Anyone ever heard of Micromax?

[JayS]

A little off topic but... I had fairly severe allergies for years, had to get shots weekly. I was cured using NAET - Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques ( http://www.naet.com/ ). It uses acupressure, is totally painless and sounds a little like voodoo but I am living proof that it works. No immunotherapy (desensitizing) injections in over eight years and my allergist (who did not practice NAET) gave me a clean bill of health and told me I was healthier than I ever had been.

I am not a doctor and am not associated with NAET other than having had it. YMMV (I know of one person for whom it didn't seem to work). I am just throwing it out for informational purpose in case you want to investigate it yourself.

I hope you can find a solution to keep your down!

[Knotty]

...Down's warmth is gauged by it's fill power so how are synthetics measured?

Possible correction. Fill power is a measure of down's loft relative to weight. Since low weight is important to backpackers, we tend to pay for the higher fill power down items. I don't think it's directly associated with warmth. For example, 3" of 650 down might be just as warm, but heavier, than 3" of 800. Someone with more knowledge on the subject would have to confirm.

PS - Like others said, Climashield and Primaloft.

[Syb]

Just out of curiosity. From someone who is going through desensitizing injections due to severe allergies.(Lots of grass and pollen, great for those who love the outdoors!)

Is she allergic to the actual down, or dust mites etc etc in/on the down?

(Im a bigger fan of synthetics though, down is better but I like hiking in the Aussie winter/spring and generally get wet at some point. Down is out for that reason alone.)

Hmm, now I'm not sure if it's the down or the dust mites etc as you stated. She has allergies to most pets but some, like poodles or Maltese don't affect her. She has looked in to the desensitizing shots with which a good friend is having success.

Possible correction. Fill power is a measure of down's loft relative to weight. Since low weight is important to backpackers, we tend to pay for the higher fill power down items. I don't think it's directly associated with warmth. For example, 3" of 650 down might be just as warm, but heavier, than 3" of 800. Someone with more knowledge on the subject would have to confirm.

PS - Like others said, Climashield and Primaloft.

Thanks for that clarification Knotty. Just showing off my noob-ness. Looking more and more like Climashield or Insultex. Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.

Syb

[nacra533]

I agree with the crowd, instead of going with a synthetic that tries to mimic down, stick with the known performance synthetics like climashield, etc... You'll have a much better "real" knowlege base of actual users, it's WAY easier to make quilts with (no baffles, no weighing, no filling), and it sews very well.

From my experience, and I may start an disagreement, the "numbers" on climashield and others tend to be exaggerated, at least for me, a cold sleeper.

This is from memory, so I may be way off.
Using the clo numbers, climasheild 5 oz at 1.25" thickness is the same warmth/temp rating as 2" down. The engineer in me wanted to believe the math, but my 2" down UQ is definitely warmer than my 1.25" climashield synthetic, by 10 degrees easily.