Heated Clothing

'lo everybody.

I got a heated vest and gloves from http://www.exo2.co.uk as an early christmas present this year, and thought i'd give them a quick review after putting them through their paces this morning.

When i left the house at 6am this morning it was -2 centigrade. I had a commute of 120 motorway miles down to Gatwick at speeds i don't want to discuss on a public forum. Normally this would have had me frozen to the bone and warming up under a hand drier at a service station half way down the M11. However with my new heated gloves and wastecoat i was nice and toasty the whole way there. Infact once the sun came up i had to turn the heat down a wee bit.

Its quite expensive at £180 for the wastcoat and £125 for the gloves, but after looking at quite a few other brands this one is well worth the money. You simply wire a connector to the bike's battery and plug your self in when you get on the bike. I also got an optional battery and charger so i can be warm away from the bike too. Claimed battery life is 3 hours - i left it on to fully discharge and it was still warm after 3 and a half.

The cool thing about the wastecoat is how thin it is. You can wear it with just a t-shirt underneath and a thin jacket on top and be toasty without the normal bulky layers. There are no wires - just a special 'heatconducting fabric layer thingy' so the heat is really even with no hotspots and you can even wash it without voiding the warrantee. The gloves are well made - waterproof and windproof - and look like they would be fairly pricey even without the heating. The sizes are a little bigger than usual though so make sure you use the size guide on the website. I've paid more for winter gloves and heated grips in the past - and these gloves are far more effective - heating your hand right where the wind blast gets them.

Anyway - as u can tell i'm well chuffed with them, and if you're in the market for warm winter gear, have a look at their website before you buy anything else.

[mr.anderson]

I was just thinking about getting something along these lines - I have the circulation of a dead man and my hands freeze almost instantly.

How large is the battery pack for the gloves?

Originally Posted by New Leaf

'lo everybody.

I got a heated vest .




.

Anyway - as u can tell i'm well chuffed

ive got a rab c nesbitt vest.......very stringy

The gloves run off your bikes battery. You run little wires up you jacket and down your sleeves. When you hop on the bike you simply plug into a connector wired to your battery.

The optional battery to power the wastecoat when away from the bike is just slightly bigger than a mobile phone and fits in the pocket without u being bothered by it.

[northwind]

I'm reeeeeally tempted by this just now, or heated gloves at least. 'd probably get the EXO2 gloves, they seem the best on the market just now. Might just add a flexible heating element to my back protector rather than get a vest, not sure about that. Good review! As you say they're expensive but then people spend £80 on non-heated winter gloves that don't keep you warm, and £40 on heated grips.

Originally Posted by northwind

As you say they're expensive but then people spend £100 on non-heated winter gloves that don't keep you warm, and £40 on heated grips that don't work.

Or in my case.

As for waistcoats, I wear a two thin thermal layers and a goretex dainese coat (gator or something) and I've never been cold in any weather. Very very good kit

I have gerbing make of heated clothing, both heated gloves and under jacket liner and runs off your battery. Its actually cheaper than what the author has mentioned. Comes with life time warrenty as well........nice and warm!

I recommend anyone to get these if you do lots of winter riding they are highly useful, and you can concentrate more

How thick are these? Would they go under leathers? Ive been looking again today at winter jackets but still prefer to keep the leathers on if I can.

Originally Posted by robchester

How thick are these? Would they go under leathers?

The EXO2 vest is quite thin. I can get it on under my leather jacket and so can the missus - but it is quite a snug fit. That is quite good though as your leathers will keep the heat pressed against your skin.

The only problem i have with the vest and my leathers is that i can't zip the jacket to the pants as the vest comes down below the connecting zip in the zacket.

Wow, im really interested in that. Are they more efficient than heated grips? It would work out more exmensive for me to get the gloves than my winter gloves and heated grips (125 for the heated gloves, and 80 for the gloves+grips combo). How thick are the gloves? do they rob you of alot of feelign from the bike?

Matt