I'm surprised with your comment about reading 'bad things on the forums' about Nunatak, Julian. I haven't read them.
I'm very happy with my quilt, and wouldn't swap my Skaha for my friends PHD pullover.

I read something about delays, bad communication, things coming in over weight,also from personal observation. Why don't you rate the ultra???? That down fill is amazing from the one I handled. Maybe more fragile fabric?

There was a wait for my Nunatak stuff, but i was aware of that from the start, and the communication was first class.
I didn't say i don't rate PHD stuff. The PHD Pullover a friend of mine has is fine, but nowhere near as warm as my Skaha.

You will wait for a Nunatak product just like PHD, but their service and communication is far better IMHO. I also agree that a Skaha seems warmer (is definitely higher lofting) than a Minimus, plus every Nunatak order is essentially a custom order. You get a garment tailored to your needs.

As far as down quality, I think you will find that companies like Western Mountaineering are already using 850+ down fill, which is often very close to 900 fill power anyway. The difference bewteen 800+ used at Nunatak and 900 is less than 10% (most 800+ is closer to 850), so I am not convinced that it's all it's cracked up to be. It has the same loft as their traditional Minimus. Add poor customer service to the equation and I would definitely look elsewhere.

Snow closures can't be judged by your own regional experiences. We probably average one to two days a year here where snow wreaks havoc, but that's because it's so uncommon. There's a lack of snow ploughs, most folks don't have chains or snow tyres, and have little experience driving in icy conditions. Trust me, you wouldn't WANT most of them on the roads!!! When you live somewhere colder where snow is a fact of every winter, you adapt and have the infrastructure in place to deal with it better. It is less disruptive.

Thanks for your thoughts Lynn, I'll certainly rethink for the future. I was promised a tracking number and shipment for today that hasn't happened. What was the wait for your nunatak??

"What was the wait for your nunatak??"

I can't remember...it was a few years ago. But there was a lot of email going in both directions. Tom is both very knowledgeable and very responsive to questions regarding fabric choice, fill amount and other custom queries. In the end I got a Quantum outer, a taffeta inner, a hood and pocket, plus a "drop-tail", so it weighs a lot more than the Minimus (which has a slight drop-tail and pocket already built into it)

Edited by retropump on 01/20/2010 13:07:14 MST.

For my wife and mine nunatak skaha+ it was 3,5 months but every mail was answered very fast.
I didnt get the full zip i asked for, but as my english isnt that good i am afraid my mail after asking about that option wasnt clear.
But as the warmth/weight is great so i have no regrets.

I bought PHD down booties for my wife in december, no news yet, i just hope we will get them before april when she was planning to use them :p.

fred eric, my order was 30th NOV so I guess you should be hearing soon...
3.5 months is a loooooooooong time... I tend not to have the cash to plan 4 months ahead!

I've bought quite a few things from Nunatak throughout the year. After the first I realized about the wait! It is my unscientific belief that the closer to the colder months you order, the longer you'll wait. The wait on one order (Arc AT) was much closer to 2 months. My Raku took nearly four, I think. But, as others have said, when I've emailed asking about it, Tom has always answered the email within a day or two. Same thing with Ron at MLD. Same thing with Tim at enLIGHTened. Same thing with the good folks at JacksRBetter. Same thing with Joe at ZPacks. No more than 3-5 days from Grant at GG and Casey at ULA (and usually within a day or two). And it's that customer service that has kept me going to back to these businesses time and again (especially Nunatak and MLD, who seem to make a lot of stuff I really like, darn them!). And since they all make more than enough to scratch my ever present itch, I don't need to wander the aisles aimlessly waiting for assistance from someone, anyone (metaphorically speaking) at a different business, like PHD.

It's like I said in a different post months ago, great products is only part of the equation to a successful business, but rarely is it enough to carry a business lacking in other respects.

Every company -- even the very best ones -- can experience delivery/product/service problems. OTOH, if there is a pattern of such, then people should not reward that company with additional business!

I've never done business with PHD -- but after reading the posts, I doubt I ever will. Same reason why I wouldn't do business with a certain BS tent company either. Our strongest collective voice is our wallets. Hopefully, we'll all do our part to support the good and drive out the bad.

It seems that I had quite the opposite result from my dealing with PHD. I had good communication throughout, received my Yukon pullover in 12 days, and found it to be a top notch product. Their products will definitely be in the running when I search out future needs.

I should mention that I ordered on October 27th, and perhaps I beat the last minute winter orders. It's the same for most favorite suppliers to BPL members... order early, before you actually need to use it.

Edited by Quoddy on 01/21/2010 06:36:26 MST.

just to complete the story, PHD shipped the ul pullover yesterday via express courier at their expense as they promised.

my best communication with them as being using the contact form on the webpage and putting the order number in the subject. I'll let everyone know how it ends!

well just when I thought the situation was solved, the tracking number they sent me was for a parcel going to a different address, so they have EITHER shipped my stuff to the wrong address OR given me a wrong tracking number, and as the office is only open in the mornings, I've no way of finding out until tomorrow - the saga continues...

I contacted PHD about building me a custom "Xero" winter bag a couple of years ago, got 2 or 3 responses, but, not immediately and, when I asked another question, he did not deign to reply. I have used most of the "big name" or "carriage trade" gear over many years and I am skeptical about EVERY maker's "rep", however, this sort of treatment simply sent me to Valandre.

I would consider Valandre to be the finest down gear I have yet used, this includes FF, WM, ID and several Euro. companies probably no longer in business. Has anyone here actually USED both PHD and Valandre gear and what were your impressions, in short, which do you consider superor and why?

I own a mirage, i also had a classic 700 that i sold but it was duck, i was loaned a Freja and i have seen their jackets :

i still have the mirage and i love it.
i prefer my nunatak skaha plus to valandre jackets,

as for phd having only bought some down socks i guess it wont be a good item to compare :)

just to end all this, the tracking number I'd been given was incorrect and the jumper was waiting when I got home. 295grams incl hood size L.

So to sum up... loads of dodgey shipping info, no notification, shipped express (65gbp) at PHD's expense, wrong tracking number sent which caused a major cardiac arrest, an dfinally the goods.

Hi Ron,
Thanks for your reply. Strange you can not find the email I sended you. And I thought it was not send because on my account ir is still pending.
About delivery: I know. In the mail I wrote that it would take a long time to get here because the customs take a long time to clear. It is normal to have to wait 4-6 weeks or even longer.
But I am very happy it is send. I will wait in eager.
And sure, peace!! You do a nice job.
Greetings, Miriam.

My PHD experience was excellent: they made a custom ultra vest within 2 weeks and posted it straight out. This was about 3 weeks before christmas (2008) as well, a busy time.

Regarding tracked mail, UPS is crazy expensive. I've only ever had one parcel (out of probably several hundred parcels) of tracked Fedex or USPS go missing (yes it was an MLD one - doh!).

I haven't bought anything from PHD yet, however I enquired about two years ago about their Minum Ultra bags. I was wondering about the girth, and whether it would work with a light down jacket like their ultra pullover or similar. The email response was immediate and good-they said its a smidge tight with my 100cm chest, however they'd happily make it a little larger for me at no extra cost.

I thought that was pretty good, though I never went through with it because I couldn't afford it at the time.

I'm tossing up getting a minum bag soon, hopefully they won't take forever.

I never by stuff if the sellers insists on using a courier (UPS/FedEx/DHL etc) on anything coming into my country (Canada) because of the outrageous fees. All goods coming in to Canada are subject to tax (~13%). USPS charges a $5-$8 handling fee on top of this, whereas couriers (with UPS being the worst) charge various brokerage fees that collectively start at about $40 and strangely go up as the value of the package does even though the work involved is the same. I once had a $900 bike frame shipped that resulted in a bill for about $110 in tax and $140 in fees and tax on those fees.

Edited by dandydan on 03/15/2010 23:48:45 MDT.