Has anybody used this down for over/underquilts?

[porkbutter]

WWW. HUNGARIAN GOOSE DOWN .COM has 750-fill goose down for a very reasonable price. I have seen higher loft (800 at Thru-hiker, 900 at Speer hammocks), but at almost twice the price. Anybody have experience with this stuff? Any opinions about whether or not the extra loft would be worth the price difference?
-Bob. :confused:

[Just Jeff]

My last batch was 900fp from Speer...it works great, but I've since read some skepticism about very high loft down:
- Some folks claim that you can't even get that high w/o special processing - i.e. "tricks" to get a higher score. These special lab conditions won't be replicated in the field. Therefore, very high loft down (like 900) may not actually perform better than lower ratings (~750) because it absorbs humidity so much quicker, so it loses a bit of loft in the field, which means you'll have to overstuff the item to get the same performance...which means there really isn't much performance advantage over the 750-range stuff, anyway.

Not knocking Ed's stuff - like I said, it works great - but at that price my next purchase will be from www.hungariangoosedown.com (http://www.hungariangoosedown.com). IIRC, it was 1Kg for about the price of 1 pound from thru-hiker or Ed.

[porkbutter]

...which means there really isn't much performance advantage over the 750-range stuff, anyway.

Not knocking Ed's stuff - like I said, it works great - but at that price my next purchase will be from www.hungariangoosedown.com (http://www.hungariangoosedown.com). IIRC, it was 1Kg for about the price of 1 pound from thru-hiker or Ed.[/quote]

Thanks, Jeff,
I appreciate the tip. I was leaning in the direction of the Hungarian down already, and this helps. Maybe I’ll even have enough left over from a kilo for something for warm weather.
-Bob.
:-?

[porkbutter]

No luck with the down at http://www.hungariangoosedown.com/. I ordered some, & over week later, I received a Paypal notice of payment. A while later, I got a message saying that none was in stock, it would be a 2 week delay. I went with this. Later, a month into it, I received a Paypal refund stating, in pigeon English, that there was a problem with Bird Flu along with what something that seemed to mean I might or might not be able to order later. Several email attempts have brought no response. Darn. The price of building over/under quilts just jumped considerably.:( I am gonna need these quilts by September, and time is running down.
Next source:Speer hammocks to the rescue! http://www.speerhammocks.com/

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Yikes - http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=68382-h-n-poultry-avian

[NCPatrick]

Yikes - http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=68382-h-n-poultry-avian

That sure creates havoc with the pricing of the Goose down. Would the price go down with the lack of demand, or up because of lack of supply? (Or will they just go out of business altogether?)

[hammock engineer]

I tried to get ahold of that company when I was thinking about making one. My emails went unanswered, so I did not want to order from them. I have since just bought one.

I think I remember reading an article on the JRB website concerning bird flu and the safety of down.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

That sure creates havoc with the pricing of the Goose down. Would the price go down with the lack of demand, or up because of lack of supply? (Or will they just go out of business altogether?)It could go either way, but my guess is that items made with goose down will go up in price because manufactures will have to pay more to get down they know is free of bird flu.

[gardenville]

My last batch was 900fp from Speer...it works great, but I've since read some skepticism about very high loft down:
- Some folks claim that you can't even get that high w/o special processing - i.e. "tricks" to get a higher score. These special lab conditions won't be replicated in the field. Therefore, very high loft down (like 900) may not actually perform better than lower ratings (~750) because it absorbs humidity so much quicker, so it loses a bit of loft in the field, which means you'll have to overstuff the item to get the same performance...which means there really isn't much performance advantage over the 750-range stuff, anyway.

Not knocking Ed's stuff - like I said, it works great - but at that price my next purchase will be from www.hungariangoosedown.com (http://www.hungariangoosedown.com). IIRC, it was 1Kg for about the price of 1 pound from thru-hiker or Ed.

If you question that Ed Speer's Down might not be what he says it is why don't you send some for testing. Check out http://www.idfl.com
You would want the "Box" test" not the "Steam" which I think you refer to as "trick". It will cost you about $60 for the "Box" test.

[Just Jeff]

I'm not questioning that what Ed sells isn't 900fp at all. I'm saying that this report questions the value of 900fp over 750fp.

Then I said that at that price difference, I'm willing use 750fp.

Where did you see me question Ed's integrity?

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

I understood what you were saying, Jeff, and have also seen the information re: 900 fill power not being much better than 700 fill power as an insulator ounce for ounce. The basic premise of the argument is that the larger air spaces in fill powers above 700 - 800 range allow more convention to occur within the insulation itself and therefore more heat loss which negates the additional insulation value that would be expected.

[Smee]

JRB used Hungarian Goose Down during our first year of operation. It was excellent quality down and cheaper than Feathered Friends, but we continually had issues with timely delivery. We also had communication issues (language barrier) and couldn't get them to provide their down sterilization permit number. Eventually we switched to an outfit out in California referred to us by Ed Speer.

If you're interested in the avian flu issue I recommend you check the link on our home page and read the IDFL article. If the down is being properly sterilized avian flu should not be an issue. Every down processor is required to have their sterilization process certified and their permit number is recorded on the law tag on every commercially sold bag.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Great info, Smee. Thanks for sharing this with us.