Heated clothing: Answers to 8 Frequently-Asked Questions

You are walking up a steep hill on snowshoes and sweating. Your effort is rewarded, because the view is magnificent at the top. It’s the perfect place to take a break…despite the freezing wind. Rather than start shivering and let the cold take hold of you, you press the button of your heated vest. The little battery tucked away in a pocket activates. It sends energy through wires to the heating surfaces built into the garment. In a few seconds, the heat spreads over your back and torso, and compensates for the heat that your muscles no longer produce. This heat will be kept close to the skin thanks to the insulation of your coat. You enjoy your meal feeling warm. Back at the cottage or at home, you recharge your heated clothing like you recharge your phone.

Other heated gear, such as some heated insoles, are single use. When you unpack these insoles, the air starts a chemical reaction that releases gentle heat for hours.

Many garments can provide heat and help you fight the cold.
Two types of functional clothing exist, those with a rechargeable battery or a disposable one.

Options with a rechargeable battery:

• Heated gloves and heated mittens
• Heated vest
• Heated socks
• Heated insoles with batteries

Disposable options:

• Toe warmers
• Hand warmers
• Body warmers (adhesive strip to be stuck inside the jacket, for example)
• Disposable heating insoles

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It’s mathematical: if you produce less heat than you lose, you get colder (and if you produce more, you get warmer).

We have always fought the cold by reducing heat loss. With heated clothing, you’re still keeping warm (yes, you’ll still need a jacket to go outside and play in the cold), but you’re changing the other part of the equation: the heat produced. With that extra heat, you’ll stop cooling down and start warming up.

Heated clothing will work anywhere you feel that little shiver that indicates a heat deficit: on the way up the hill, at the bus stop, in your sleeping bag, etc.

Some people use it to walk their dogs, others to hunt deer. You’ll love heated clothing if you encounter either of these conditions.

• You play outside (or work outside) in cold weather.
• You must stand still in the cold for long periods of time.
• You do low-intensity winter sports such as ice skating, hiking on snowy trails, ice fishing, winter waterfowl hunting, etc.
• You go camping in winter
• You are less able to fight the cold because of your genetics, health or age.
• You hate being cold.

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More comfort

When your body doesn’t produce enough heat, your muscles contract and blood is drawn from your extremities. No one likes that feeling. Your heated clothing makes up for the lack of warmth and lets you enjoy nature, even in the coldest weather.

Better performance

There’s no fun in shivering. When you fight the cold, your muscles and joints get stiffer. Your performance decreases and your risk of injury increases.

As a result, you have difficulty handling objects. This can be an inconvenience when ice fishing, if you have to tie a knot, or a real risk when you are hunting and have to handle a firearm.

Finally, when you do a sport that requires loose movements, heated clothing will allow you to wear a thinner and less bulky jacket.

Usefulness against frostbite and hypothermia

We’ve all experienced that outdoor outing where we would have paid a lot of money to warm up our toes as they start to freeze. One solution is to carry a pair of heated insoles or single-use toe warmers in the bottom of your backpack, and only take them out when necessary. Is your whole body getting cold? Use body warmers in the form of adhesive strips.

Battery Weight

This will be a very minor inconvenience for most outdoor enthusiasts, but if every extra gram in your backpack is an extra gram, battery weight can be an issue. However, before you reject a heated garment for this reason, compare the weight of that battery to the weight of the clothing it replaces.

Battery capacity

You’ve activated your heated vest as you hit the trail early in the morning. You spend the day having fun in the snow, nice and warm. Then, in the late afternoon, as the sun is setting over the horizon and fatigue makes you more vulnerable to the cold… the battery has run down, and the heated vest no longer warms you.

There are two solutions: better plan the use of the heated clothing or simply carry a spare battery.

Recharging the battery

This is not a problem if you are returning to the cottage at the end of the day. But if you go on a winter camping expedition for several days during extreme cold, your heated clothing will quickly lose its benefits.

Battery life

The battery in some heated clothing is designed for 1,000 charge and discharge cycles. If you use your vest 7 days a week, from early November to late April, you will have over 6 years of use. Battery life is not an issue… as long as you follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

For example, if those instructions tell you to recharge the battery after each use, do so.

Otherwise, the performance and life of your battery will decrease. Your garment will produce less heat, for less time.

Garment care

You can’t just throw your heated clothing in the washer with your other outdoor clothing. You must remove the battery and follow the manufacturer’s other instructions.

Discard after use

Single-use heated insoles and hand warmers should be discarded at the end of the day. This is not the most environmentally friendly choice. For regular use, opt for a battery-operated version.

The price

It’s normal that heated clothes are more expensive, but they are worth the investment.

The answer is simple: close to the skin!

A common mistake is to put the heated jacket on top of the insulating layer, for example between your fleece sweater and your winter coat. If you are layering clothes, place your heated clothing on top of your merino wool base layer, but underneath your fleece. The heat produced will be conserved.

Here are some criteria you’ll want to consider:

• The maximum amount of heat produced (often expressed in watts)
• The ability to modulate the heat
• Battery capacity (often expressed in hours or mAh)
• Weight and size of the battery (you’ll want a thin battery)
• Number and position of heating zones
• Overall quality of the heated clothing (design, insulating material)
• Ease of use
• The fit of the heated clothing (the clothes should fit without restricting movement)
• Gadgets (do you want to regulate the heating with your phone? Or connect your heated jacket to your snowmobile? Or do you want to recharge it without removing the battery?)
• Ease of maintenance
• The warranty
• The price