New sleeping bag

It would be over your budget but if you want to shave weight and keep a Dridown option open it would probably be your best bet.

A 20 degree wide long is about 20oz. You would need to add the hood but that combo would cut eight ounces (more!)and slice even more weight out of your wallet.

I would note that nobody can tell you what temp. it will keep you comfortable at. There are too many variables that depend upon you, your body, state of hydration, calorie intake etc…etc… In general a smaller tighter bag will be warmer than a larger looser fitting bag so you have tradeoffs and choices to make. You want it snug but not constraining ideally and if you want to add a puffy with a hood to extend your temp rating you should size it for that possibility.

del

Agree with Rick. Unless you go with a quilt or hoodless bag, it's hard to beat the Western Mountaineering Ultralite (or similar) weight-wise. And it's 29 oz. It also has a MSRP well over $400.

It looks like Feathered Friends' narrowest 20* bag (Hummingbird UL) meets your weight criteria, but again, well over $400.

Light, cheap, warm. Pick any two.

Edit to add: the jury's still out as to whether water-resistant down is a benefit or a gimmick. Likewise, whether fill powers much over 800 makes a difference under field conditions.

> Likewise, whether fill powers much over 800 makes a difference under field conditions.

Ha, I missed this conversation. Interesting. If you can give me a link to read up on this, please post up. Thanks.

Delmar:

A couple threads here (quick results from searching "900 fill"):

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=56407

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=22883

Not exactly peer-reviewed, I know. I seem to recall quite a few others, however.

The gist, as I understand, is very high fill high powers are either the result of unrealistic testing conditions (so today's 900 is yesterday's 800) or that very high fill powers quickly collapse to lower levels under actual use (from humidity, body moisture, etc).

What I don't know is if it's necessary to buy 900 today to get what was marketed as 800 a few years ago.

edit: spelling and typos.

If you're leaning towards a bag I cant thing of a better true 20 degree down bag than a WM ultralite. I would post in gearswap first before buying new to see of any deals that may keep you under budget. Im not sure how you feel about quilts but there are some light/cheaper options if you chooses to take that route. Hammock gear top bag 20 rated even stuffed with 2 extra ounces comes out to around 300 bucks. My personal bag for these temps is a katabatic sawatch, expensive new but i purchased it used for 330 here on gearswap. Good luck to you in your search!