"I am pretty happy with my montbell alpine light down parka"

I too have one of these and it's excellent, very happy with it in terms of warmth-to-weight ratio.

If I were considering any sort of down item (coat or sleeping bag/quilt), I would wait months or even a year if I could hold out at this point. The new "waterproof down" (DriDown or DownTek as it's variously marketed as) is out and fairly new. With a little more time to get more and more solid reviews these might turn out to be something I would find worth the money, at least in the wetter PNW where I live.
I've seen some positive reviews, but some doubts too, and it's not trivial to do a truly fair test comparing the new product to traditional down.

Also, close on the horizon are down/synthetic blends, e.g.,
http://www.gearinstitute.com/gear-news/industry-news/item/primaloft-performance-down-blends

Some more skeptical folk suggest that the latter is coming about due to a shortage of down --- which argues exactly against waiting I guess! But it might really be a good approach too. It would certainly be nice to have the weight, compressibility, and durability of down coupled with better wet/humid performance.