What are some favorite companies to purchase down? I got a great deal on a Kelty Lightyear 25 that a dog had torn (about 15", across 3 baffles). Not a lot of down was lost, but I thought I would try to replace it before I patch it. Or I may just harvest all the down out of it. Or sell it. Thanks for the help.

thru-hiker.com is the only place I've ever purchased down from. As anyone who has dealt with them can vouch for the customer service is great. The down is also high quality. $26 for a 3 ounce supply of 800+ fill power (I think I remember reading somewhere on here way back that the usual fill power is about 830 and sometimes as high as 860? Either way it's good stuff). Cheers.

Another source for down is Speer Hammocks. Their price is a bit higher, but if Thru-hiker ever runs out or changes their price, it'd be good to know a second source.

I have bought down from both of these sources, and prefer the quality of Thru hiker's down.

Tony

Anyone ever used these guys? http://sevenwondersdown.com/index.html

I'm about to decide fixing this bag is more than I want to mess with.

Joe - I have not used Seven Wonders for my source of down. But I think I will, given that it appears to be free shipping. You have the option to buy one ounce at a cost of $8 w/ free ship.
Purchasing a pound? still free shipping. That will save you 12-14 bucks over the other guys.
you dont know how many times i have wanted to buy just one ounce.. thanks for the heads up. dunno how i missed this before...
am i missing anything? hidden charges?

Michael,
I looked at the Seven Wonders website, and it looks like they do charge shipping; $0.75 USD for each ounce or $12.00 USD per pound. That is still pretty cheap when just buying one ounce though!

http://sevenwondersdown.com/Shipping.html

thanks, Peter. I used a PayPal payment and it came up for one ounce @ $8
I took the payment all the way thru the process until the "pay now" button. It seems that there is no shipping charge when the PalPal link is used. ??
even w/ shipping fee, its a good price. thanks

I just ordered an ounce from seven wonders, and it does charge .75 in the end for shipping (through Paypal link). Even so, that's only 26.25 for three ounces, a $.30 increase over thru-hiker but with the ability to buy an ounce at a time. perfect for small projects. I'll post here when it arrives to give an idea of shipping time.

P.S. forgot to factor in shipping at thru-hiker ($7.50 for 3 ounces) making this an even better deal, assuming high quality down. Of course, if ordering other things from thru-hiker shipping costs get spread out over the whole purchase.

P.P.S. down was shipped on 12/5 (email notification)

Edited by nmiller08 on 12/07/2008 22:53:48 MST.

I felt guilty after posting that link and other people buying, so I bought 3 oz myself. Guess if it's a rip-off, we'll all go down (get it?) together.

Anyone get their down yet? I got mine. Don't really know what I'm looking at though.

I got my down today as well. It seems to be high quality just from a "feel" test. The only down I've used before has been purchased from Speer Hammocks, so I don't have a lot of reference. Not able to test the loft myself, and no certification paperwork included, so I have no science to contribute. Ok, not zero science, if you can call using a scale science: I bought an ounce and received nearly 1.4! I just finished making a footbox for a quilt and the only complaint is that the Seven Wonders down seemed a lot harder to work with, more prone to floating away, sticking to everything, etc.

Also, I'm feeling a little guilty, partly because I made an $8.75 purchase and Seven Wonders shipped it with Priority Mail, undoubtedly costing more than $.75 and partly because of the packaging, shipping and other costs entailed in shipping one measly ounce of down. I think I'll make up for it by ordering a bunch more.

Nicholas,

"... more prone to floating away."

That's probably a good thing! I would think the higher the fill power, the less dense and therefore more "floaty" the down would be.

I was hoping mine would come in 1 oz bags, but it's a big 3 oz bag. Guess I need to find a source that tells me how to get a little at a time out. That would be kind of funny to open a bag of that down up in someones car though.

If I can't sell my Jacks R Better quilt, I'll cut it open and sell the down to you folks.

source. stated fill. price of 3oz. shipping to TX included

Thru-Hiker. 800+. $33.40
7Wonders. 800+. $26.25
Speer. 900. $38.50

All info is from websites and shopping carts. Speer specifically states they include an extra 0.1oz/3oz. I do not know if other companies include this.

A previous post stated a quality preference for Thru-Hiker over Speer, even though Speer claims 900 while others claim 800+. What should be believed? Is the premium for Speer acceptable?

The differences in community involvement may outweigh shipping, quality, and price, but I'd like to hear more about these specs.

I have ignored differences in shipping time, but these may be important to others.

Jeremy, I can tell you from experience that Speer and Thru-hiker do not use the same source for down. Speer comes from gray geese as seen in their down. It has a gray shade to it. Thru Hiker is pure white. Ghostly white.
Both sources add a bit of down so you are actually getting 1.3 oz.

I do like the packaging Ed Speer uses over Thru-Hiker.
Purely asthetical, but if using a transluscent shell (like lt. gray or white) the T.H. down looks good as it is so 'pristinely' white. The speer down looks a little like salt 'n pepper inside.

Joe, might you post a pic of the bag your down came in?
also, Joe you can use a shop vac with some noseeum over the hose to suck up several grams of down at a time. Ive used a 3hp vac to suck up almost an ounce at a time. this is great if your quilt chambers are large.

Edited by mikeinfhaz on 12/10/2008 10:26:52 MST.

Michael, I agree that the difficulty managing the down might be a good indicator of loftiness, but the Speer is definitely just as "airy" without quite so much static, float, and cling. It might be more a factor of packaging, the Speer uses a sort of firmer plastic bag while the seven wonders is more "rubbery" plastic if that makes sense, more like what a white trash bag feels like (but both bags are clear, for what it's worth).

Jeremy, in addition to Michael's comments about down source, I can only offer that Speer uses a little certification sticker on the bag from an independent loft tester (I had no idea such an industry existed until starting MYOG down projects). The batch that I got my down from had a "measured" fill rating of 927 c.i. with a "5%-10%" error disclaimer. I posted in a different thread wondering if this would actually make the Speer down that I had "835+" since it's minimum fill rating would be 10% less than the measured 927 value. The Seven Wonders down did not include such data although their website claims that they have independent testing of some sort. I have no idea on the thru-hiker down since I haven't used any yet.

Also, aside from simply Speer's and T-H's community involvement (which probably warrants consideration for most people here) is the fact that you can order other items, fabrics, etc. at the same time.

Regarding shipped amounts, Speer advertises 3.1 ounces shipped and my order measured out to a little over that. The seven wonders ounce that I ordered, while measuring it out last night and stuffing it, came to almost 40 grams. I have no idea if this ratio would be maintained when ordering 3 ounces or if it is a general error range. i.e., if ordering 3 ounces, it seems unlikely that you'd get 40 grams x 3, resulting in a whole extra ounce. More likely you'd get a similar safety barrier to what I got, 3 ounces + 12 or so grams. Or, it's possible that my bag was a case of careless filling and you're as likely to get less than you order as you are more.

Edited by nmiller08 on 12/10/2008 11:42:16 MST.

Not a very good picture, but here it is -