heated clothing

[Easy_Rider]

I do ride all year round and have never had any heated clothing.
Now i getting that bit older im starting to look at a heated vest or jacket.
Which is better a vest or jacket and which make should i go for.
I have 2 winter jackets, one i keep the liner in, the other i dont.
without liner is a 2XL with the liner is a 3XL (RST Paragon 6).
How tight a fit should the heated vest or jacket be.

=====

Moved.

Richard

 

[47Steve]

I have a Gerbing Microwire jkt. It has 5 heat settings, only use the first 3 as after that you are melting?

TA Steve

 

[Wapping]

There are two main heated clothing makes in the UK, Gerbing and Keis. As with gloves and helmets, every Tom, Dick and Harry will have their favourites. There used to be Warm’n’Safe but I read here that they’d lost their importer. If that isn’t true, no doubt someone will be along to tell you otherwise. Corrected lower down the thread. To these two established brands, you can now add the inevitable very cheap Chinese heated clothing. There are recent / past threads and posts on all three choices. The German motorcycle magazines carry more choice, but Germany is a much bigger market than the UK.

Jacket or waistcoat? Very much a personal choice; everyone will have their favourites. The modern jackets have heating elements in their arms and neck pieces.

Bike powered or battery? Once more, a personal choice. Battery power saves you wires attached to the bike; wires that some dislike. Bike power will last all day and through the night; battery power, usually a few hours, depending on how high you have the wick turned up.

Turning up the wick. Two choices, a regulator (usually dangling from the clothing) or a remote controller, regulating the heat wirelessly. Personal choice again. I find the remote controllers neater and easier to use. The wired in controllers, usually have have four settings: Off, high, medium and low. Like a volume knob on a radio, the remote controllers are variable through the range off to full on.

How tight? Not so tight that you cannot breathe but not so loose that the heat is dissipated. As a rough rule of thumb, waistcoats are a snugger fit than jackets, depending on your girth.

My choice:

I have two electric jackets and a waistcoat. The jackets are:

1. Powerlet’s Rapid Fire jacket, imported from America years ago, when heated clothing was quite new and not as available as it is today. This is no longer available.

2. A Gerbing jacket, bought (all but brand new) on the forum, a month or so ago.

The waistcoat is a Chilli, no longer available, which was the garment of choice years ago, when there wasn’t much choice.

Heat controllers:

Item 1 is controlled remotely via a bike powered controller. These are more usually powered by small regular batteries, which will last for weeks or longer.

Item 2, is regulated either by a wired controller or a remote. I have both options.

The waistcoat is controlled by wired Widder controller, which I imported from America, as it was so much better that the Chilli wired controller. Widder is no longer available, though someone was selling some pieces a couple of weeks ago, here on the forum.

Power source:

I use bike power for all three clothing items. I can maybe use power pack batteries, but I don’t want to cart the lumps around. Not least, the bike is producing surplus electrical power, so I might as well use it.

Fit, see above. I take the linings out of all my motorcycling clothing, simply as I don’t like it. If I don’t use the electrical garments, then I can (and do) layer up.

Anything else?

I also have electrically heated gloves / glove inner liners, heated trouser liners and socks. As I have two separate twin controllers, I can regulate the heat of each garment separately. I have owned most of it for years, so the cost has effectively come to zero, whilst still retaining some sort of resale value.

 

[Anthony Byrne]

I use keis and have had both their jacket and vest.

If you ride all year round I would say go the jacket. Chances are you’ll remove the jacket liners so the arms would feel the wind chill if you went with the vest. As for sizing I wear it like a normal top.

I would have a long sleeved t shirt, the heated jacket and then my normal bike jacket with no liners.

 

[daesimps]

Moto Legends sell Warm n Safe.

I’ve had various types of heated gear. For me personally, the WnS heated shirt is by far the best. I ride in winter with just the heated shirt, a Knox Honister jacket and a Scott waterproof over. My gloves are Keis, but to be honest I’m not convinced by any of the current glove designs as all manufacturers seem to have moved to stupid push buttons on the gloves to control the heat. I preferred the old school ones, as I had a dual controller on the bars to infinitely shear the gloves and shirt.

I find the big advantage of the heated shirt is that it’s very thin - just like a base layer. Other vests and jackets I’ve tried have added too much bulk.

https://www.motolegends.com/warm-safe-12v-heated-base-layer-shirt-in-black

 

[Wapping]

Moto Legends sell Warm n Safe.

Thank you.

OP, make it three mainline choices and the Chinese stuff.

 

[Wapping]

OP, a search of the words Gerbing / Keis throws up lots of posts and threads, not least in the For Sale section, if you want to try something out and save a (possibly) significant amount of cost.





Make yourself a brew (as they say) and pull up a chair (they say that, too) and surf away, they can’t touch you for it.

There is also the very recent thread on a Chinese jacket / power brick thing. It got off to a very lukewarm start, but once a fire had been lit under his feet, the fellow saw it through to a reasonable (and even helpful) conclusion:

Thread 'Keis heat and power bank, expensive'

Nov 13, 2024

I've used the bike power for my heated jacket for a year or so but find jumping from bike to bike is a pain, buying two or three harnesses, it's becoming expensive, decided to buy the small power bank from keis, not cheap, it only lasts three hours, they have made there own plug on there garmets so you can only us there expensive products, after a little digging on aliexpress I found a adapter to plug into there garment then to usb, it plugs into my own powerbank and it lasts three full days riding before charging,
I already had my own power bank, the adaptor only cost under £2. I don't...

• D#head
• Replies: 26
• Forum: Product Reviews

 

[Victor c]

With the discounts some BMW Motorrad dealers have on their clothing ranges, I would check out their Heat Up Vest (as with most others, requires controller to be purchased separately).

I’ve had mine for the last four years, and it has been faultless and so comfortable to wear, I sometimes forget it is on when it is switched off, which is how I wear it most of spring and autumn. I like it to fit snug over a micro fleece jumper.
The power controller has a big illuminated button, which makes it easy to find and use with winter gloves.
It replaced a Keis vest, which I just found a little bulky and stiff for my liking.

 

[Wapping]

A couple or so hours in and the votes are showing the predicted spread of favourites and indeed, garment cut and style. I don’t think you’ll come to a definite binding conclusion. The good news is, modern electrical clothing is pretty good, no matter who makes it. Even the Chinese stuff gets a vote of approval, though that might be more to do with purchase price, as opposed to longevity and / or any kind of even basic consumer guarantee.

That said, being Chinese made does not necessarily mean that it’s all junk, just because of the label. Though the mainstream recognised branded label products, might well have better overall quality control.

 

[Easy_Rider]

I'm going to buy this 2 piece kit. the large one for my belly and the smaller one for my boobs. Sorted, and i know half of you are thinking the same as me

Heated Top

 

[Wapping]

I see you have a wanted poster out.

 

[Easy_Rider]

I see you have a wanted poster out.

Yes, But looking at the prices new, there not silly money. Think i'm going for a long sleeve top. Will give it a week to see what pops up on here first.

 

[yoyo]

I'm going to buy this 2 piece kit. the large one for my belly and the smaller one for my boobs. Sorted, and i know half of you are thinking the same as me

Heated Top

I've seen someone use a heated car seat cover pinned inside their jacket, it only warmed your core but it worked for them!

Sent from my SM-S921B using Tapatalk

 

[Wapping]

I've seen someone use a heated car seat cover pinned inside their jacket

A step up from bubble wrap. And to think my father used newspaper.

Actually, that’s untrue. He had a heated flying suit, surplus from his time at de Havilland.

 

[Pukmeister]

I have an old Keis heated vest which I’ve just bought a battery for. It’s toasty warm, I wear a long BMW Streetguard 4 jacket (with liner) on the outside and Kevlar jeans. I layer beneath with two thin layers under the vest, typically lightweight merino long sleeved tops and synthetic long johns.

I only wish the vest was a jacket as I can feel the windchill coming slightly through my sleeve material.

My bike has heated grips and seat with muffs and a gaucho fitted also, so I’m fairly toasty and protected from the elements. I ride five days a week all year round.

 

[wessie]

I tend to ride in winter with my Hein Gericke Cruise jacket and a fleece rather than liners. This was my preference when commuting as I could use the fleece at lunchtime if I wanted to pop out to the shops. When very cold I added a Keis waistcoat. Without the fleece or liner your arms get cold with just the waistcoat.
Some people find the heated jacket a bit bulky on the arms but this depends on your jacket so try the stuff on before buying.
For me, the advantage of the Keis gear is the relatively low power consumption meaning I can use my accessory socket, handily placed on the RS on the side of the bike under your right thigh.

 

[Smartbazza]

I use a Keis vest with the heat controller and wire from the battery. I’d recommend it as my arms never feel cold. I believe if your core is toasty the rest of you will be ok unless you’re wearing flip flips / no gloves.

Barry

 

[Pukmeister]

FWIW I will be using the heated vest again tomorrow despite the relatively mild temperatures currently as the wind and driving rain will make it feel bloody cold at 6am when I leave home.

 

[brianmaslen]

I use a Keis jacket over a good long sleeved Baselayer. Don’t wear it with just a T shirt or you risk very hot arms!

 

[Santa-2512]

Warn and safe heated underlayers here

They run at less wattage that the mid layer jackets, as they are designed to be worn next to the skin

Dont let that fool you, You can still brand the heating element pattern into your skin if you wind the power to 11, DAMHIK

Sizing is accurate , and warm and safe reccomend snug fitting

Howver there sock sizing is way off , so i returned the socks (to small)

The heated inner gloves are good, but not waterproof, so if your outer gloves leak, be prepared to get electric shocks from the inners as they get wet

(Muffs help, but given you need to keep wiping your visor, gloves get soaked) i'm going with the diesel inner gloves this year

So i have warm and safe top, overlayed with a merino wool top and then my textile jacket which has a removable gortex liner

Bottoms are a bit more complex

Warn and safe long johns, moto skiveez pants for some padding with merino long johns over them ,

Then i have my textile inner liners followed by my textile trousers


And as backup / support, i have my Richa waterproof jacket & trousers