosmic Down 20 for $100 nominal that got a "pretty good for what it costs" sort of review and BPL recommended rating. It's heavier than a pricier bag would be, and the baffles are kind of big so down shifts around and you have to push it back, and it's not a masterpiece of fine needlework or anything. But it's a sub-freezing down bag for 100 US dollars that basically works.

It might be bigger and heavier than you want, but if so then I fear you are indeed being unrealistic.

+1 Kelty Cosmic Down 20

+1 on the Kelty Cosmic 20deg down bag, for the price range you are looking at. Don't think you can find a better bag at that cost. My son has one for boy scouts and has served him fine the last couple of winters. I have an old one as well that I just upgraded with a quilt. A UL bag it isn't but fine for a starter/lower budget piece of gear. You can often find sales on them from the typical online camping stores and closeouts, etc. Good Luck!

Personally, I don't think you are being unreasonable. There are many great bags and deals on this site and a little patience will pay off. I put out a request similar to yours for a bag in your upper price range, 20 degrees, and under 2.5 lbs.

I got a couple of responses, and ended up with a GoLite Adrenaline 20 degree down bag, weighing 2 lbs for $150.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask, you might not find what you are looking for, but you will find out what is out there and the price range, and know what you need to save up for.

Good luck!!

Gavin