The rule for bags is really "cheap, light, warm, pick two." Anyone claiming otherwise and there are plenty of them, doesn't speak English. One way to mitigate the cost is buy a used bag. Some people won't do this. I'm not one of them. I have a barely used winter bag I bought last year off Craigslist for less than half retail (which was $400). I had it dry cleaned when I got it ($20) and you'd be hard pressed to tell it from new. My bag is an older Marmot bag. Marmot has good customer service, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if you can't find a FF or WM bag.