Shortly after I finished the AT my wife and I were on a trip with some overall nice folks, and one (otherwise nice) fellow lectured me at length about how dangerous bears are, and how I had presumably been doing everything wrong. To my knowledge, the guy hadn't hiked much in his life nor had much or any personal encounters with bears, but he "knew" enough to pontificate on the topic at length.

It's actually helpful, I find, when it gets so ridiculous that a person can hopefully just sit back and enjoy the show rather than arguing or feeling attacked or whatever. I'm still working on this, but am convinced that it's the right approach in such situations!

And FWIW, I'm with you on the neo-air; I've used mine down into the teens, albeit in that case with thinlight ccf pads both above and below.