Heated Vests

[Cone]

So, reading the topic about the heated gloves it made me think.

My work seems to have placed me back in the office in Cardiff which means a commute through the BrynGlas Funnels and the dreaded M4 which is slow and dead stop in a car then I have to pay extortionate parking charges in Cardiff. So I commute on my F800 about 80 miles a day.

The mornings are cold but winters coming to an end soon I have a warm fleece i wear under my TWAT suit to keep me warm, however with the waterproof liner in it feels clumsy and restricts my movement. Sleeves get stuck and it becomes uncomfortable.

So has anyone got experience of these bits of kit, how do they fair with windchill etc.

Will my arms end up being intolerably cold having no warm sleeves or does keeping the core warm to enough?

Secondly I ride with a USB connector permanently charging a camera, Denali D4s nearly always on full power and occasionally a Garmin plugged in. Can the bike cope with a heated jacket.

I ask as i left the bike on at Salisbury plain without the battery running and it was nearly flat after about 20 minutes! Bumping it was hard on the mud lol, luckily it found enough life after a few minutes to kick it into life.

Cheers

Is £119 - £150 quid a good investment, or do i wait until summer looking for a bargin?

[Whippet]

I have the Keiss heated vest, it has three settings and is great, keeps your core warm . Quality kit, however, if I were to buy again I would go the extra mile and get the jacket ( with sleeves) you won't be disappointed

[Oop North John]

If you're worried about the bike's battery coping, had you thought about one that could use its own battery, like this:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/product-r ... mbattery-/

[Rederic]

Forget the vest and get a Keis Sleeved Jacket

Just make sure you get the correct size it needs to be snug or you won't feel the full heat, and dont forget you only want minimum clothing under your jacket

There are other makes out there but I can only vouch for the Keis gear, the inner soles work great as well ,

As for your battery if its in good condition and you charging system is ok you will be fine , it won't need to be on all the time anyway the jacket is toasty not even turned on

[GB]

Go for a jacket every time, I had a Keis, they are warm and look like a normal softshell fleece so you can wear it off the bike, they are a bit on the bulky side though, I now have a powerlet rapid fire which is so light its unbelievable, had it for nearly four years and its been awesome, no longer available unfortunately as its been super seeded.Once you've had heated clothing you'll never be without it.

[Cone]

Do you not have a problem with the sleeves rolling up inside your jacket?

[garyboy]

I have never understood why riders need heated vests .. perhaps because I am slightly overweight (and hot stuff) .. Heated grips is all I have ever needed, (tho sometimes wish I had heated soles?) ... body-wise, I have only ever used fleeces .. no T-shirt .. just a micro-fleece base plus micro-fleece gillet .. .. and in really cold weather, another thinish fleece over .. then a good(ish) waterproof / windproof jacket, with no draughts.
Always been toasty warm .. try it?

[Thedktor]

As someone who suffers from the cold despite being an "outdoor" person, my heated Gerbing bodywarmer is the best thing I have ever bought, ever!

They need to be worn relatively close to the skin, typically a tee shirt and thin top/ fleece is the maximum to put on under it, then you can add layers on top depending on how cold it is and how thick your outer jacket is.

I do notice the cold on my arms when its proper chilly, though its not normally a problem - if I was doing hours on the road a full heated jacket would be better I reckon.

On the Gerbing heat setting 1 or 2 is more than enough, 3 for below zero, and 4 is uncomfortable. Mine is wired to the battery and I plug in and switch on before starting the bike as its not easy with gloves on, and have not noticed any reduction in starter power so doesn't draw much juice on the lower settings.

[Thedktor]

Just to add, with a heated jacket the days of arriving at your destination and taking some time to recover from the cold are over, you just rock up and you feel "normal", brilliant.

[sven]

I have never understood why riders need heated vests .. perhaps because I am slightly overweight (and hot stuff) .. Heated grips is all I have ever needed, (tho sometimes wish I had heated soles?) ... body-wise, I have only ever used fleeces .. no T-shirt .. just a micro-fleece base plus micro-fleece gillet .. .. and in really cold weather, another thinish fleece over .. then a good(ish) waterproof / windproof jacket, with no draughts.
Always been toasty warm .. try it?

I’m a recent convert to Keis heated waistcoats and I love it. I always used to get chilled eventually no matter how many layers I wore, so the waistcoat saves the bulk and keeps my body core warm all day