Just for the record Ratherbeflying I retract my previous - did a checkride in a warrior today and attendant PFL - thermic day, was seeing anything between 500 and 900 down - say an average of 700 down, definately in the ballpark and obviously flaps will worsen the angle (good reason to keep them hidden until really sure!). FWIW I'm also in line with your expanded version of outlanding procedure - most of my XC has been done in the UK where the working band is generally fairly low.