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All that said, I've never been colder than -5 F in my whole life and hike mostly desert, which has wild swings in temperature. I can't speak for you mountain/snow people. Down may be THE thing there. I've been caught out in snow...happily and gratefully....but never hiked it on purpose.

Never been out below the twenties -- have never been in an area where it was into single much less negative digits -- and the only down I take in a pack is the sleeping bag (BA Mystic long, 725 down). Only been out in snow once, which didn't stick, just obscured visibility, stung the cheeks, made things wet. No winter wonderland that. Didn't like it.

I just lost my best jacket, which was my old motorcycle coat but got too ragged to wear on the road. Light, windproof, fleece lined, very warm, but I finally had to admit it was getting to be more duct tape than nylon. I'm looking. Only wore it in camp.

I do have a down jacket. I use it on very cold days going to work, where it's shirt-sleeve warm inside so I don't need layers. Anything but a tee-shirt under the down and I overheat even in very cold conditions (which down here is around freezing for the most part). If it gets a little chilly, as has happened when I had to visit a jobsite, I toss a rain coat on over it, which really boosts the warmth.

So, in conclusion to this inexplicably long-winded rambling, down is too warm to wear down here for the reasons you touched on. I need to be able to layer, and down defeats that -- it's always too warm to wear while actually walking -- and I don't want to haul it just to wear it in camp. Great to have when car camping, though.