When will synthetics be better than down?

[shakey_snake]

Argon gas vests and sleeping pads already exist.

[Franco]

Argon stuff could be a solution for some but as usual there are downsides with that too.Down compresses very well and can be housed inside a very light shell. You can't do that with Argon clothing.
You can off course deflate them for storage and inflated again but then you have to carry extra gas canisters adding weight and cost.
The other point is that ,for one, I don't like wearing rigid type clothing and once you inflate those vests they will feel rather stiff.

[QiWiz]

People have been searching for the perfect down substitute for decades. So far each has had problems of bulk and/or durability. Down, meanwhile, has also improved, especially in water resistance. When one synthetic, Lite Loft was introduced for sleeping bags I bought it. It slowly lost loft until I returned it to REI.

I have also found that any synthetic insulation I have tried out (other than fleece) gradually loses loft until it's no longer useful. Meanwhile my well-cared-for down is still going strong. Result: I only use synthetics now when I am heading into multiday, guaranteed wet, rainy all the time conditions. Even then, I wonder if I would not be better off with my down. I now have a water-resistant down garment that has not yet been fully vetted but seems very good so far.
It's hard to beat years of evolution that mother nature has had the advantage of in insulating her creatures.

[July]

I have also found that any synthetic insulation I have tried out (other than fleece) gradually loses loft until it's no longer useful. Meanwhile my well-cared-for down is still going strong. Result: I only use synthetics now when I am heading into multiday, guaranteed wet, rainy all the time conditions. Even then, I wonder if I would not be better off with my down. I now have a water-resistant down garment that has not yet been fully vetted but seems very good so far.
It's hard to beat years of evolution that mother nature has had the advantage of in insulating her creatures.

Well said.

[Pedaling Fool]

It's hard to beat years of evolution that mother nature has had the advantage of in insulating her creatures.

Yeah, it maybe difficult, but she's had millions of years; we'll eventually beat her and in far less time than it took her.

[rafe]

I'm not so sure about the beating nature business. We can fly higher, faster than any birds ever flew... but we can't match birds for their efficiency in flight.

I'm often reminded that the very best of humankind's inventions begin to approach what nature has already achieved. Not that everything in nature is flawless -- far from it.