Adam, I can't remember where I read it, but they were discussing the resiliency of down. They used the example of some army surplus down bags that were stored in vacuum containers for a long period. Supposedly, the bags reagined most of their loft when removed from the containers. It might be worth researching a little before writing them off for your bag. Compressing bulky items like sleeping bags seems like the best use for compression sacks. I don't use my down bag very much (gone mostly to synthtics), but I have compressed it (only when using it) for countless days over the last 30 years. The stitching has failed in spots, the down has shifted some; but it still has a lot of loft. However, I am a little hesitant to compress any bag when they are wet, but wet down does not need much compression.