£60 heated vest review

[Craig380]

For a while I’ve been wondering if there was a heated vest that was somewhere inbetween a no-brand £30 Chinese job from Amazon and the likes of a £200 Keis or AlpineStars that would help make winter rides more fun.

I found this from the Finnish company Yoko, which makes clothing for motocross, skiing, snowmobiling etc.

The vest has two panels in the front over the chest, and one larger panel across the shoulders and upper back in the rear. It’s powered by any 5V USB power supply (such as a power bank that puts out at least 10W), and has 4 heat settings, from 53C down to 38C in 5-degree increments.

The vest's material is slightly stretchy so it fits snugly and the quality of construction and stitching is good. The wiring to the USB connector in the power bank pocket is flexible and braided for strength, and the connector is reversible. It doesn’t feel at all bulky when worn.

In use, it’s really good: it heats up within 30 seconds, and under my normal winter biking gear it kept me absolutely toasty warm all the way through a 3-hour ride when the ambient temps were 6 to 7 celsius. I felt the hottest setting was too warm, so went with the second-hottest (48C). Under a couple of layers and my textile biking jacket with thermal liner, the warmth spreads all around the torso and is maintained even at 70+mph. This means my fingers and feet didn’t get frozen because the core is kept super-warm.

I still had about 30% power left in my 10,000mA power bank after more than 3 hours of continuous use, which is fine for my kind of riding. At £60 delivered for the vest, and £15 to £20 for a decent power bank, I think it’s a very decent price. I'll update after the winter on how it's stood up to regular use.

[garynortheast]

That looks good. I'm tempted! I already have a 10,000mA power bank. Let us know how it is after a couple of rides.

[Craig380]

I've worn the vest quite a bit now for walking and on rides, and all of the above still stands.

To see how long a fully-charged 10K mA power bank can run the vest for, I wore it on a cold day with the heat setting at the second-highest (48 celsius) until the bank was exhausted. This setting is plenty high enough for me, the hottest setting is actually a bit too hot under winter biking layers. It lasted 3 hours 30 mins continuous use.

At the third-highest setting (43 celsius), which is great for warmth while walking, it lasted 4 hours 15 minutes.

[garynortheast]

I think this will be going on my shopping list as soon as I can afford it.

[Bibio]

i recently got a cheep heated gilet vests for a friend from Amazon and its actually great. no good for the bike i guess due to the V at the front but there are loads with heated collars. i also spotted heated trousers and other stuff that used to cost a fortune but are now reasonably priced.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Bibio

i recently got a cheep heated gilet vests for a friend from Amazon and its actually great. no good for the bike i guess due to the V at the front but there are loads with heated collars. i also spotted heated trousers and other stuff that used to cost a fortune but are now reasonably priced.

Ooh, that'd be nice for when I go fishing

My wife bought me some heated socks which are pretty good

[Craig380]

Just to update this, the vest has proven great for all the recent chilly rides when I'm setting off in ambient temps of around 4 or 5 celsius.

I've found that switching the vest off for 5 minutes or so during a riding break while having a coffee extends the power bank life to over 4.5 hours, the short 'rest' allows the power bank to recover a bit from the continuous current draw.

[daktulos]

Out of interest, how easy is it to take on and off?

[Craig380]

Just the same as a base-layer vest or t-shirt, really. It's a really soft & flexible material.

[daktulos]

Originally Posted by Craig380

Just the same as a base-layer vest or t-shirt, really. It's a really soft & flexible material.

Thanks