Downtek?

My take:  Whether it solves the problem is not clear.  Whether it’ll keep solving the problem over time, less clear.  Whether there’s a problem that needs solving in the first place, even less clear.

Near the end of the trip below, we left camp for about half the day, during which it rained quite hard a few times. My travel partner had accidentally left the pyramid door unzipped. The wind pulled the stake next to the door out- effectively peeling the tent wall back to the corner, where my Katabatic quilt was, so it got totally soaked by rain. We returned in the afternoon. I hung the quilt up and let the water drain out of the insulation. Every hour or so I would squeeze the bottom 6 inches of the bag to wring out the water that had collected there. By that evening the bag did not feel fully dry, but other than some extra humidity it was fully lofted and functional. It had their Hyperdry goose down. I very much doubt an untreated down would have recovered from getting soaked as fast.

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

Okay, if you leave your down out in the rain, there’s a problem that needs solving, but I wouldn’t start with treating the down.  :-)

If DWR down lasts more than a couple or three years, it’ll be the first DWR product to do so in the history of DWR products, so I’m waiting for the evidence.

I made a down vest.  I put DWR down at the top baffles.  I ran out so put some untreated down in the bottom baffles.

In several years I haven’t noticed any difference.

I suspect that there really isn’t that much difference.

I got a quilt wet from rain.  Untreated down.  It was starting to lose it’s loft.  The next day I hung it in the sun and it dried out enough it was fine the next night.  Plus, that next night, body heat finished drying it.  Again, I suspect not that much difference between treated and untreated.

On my last project I specifically got untreated down.

I made a down vest. I put DWR down at the top baffles. I ran out so put some untreated down in the bottom baffles.

You should use it for 10 years or so then cut it open and test the DWR down–and report here!  I’ve seen no long-term tests of the stuff.  I know it’s relatively new, but I lean toward cynicism when mfrs aren’t forthcoming with data.

This older thread may be helpful:  https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/99608/

“You should use it for 10 years or so then cut it open and test the DWR down”

yeah

I should have been treated down on one side, and untreated down on the other side, and remembered which side is which.  Except I didn’t really plan this ahead of time.

Jerry, cut it open (even just a tad from each side) and do the water submersion test just like in Downtek’s video.  If it still works it should be obvious which was treated, no? The blind nature of the test just makes it more impartial, lol

Okay, if you leave your down out in the rain, there’s a problem that needs solving, but I wouldn’t start with treating the down.  :-)

Todd, indeed – but in this instance it sounds like a mistake (silly, but they happen to everyone) combined with bad fortune. It’s not hard to imagine other mistakes where more-moisture-than expected could be exposed to a sleep system (or jacket – perhaps more likely).

And isn’t part of the longevity issue with DWR the abrasion? Which would surely be much less of an issue for insulation.

All that said, I’m also highly skeptical. There seems to be little evidence beyond the anecdotal.

And isn’t part of the longevity issue with DWR the abrasion? Which would surely be much less of an issue for insulation.

Well, all the stuff-fluff cycles a down bag goes through would seem to do a lot of abrading, or something like it, to the down clusters.

Fair point (albeit that’s much less harsh than rock and scrub). I too would love to see long term data or anecdote.