I’m looking to buy an high end whistle in the key of D and I cant decide between a Chieftain or a Harper. Anyone have any opinion?
Phil Hardy is developing, or has developed a second generation Songbird high D. I’d be interested in looking at that if I was going for another metal high D. I’ve only heard the first generation, but it sounded good, and if the second generation is an improvement, I’m sure it would be a very fine whistle indeed.
I don’t know what kind of whistle you want, but if you haven’t checked around already, take a look at a Burke whistle. They’re amazing! And there are many for sale at the moment…
Overton 
Chieftain, all around best in my books…
I’ve played both and would put the Harper in front for the following reasons.
Intonation - Steve Harper finishes all whistles by hand so intonation is spot on. Chietain intonation can be very variable.
Volume - Harper is fairly loud and sweet sounding (there’s a nice clip on Phil Hardy’s video section BTW). Chieftain has lots of back pressure so is a loud whistle.
Forgot to say… I’d seriously think about the Silkstone Alloy D - in the same price range as the other two you mention and tuneable as standard.
I would have said exactly what Parkwood said in his first post. I’ve owned several Harpers, and the quality has been consistently high and the sound consistent across the different keys. (The Silkstone alloy is a great whistle, but has a sound totally different from the Harper or Chieftain.)
Check out Preacher’s for sale thread; he has an engraved C/D set for sale. The Harper C is one of the finest whistles of any key you’ll ever find, plus the engraved set is just beautiful.
Ditto! The Harper C is awesome!!
Phil hand-finished all Chieftains, which are made by a machine ran by an experienced engineer. I think Chieftians are GREAT instruments.
-Casey 
They are all good whistles. It is going to come to personal preferance of tone. Try to buy used whistles first. You can just about get your money back if you sell it. Then buy a new whistle.
I’d say talk to the maker before you buy. I’ve found, in my experiences, that most are willing to stand behind their product so if you aren’t happy with it they’ll usually be willing to take it back as long as it’s in the same condition it was sent to you in. Making a larger purchase such as this (even though it’s still significantly cheaper than most other instruments) shouldn’t be taken lightly. You should definitely base your decision on how it sounds when you play it, and how it feels in your hands, mouth, etc. as you play it. Nobody else can tell you these things. If you really like the whistle but something seems off, again, talk to the maker and maybe they can tweak something to make their product work for you.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot for all the advice, I’ll definitly take it into account. Now I just have to get some money together.
Staying with your stated choices—I’ve never played a high-D Chieftain, but I own a Harper which I like very much.
Dale
Took the words righ out of my mouth. UNLESS you want wood then I would say Rose or Bleazey!!!
would prefer harper as well ,or think about burkes ,Silkstone or Overtons,have playde all those personally yet for testing or while sessions ina pub
had difficult experiences with chieftains about intonation so i looked for other whistles and found whistles who are absolutely right in tune cause they´re really hand checked.
There certainly are some good whistles in the range you mention. There are a lot of blanket statements made about Chieftain/Kerry whistles. To be specific:
The Chieftain High Ds have an extra large bore (0.62"). This makes them difficult in the notes above 2nd octave F#, however the lower notes are fine (if thay are not fine, get an exchange or have Phil re-voice it). Having the large bore makes them super loud, so they should be applied only to high volume scenarios. Horses for courses 
The Kerry Songbird High Ds are a smaller bore (0.5") - more in line with “session” style whistles they intone well. And as Canpiper mentioned, there’s a new Songbird in development.
All that said, Harper has its own reputation. I’ve never heard anything negative said about them.
Between Chieftain/Kerry and Harper you have a lot of difference in sound and presentation. It should be fairly easy to decide which one suits your style better.