Page 1 of 1
Help in comparing three AB inspired hats...
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:25 pm
by NJIndy
As a long time lurker and now a COW member...
My head is spinning over the recent announcements...
It seems there are at least three new AB inspired hats to try and compare...
I have read all the info comparing the ABs and the AB Deluxe but...
Can anyone compare these three on quality, cost, deliver dates,etc...?
The Camptown 1957
AB Factory
New Federation IV with AB input
They all sound very similiar, even down to price.
Even close to the pre-5/22 AB price but the deliver date for those is almost a year out.
It almost sounds like the biggest differences will be in the deliver timeframe...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Pete
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:37 pm
by Mulceber
Camptown:
pros - hand-crafted, high beaver content.
cons - not 100% beaver.
AB factory:
pros - beaver content.
cons - not hand-crafted.
Federation IV:
pros - tough.
cons - rabbit, not hand-crafted. :junior: -M
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:42 pm
by BoilermakerJones
Welcome NJIndy!
If your main concern is delivery date, the only hat on your list that is ready for market is the Federation IV. They have just begun to ship them and in another post Ron from Hatsdirect said that they should get through the backlog of orders quickly.
The Factory AB is very promising, but still totally unknown as to availability. Steve and Marc want it to be just so before they will put their name on it. They are just working on getting an agreement with a factory.
Then there is Camptown. JerseyJones is currently waiting on the new blocks that he will be using for the hats, but I believe he has said that he expects them within the next two weeks. How long it will take him to get production going is unknown, but it shouldn't be too long.
I have a Crystal Skull on order from AB, but to keep me going until it can be built I also ordered a Tawny Fawn Federation IV last week. I have not yet experienced an Akubra hat, but from what everyone else around here says, they are very high quality rabbit hats.
Matt
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:46 pm
by BoilermakerJones
Mulceber,
I may be mistaken, but I thought Steve said that the Factory AB wouldn't be 100% rabbit.
Matt
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:36 pm
by TheChimp
BoilermakerJones wrote:Mulceber,
I may be mistaken, but I thought Steve said that the Factory AB wouldn't be 100% rabbit.
Matt
I believe he said that he wanted a Factory AB to be at least 20% beaver to give it a different feel from the 100% rabbit fur of the Fed IV.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:39 pm
by BoilermakerJones
Only after I saw TheChimp's quote did I realize that I typed rabbit instead of beaver. I guess I can't always make my fingers type what I am thinking. He did confirm what I thought anyway, that Steve was shooting for 20% beaver on the factory hat, not 100%.
Matt
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:17 pm
by Mulceber
Ah, my mistake. Ok, just scratch the 100% beaver from the factory AB's advantages. :junior: -M
Re: Help in comparing three AB inspired hats...
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:22 pm
by Tron7960
NJIndy wrote:As a long time lurker and now a COW member...
My head is spinning over the recent announcements...
It seems there are at least three new AB inspired hats to try and compare...
I have read all the info comparing the ABs and the AB Deluxe but...
Can anyone compare these three on quality, cost, deliver dates,etc...?
The Camptown 1957
AB Factory
New Federation IV with AB input
They all sound very similiar, even down to price.
Even close to the pre-5/22 AB price but the deliver date for those is almost a year out.
It almost sounds like the biggest differences will be in the deliver timeframe...
Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Pete
Don't forget Magnoli's Herbert Johnson. I believe it would qualify for your list (the one in my avitar!)