But for anything colder, you will want more down in your jacket. This is another thing people often overlook. A jacket can be insulated with grams of down, but what if all of that insulation covers only its body?
A jacket that has 90 grams of down, but which is entirely insulated including the sleeves and the hood , will be warmer that a jacket that has grams of down but only in the body. Some brands will tell you that these parts of their jackets are filled with down — Canada Goose is one of those, and the first one that comes to mind. You should always look for this info in the descriptions of the jackets. Being too warm is a real issue — one that can render your brand new, ridiculously expensive jacket useless.
You ned to consider how cold your area gets in the winter. If the temperatures are often below zero, then you should be looking for higher fill powers, and generally jackets that are heavily insulated.
Canada Goose actually has a really helpful rating system for their jackets, as they tell you exactly the temperature range in which they are designed to be worn. If you want something you can wear every day, look for jacket with lower fill powers, or high fill power but lower amount of insulation. If you think I forgot anything or still have any questions about down fill rating, feel free to ask me in the comments! Anna is the co-owner of expert world travel and can't wait to share her travel experience with the world.
With over 54 countries under her belt she has a lot to write about! Including those insane encounters with black bears in Canada. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Last Updated: February 12, Goose Down Vs.
Duck Down Image Courtesy of Thomas Brueckner The first thing you need to look for is whether a jacket is insulated with goose down or duck down. Weight Of Down Insulation This is a very interesting thing that people often overlook.
Down To Feather Ratio Down to feather ratio is the amount of down inside a jacket, versus the amount of feathers. Distribution Of Down Insulation This is another thing people often overlook. Fill weight is the number ounces of down inside the pillow shell. Fill power is the size and quality of the down used to fill the shell.
It's that simple. So this is one of those questions that we get a lot and people think that fill weight and fill power are the same thing but the reality is fill weight is a measurement of how much material, in terms of ounces, we put inside the shell of the pillow to create a given density, soft, medium, firm or extra firm or thickness.
While fill power is a measure of quality and cubic inches so the higher the fill power the higher the quality and the larger the down cluster. So I wanna look for the high fill power or if I want the best? All down is not sourced from the same species, from the same geography, cleaned the same and certainly not packaged, shipped and stored in a climate controlled room with moisture barrier floors installed and designed specifically for our down.
All of those variables can and do significantly impact the way the finished goods; pillows, comforters and mattress toppers perform over time. Fill power is a measure of quality, size and cleanliness. The higher the fill power the higher the quality and the higher the fill power the larger the size of the down cluster. Since the higher fill power down cluster are larger we can't get as many of them into the pillow so the fill weight is lower.
And, since higher quality fill powers are also larger comparing them to other fill powers becomes a challenge. The reason is all fill powers are not created equal even within the same fill power especially when compared across different manufactures.
Meaning, I can almost guarantee you that our ultra-premium Hungarian white goose down isn't like any other Hungarian white goose down or any other goose down. A very quick, and hopefully useful analogy, is comparing chocolate. Is all chocolate the same? I mean, it's just chocolate right? So how different can it be? Hershey's makes great chocolate. But, Godiva is probably better. You might not like Godiva more than Hershey chocolate but Godiva is using higher quality ingredients and it's certainly more expensive.
Godiva is great chocolate but Teuscher chocolates of Switzerland and their champagne truffles are extraordinary. Still chocolate but significantly higher quality ingredients, much more expensive than Godiva, requiring much greater skill to source and manufacture.
So, all chocolate isn't the same. All goose down isn't the same either and the differences can be just as extreme as chocolate. The fill weight is different for each pillow density, or thickness, for each pillow size; standard, queen or king and each fill power.
Unfortunately, we get a lot of emails requesting the number of ounces used to create a given density thickness ; soft, medium, firm or extra firm. I have yet to speak to a customer that understands how or what they are comparing to make an informed decision, much less compare fill weights from one company to another, when they know the number of ounces for a given density or thickness. Fill power represents the size and quality, loft and how long a pillow will retain its firmness. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser.
But first of all, it pays to learn a little bit about how down insulation works in the first place. Down jackets keep you warm the same way goose down keeps geese warm—which is also the same way the newer synthetic insulation materials keep you warm. By trapping pockets of warm air close to the skin, keeping the warm air in and the cold air out. But while synthetic insulation may outperform down in wet weather, down still comes in first in cold, dry environments.
Also, down jackets almost always weigh less and compress more than their synthetic counterparts, providing the same amount of warmth at a fraction of the weight. The down fill rating number is a measurement of down quality, meaning the cubic inches of loft one ounce of the specific down produces.
A higher rating means less down fill is required to capture the same amount of heat. What you also need to take into consideration is the amount of down used in the jacket. Down jackets with a high fill power are usually lighter, less bulky and more compressible than jackets with a low fill power that are equally warm. But again, much depends on the fill weight.
0コメント