The Snugpak clothing is quite good and performs quite well for synthetic insulation, but not as well as a high quality down clothing. The advantage of course is that although they are slightly heavier than an equivalent down jacket for the same temperature rating they are not effected by damp and wet conditions so much as down clothing. Wet conditions can destroy the insulation properties of a down jacket or sleeping bag. Once this happens it is then difficult to dry them out. The sleeping bags are synthetic also and are up there with the very best synthetic sleeping bags available, even the Scandinavian makes. I have a couple of different sleeping bags, an Alpkit AD500 (Down) at 1200gms -5 degrees Celsius, a Snugpak Softie SF1 (Synthetic) at 1200gms +3 degrees Celsius and a Vango Venom 300 (Down) at 875gms +3 degrees Celcius. Out of the 3 my favorite bag would have to be the Vango. It performs about the same as the Snugpak Softie SF1 but is a good 300gms lighter and packs down incredibly small. Other synthetic insulation jacket and trousers by Nanok of Norway (Special Forces Tactical Range) are also worth taking a look at. They are very similar but the Snugpak Range is slightly more comprehensive. It has been rumoured that the Snugpak code green range bags such as the Softie merlin 3 are being used by some US special forces units or by some US military service personnel (own purchase) but I couldn't confirm this. It might just marketing hype. So to summarize, they are quite good, they do the job, but the very best down clothing will ultimately be warmer, lighter and a bit more comfortable in use if it is kept dry.