Field-testing the REI Halo sleeping bag

I bought a new sleeping bag for the first time in about 10 years.  After much research, I settled on an REI Halo +10 down bag.  I was wanting a 0-degree bag, but got talked into a +10.  I've had a -30 degree down bag for over 15 years for winter camping, but had always stuck to synthetic filling for warmer trips.  Why?  Two reasons.  First, I hike a lot of slot canyons, and if you get a down-filled bag wet, you are in a world of hurt.  Second, if you've been sleeping in a bag for six or seven days and it has gotten funky, you can wash a synthetic bag in your home washing machine.  Not so easy to do with down. 
So what made me get down?  Again, two reasons.  First, I like the light weight of down.  When you hike with the youngest Scouts, you sometimes wind up carrying some of their gear, so the lighter I can go the better off I am.  And if I get funky, I now have a liner that I can take out and throw into the washing machine.  As for getting the down wet?  Just have to be more careful.
Paid $299 for the bag and $54.95 for a Thermolite Reactor liner.  This liner is supposed to add 15 degrees to a sleeping bag's warmth. Have yet to try it out, but I did unfurl the Halo for the first time on a one-night campout above Caribou at about the 10,000-foot level.  I slept in the bag with a T-shirt, cotton pajama bottoms, socks, and a balaclava.  I was perfectly warm--almost too warm.

I like several features:

• Different shaped drawcords make it easy to adjust the neck and the hood in the dark.
• The zipper has a long, slip-resistant handle that makes it easy to work with gloves.
• A draft collar that helps seal the bag from the opening for your face, 
  

 The bag was delightfully light to carry, and compressed into a carrying bag so small that I can put it in the bottom of my pack.  Carrying sleeping bags on the bottom of packs in Utah risks catching them on cacti or dipping them into water when you are in rivers or streams.

The real test will come at the Klondike Derby in February, usually our coldest trip of the year.