850 FP for ~$5/oz

“7oz of 850FP added to my 35F quilt”

At some point you are stuffing down into a shell that is not sized properly for that amount of down. The down will not loft to it’s full potential, so overstuffing becomes less and less effective.

Maybe for a continuous baffle quilt, but not so much with Karo baffles. You just end up with a really really stuffed quilt. Regardless, one could always stop adding down when it stops lofting fully.

I was more hoping to find out what people thought of the seller.

A guy on Hammock forums suggested them too, said it takes a while to get but was nice down.  I was thinking about trying them too, I have a top and under quilt to build and that could be a pretty decent savings.  Normally I get from down linens but they are over $7.50 for an ounce.  If you order let us know.

I’m not recommending one way or another, just be aware that it is 5% feathers

Isn’t 5% feathers a good proportion?

I thought most UL companies are dealing with 95/5 down anyways.

If the 95% down is 850+ FP, how come the same vendor sells 100% down and it is still 850+FP?

I don’t know how much credence to put in their fill power claims.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is too good to be true and the 95/5 vs 100% down is really only part of the problem I’m seeing…I see them advertising “duck down” and while there may certainly be some high FP ratings for duck down (eider duck down but it’s really pricey), I’ve rarely come across anything over 650FP.

All the gear you see that’s 550-650FP is duck down an overwhelming majority of the time and the 750FP or higher stuff is almost always goose down…I don’t think there’s a coincidence there.

“All the gear you see that’s 550-650FP is duck down an overwhelming majority of the time and the 750FP or higher stuff is almost always goose down…I don’t think there’s a coincidence there.”

Well I trust Enlightened Equipment’s word and I think most people here would too since they seemingly run a very solid and honest business. Here is what they use (straight from their site):

“Enlightened Equipment uses Gray Duck Down (GDD) for our 800 and 850fp options, and Gray Goose Down (GGD) for our 900 and 950fp options. Other than the fill-power, there is no performance difference between types.”

“Enlightened Equipment uses Gray Duck Down (GDD) for our 800 and 850fp options, and Gray Goose Down (GGD) for our 900 and 950fp options. Other than the fill-power, there is no performance difference between types.”

I definitely trust EE and accept that as the truth. I just hadn’t seen any duck down at that high of FP so maybe that’s relatively new stuff…I still think that a random amazon seller who is undercutting the market by 40% is pretty suspicious.

I think the only way to find out is for someone to place an order and have it tested (probably on our own and just assume a bit of margin for error). I’d consider it at that price point but I’m currently sitting on around 24oz of down that I bought in bulk and have been saving for projects.

Yea, I would love to know if this is legit. I’m getting burnt out on synthetic projects and ready to get into down. This would be a nice gateway at a low price. Not sure if I’m willing to be the test subject though. :)

Yup. There is little difference between the two types. Both are from water fowl. Both are fairly water resistant naturally. The big differentiation is the size of the plumes with goose being somewhat larger, hence often a higher fill power. Eider Down comes from a duck and is considered the best even compared with goose down. 5% feathers is a bit much though. There are a couple ways to measure “percent”. By quantity(count,) by weight, and, by volume. All will yield different results. Example: 1 feather in 20(count) will not be the same as 1oz in 20oz(weight) or 1/20th of the total volume(volume.) Feathers generally have a very low fill power and are by standard called down at 95%. BTW, down plumes do NOT have ANY stalk. Feathers may have downy barbules on them but are NOT down.  I have seen Duck Breast feathers being sold as “down” which is illegal.

Actually, Eider down is not very high fp as compared to the very low feather ratio, high quality Goose down’s available.  Eider seems to max out at around 750 fp.

Supposedly what’s advantageous about Eider is the way the plumes barbules tend to stick to each other, which limits movement, which limits convection.  According to one study, it’s also pretty tough stuff–stronger tensile strength, but it’s also a bit heavier/denser per same volume as Goose down.

It’s hard to say exactly what it’s true warmth to weight ratio is.  Also according to that same study referenced above, goose down compresses a bit better than duck downs in general.

As far as the down talked about on the thread, no way to know for sure unless you have multiple samples tested.

Justin, Yup, all true about Eider. In general studies of warmth per weight it usually comes out on top. Even though it rarely exceeds 700fp, it is roughly equivalent to 1000 FP compared to goose down. It packs about the same since less is needed. But the damn stuff is expensive! about 120/oz IFF you can get it. Often you have to buy a pillow and open it up, doing a final sort by hand to remove any feathers. Pillows run around $3000-4000 for around 20oz. But, it is not as messy to work with as goose.

Yes, the only way to be sure is to test multiple samples. Some high quality pic’s would help, too. You can see feathers, whereas down just shows up as specks.