diff --git a/gallery_dl/downloader/common.py b/gallery_dl/downloader/common.py
index 377094dcc4..c55975b7b1 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/downloader/common.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/downloader/common.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
-# Copyright 2014-2016 Mike Fährmann
+# Copyright 2014-2017 Mike Fährmann
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@
 
 class BasicDownloader():
     """Base class for downloader modules"""
-
-    max_tries = 5
-
     def __init__(self):
         self.downloading = False
 
diff --git a/gallery_dl/downloader/http.py b/gallery_dl/downloader/http.py
index f361ec672b..b14acb6351 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/downloader/http.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/downloader/http.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
-# Copyright 2014-2016 Mike Fährmann
+# Copyright 2014-2017 Mike Fährmann
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@
 
 import time
 import requests
+import requests.exceptions as rexcepts
 import mimetypes
 from .common import BasicDownloader
+from .. import config
 
 
 class Downloader(BasicDownloader):
@@ -20,56 +22,70 @@ def __init__(self, output):
         BasicDownloader.__init__(self)
         self.session = requests.session()
         self.out = output
+        self.max_tries = config.get(("retries",), 5)
+        self.timeout = config.get(("timeout",), None)
 
     def download_impl(self, url, pathfmt):
         tries = 0
+        msg = ""
         while True:
+            tries += 1
+            if tries > 1:
+                self.out.error(pathfmt.path, msg, tries-1, self.max_tries)
+                if tries > self.max_tries:
+                    return
+                time.sleep(1)
+
             # try to connect to remote source
             try:
-                response = self.session.get(url, stream=True, verify=True)
-            except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as exptn:
-                tries += 1
-                self.out.error(pathfmt.path, exptn, tries, self.max_tries)
-                time.sleep(1)
-                if tries == self.max_tries:
-                    return tries
+                response = self.session.get(
+                    url, stream=True, timeout=self.timeout
+                )
+            except (rexcepts.ConnectionError, rexcepts.Timeout) as exception:
+                msg = exception
                 continue
+            except (rexcepts.RequestException, UnicodeError) as exception:
+                msg = exception
+                break
 
             # reject error-status-codes
-            if response.status_code != requests.codes.ok:
-                tries += 1
-                self.out.error(pathfmt.path, 'HTTP status "{} {}"'.format(
-                    response.status_code, response.reason),
-                    tries, self.max_tries
+            if response.status_code != 200:
+                msg = 'HTTP status "{} {}"'.format(
+                    response.status_code, response.reason
                 )
+                response.close()
                 if response.status_code == 404:
-                    return self.max_tries
-                time.sleep(1)
-                if tries == self.max_tries:
-                    return tries
+                    break
                 continue
 
-            # everything ok -- proceed to download
-            break
+            if not pathfmt.has_extension:
+                # set 'extension' keyword from Content-Type header
+                mtype = response.headers.get("Content-Type", "image/jpeg")
+                exts = mimetypes.guess_all_extensions(mtype, strict=False)
+                exts.sort()
+                pathfmt.set_extension(exts[-1][1:])
+                if pathfmt.exists():
+                    self.out.skip(pathfmt.path)
+                    response.close()
+                    return
 
-        if not pathfmt.has_extension:
-            # set 'extension' keyword from Content-Type header
-            mtype = response.headers.get("Content-Type", "image/jpeg")
-            extensions = mimetypes.guess_all_extensions(mtype, strict=False)
-            extensions.sort()
-            pathfmt.set_extension(extensions[-1][1:])
-            if pathfmt.exists():
-                self.out.skip(pathfmt.path)
-                response.close()
-                return
+            # everything ok -- proceed to download
+            self.out.start(pathfmt.path)
+            self.downloading = True
+            with pathfmt.open() as file:
+                try:
+                    for data in response.iter_content(None):
+                        file.write(data)
+                except rexcepts.RequestException as exception:
+                    msg = exception
+                    response.close()
+                    continue
+            self.downloading = False
+            self.out.success(pathfmt.path, tries)
+            return
 
-        self.out.start(pathfmt.path)
-        self.downloading = True
-        with pathfmt.open() as file:
-            for data in response.iter_content(16384):
-                file.write(data)
-        self.downloading = False
-        self.out.success(pathfmt.path, tries)
+        # output for unrecoverable errors
+        self.out.error(pathfmt.path, msg, tries, 0)
 
     def set_headers(self, headers):
         """Set headers for http requests"""