I'm 6'9" (81 inches) and using a HH Expedition asym with the side zipper entry. I sleep like a big banana, and while that works well enough when its warm, my last trip snuck in a night in mid to low 40s with a substaned ~10mph breeze. I had a 20F down bag with me and made due with a camp towel as my bottom insulation layer. It worked better than I thought it might but it was still very hard to keep things in place and the CBS kept finding a way in. I've sence tried a foam pad in the backyard but it was to bulky on the pack so I'm looking at other options.

Right now I'm leaning towards a KAQ Potomac,
or could be talked into a 3/4 UQ streched to around 60 inches / possibly a Phoenix,
or maybe even try a X-Frame pad and see if I get better use out of my sleeping bag with that.

I'm in NC and suspect a lighter 3 season setup would work for 95% of the stuff I do currently. However, I may be taking a road trip to Alaska early next spring and would be likely be car camping a fair bit to get there. A setup that could be built up to handle near 0F weather would be ideal. I'm on a studnet's budget though so if I 'm hoping I can spend $200 or less and get down to 20F to start off. Am I on the right path? Any input, suggestions, or corrections would be welcomed.