It's a value judgement and an issue of funding.
If you have enough money to buy all of the colors of saddles and/or capes you need/want, then by all means, buy the saddles and/or capes. And buy them at the highest grade you can afford.
And as soon as you get them, wash and clean them, dry them thoroughly and re-bag them. No matter who the seller is, they're going to have grease, dirt and potentially bugs or eggs in them.
When it comes to buying saddles or capes, it depends on what you're going to tie (variety of flies and sizes) which works best for you... and if you can hand inspect them, it's worth it. Barb length and stiffness is but one measure... if you get a saddle or cape that has been exposed to too much heat or direct sunlight, the stems will be coarse and brittle, or is you get ones from malnourished hens/roosters, you'll get thick and stiff stems that won't wind perpendicular to the shank of the hook.
While 100-packs may not seem like the best long-term bargain- if you're only tying a limited number of flies in the sizes that the packs include, or if you're tying to sell the flies to get more $$ to be able to fill your cupboards, they are an excellent way to go- they're hand picked and almost always near perfect.
---------- Post added at 05:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------
A bit more on what I was saying about cleaning feathers:
I learned the importance of having CLEAN, well packaged and labeled materials at a pretty young age after having an infestation cost me a few pelts, tails and capes. Don't assume that materials you purchase or receive are always insect free or have been properly treated and cleaned. SMELL them on receipt, check them for excess fat or oil (on the skin side), and NEVER introduce them into your inventory until you have given them an opportunity to prove themselves worthy! This isn't usually a problem with synthetics, but natural materials definitely need to be 'studied'.
Even with the highest quality on-skin or on-hide materials (Hoffmann, Metz, whatever) you will periodically find problems that can be easily cured by spending a bit of time checking them over and washing them. Look at the skin and see if there are any 'blobs' of fat or greasy/oily areas- you can typically find these by running a piece of medium blue or grey paper across them and see if it darkens. After using a razor blade and sharp scissors to cut away any fat or excess skin, you can use the edge of a spoon (dedicated to this purpose, NOT a kitchen utensil!) to scrape the back of the skin and make sure there's no more surface fat.
Now, smell the patch and see if you pick up any oily scent. Even if you don't, washing the materials is a good idea. Fill a clean sink with warm water and a small amount (a couple of tablespoons) of Dawn dishwashing detergent. Place the neck in the water and allow it to sit for a few minutes, then using your hands, rub the skin surface gently to remove any surface oils. Turn the neck over and 'swish' the feathers through the soapy water while fanning them away from the skin. Drain the sink and rinse both sides of the neck under running warm water until there is no soap remaining. Rinse the neck again under cool water and place it skin side down on a pad of paper towels to drain and dry. If you have a ceiling fan, place it on the table under the ceiling fan and turn it on medium to help dry the feathers out. You can also do this with a hair dryer on low heat by draping the skin side of the neck over your hand and aiming the dryer at the feathers.
Allow the neck to dry completely for a day or so and then place it in a NEW, CLEAN, ziploc-type bag and label it with the date you purchased it and the source you obtained it from. IF YOU'RE REAL PARANOID... you can pop it in the freezer for a couple of days and pull it out before introducing it into your inventory... this way if there were any insect eggs you may have missed, it will kill them.
One thing you'll notice after doing this is there will be a BIG difference in the color of the feathers from before and after washing, the other is how much the feathers will shine. You can do this with necks, saddles, full capes, any "feathers on skin" patches and you REALLY should consider it. All it will take is one rancid or buggy patch that ruins the balance of your materials to change your mind.
