Perhaps my wording was not clear. I am not knocking Down nor saying that synthetic is any better in a gear flooded situation. With either you need to protect the insulation from getting soaked. It does not make any difference one bit which you choose if your pack ends up in the lake your in an "up the creek" situation. Both will be near totally useless until thoroughly dried an no matter what you do either will take many hours to toughly dry. Protecting your insulation from these kinds of catastrophic accidents are all you can do. A good stuff sack, dry bag, pack liner, pack cover....so on and so forth should be something you take and use as needed.
In none catastrophic situations like wind blown rain getting your quilt damp...personally as someone that uses and makes and sells both again I still don't see a benefit to one insulation over the other as far as being "safe" Both would get damp, both would loose insulation value and you would be wet and cold too if it got to a serious level. Properly pitching your tarp is how to prevent that potential problem.
The real variables to consider when choosing Down over Synthetic or the other way around. Is cost/budget, compressibility and it's importance to your use and potental wait times on production and it's importance in your "need it now"--or "not in a hurry" point of mind. At least those are the variables to consider to me.
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