What is good quality "down"? As compared to feathers? I thought down is feathers. And where do you find the good stuff?
What is good quality "down"? As compared to feathers? I thought down is feathers. And where do you find the good stuff?
I think down is the fluffy stuff under the feathers. You can get the good stuff from Ed Speer or thru-hiker. The price for the good stuff is pretty steep, though ($25-$30 for 3oz). If you want to make a quilt, consider the kit offered at thru-hiker for $150 with 12oz of down, fabric and nanoseeum netting and the Momentum-90 fabric, or $130 with regular 1.1oz ripstop.
thanks Schneider...I'll check those out.
I have made a UQ out of a heavily discounted down comforter I got in the clearance aisle last year ($200, marked down to $27,) and I love it for car/backyard camping. I would guess it cost me a whole $30 plus time to complete the thing. It's heavy, though. And I looked for one that had a polyester cover rather than a cotton one, for obvious reasons.
Quality costs.
High quality costs money.
Low quality costs effort and/or equanimity.
The best is eider down--you can't find it at any price.
2nd best is goose down. It's usually graded by quality, meaning how much volume it will fill per ounce of down. Higher numbers mean higher price. No grade specified usually means low grade down.
3rd and last is duck down. If an item says only "down filled" the best guess is that it's duck down.
Only waterfowl have down, which is not the same as "small feathers"--it's structurally different from feathers. Nevertheless, some products contain a mix of duck down and small feathers, as low in quality as it gets and still allow a maker to use the word "down" in their hype.
Last edited by Graybeard; 10-11-2008 at 20:03.
bob
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