Heated gloves

[Tom P]

Has anybody used any of the latest heat gloves, 12v, 7.4v or hybrid from USA or Uk? If you have, what is you take on them, i.e...quality, feel, warmth with power and without (degrees rode in), ease of use and if applicable, wire hookup and controller ease, if battery packs, how well placed and comfort factor , will gaunlet or cuff fit under jacket sleeve,(in your opinion), how is thier waterproof ability and price as used. Please only current mdls.
If you are not on an ST, what kind of bike.
Thank you.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I've had most every 'flavor' of 12V heated gloves that are out there - Widder, Gerbing (G3s, T5s), WarmNSafe (Ultimate Touring), Gordons. Right now I have a pair of Gordon's (the original Gerbing family) and I have to say they are the warmest gloves I have ever owned out of the bunch. They are made from deer skin in the USA, are very comfortable and put out a lot of heat. Their customer service has been excellent on a small issue I had with mine. They are more expensive but with a lifetime warranty and the various failure issues I have had with the other brands, I'm a happy camper. My heated gloves get used almost everyday during the fall and winter as I am a daily rider unless there is ice and snow so I find out what will last and what will not.

 

[Tom P]

Thank you Phil! Deerskin is a great glove material. Are they water resistant, will they go under the cuff? Have you the heated vest or do you hook up with wires though your jacket? I did see on the website the claim of water resistance. Have you had them out in the rain?

 

[paulcb]

Hey Tom. I wear heated gloves daily when it's cold. I have two models... Gerbing T5s ($130) that are about 6 years old and Olympia WeatherKings ($125) that had heat added to them by Ken Phenix ($100). The T5s have heat all over, whereas the Ken's WKs do not have heat in the palm, although they are a bit warmer than the T5s. The T5s are water resistant, but not waterproof. The WKs have Gore-Tex and are waterproof so far, which was my main reason for buying them.

I use a Warm-n-Safe jacket liner (not a vest) and plug the glove into each sleeve, and the jacket plugs into the bike. The whole system is controlled by a 2-channel wireless WnS Heat-Troller. I've not used battery packs, I prefer to be direct wired to the bike, which easily disconnects when I get off. The glove cuff will not easily fit under the jacket sleeve, unless you put the gloves on first. If the cuffs are outside the jacket, water will run down your jacket sleeve and into the glove. BTDT.

 

[Tom P]

Thank you Paul. Good information. Unfortunately as I understand it from Gerbing USA, the T 5's have been out of production for about 6 years. I think they still can be found but I need current mdl informtion if possible. Been there, done that with the water down the sleeve, thus want them under cuff. Don't like bulk and pull string on a lot of over cuff. The ST has so much protection that I am not worried about rain going up the cuff. The Warm and Safe jacket liner is nice and I am leaning towards a liner also.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I run my Gordon's gloves through various Gerbing and WarmNSafe liners via a controller connected to the bike. The cuffs on the Gordons are pretty generous, so I usually wear them over the jacket sleeves. I've rode with them in the rain (not a heavy downpour), and they stayed dry inside. I've not tested them in an 'all day' rain as of yet. Since the Gordon's gloves put out so much heat, I am considering getting one of their liners to see if they do the same. The challenge with the heated gear to me is the failure rate and what warranty you have (if any) when it fails. I will tell you that my T5s failed twice and I finally gave up on them, and I have had 3 failures of the WarmNSafe gloves (a real long story best told around a campfire ;-)). My old Widders were still working when I put them in a box, the Gerbing original G3s are still working, one pair of WarmNSafe is working somewhat, and the Gordon's are working. My jacket liner issues have been the connectors to the gloves, but I can fix those myself. I do not have any of the 'newer' liners with microwire and such as my old liners work just fine. One difference between the WNS liner and the Gerbing and Gordon liners, is the WNS does not have any 'insulation'. Some folks like that idea and some folks don't. With the insulation, you can wear the liner as a light jacket in some situations. You might look around and see if you can find some heated gear on EBay. I was fortunate enough to find someone the exact size as me with gear for sale, so I bought a 'backup' set on the cheap.

 

[paulcb]

I think you can still find the T5s in many places. For non-rainy weather, I prefer the Gerbing's over the WKs because they have heat all over and are more flexible. The WKs are still pretty new, have a fair amount of insulation and therefore are noticeably stiffer than the T5s.

Instead of the WKs, I probably would have gone with the WnS or Gordon's gloves if they had Gore-Tex, but my primary requirement was waterproof, so I got the WKs with Gore-Tex and had the heat added by Ken.

Note that one of my Gerbing T5s failed after about 6 years with a lot of winter use, but I got it repaired at a very reasonable cost by Heated Clothing RX. See this thread for more info.

 

[Tom P]

Gordens is really pricey for sure.

 

[paulcb]

Good point about the insulation.
My Gerbings liner has Thinsulite built into it and it serves well as a warm liner without the heat.
Then when it cools down I simply plug it in. Works very well.
If you actually get a Gordons liner I'd be very interested in your assessment.

My older Gerbing's liner also had the insulation, whereas my new WnS does not, which I didn't realize when I bought it. With my WnS liner, I prefer keep the zip-in liner of my Tourmaster jacket in place. Now that you guys bring it up, I kind of wish I still had an insulated liner.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Gordens is really pricey for sure.

I don't disagree. But with some manufacturers (who shall remain nameless ) there is a one year warranty only on the gloves. If your gloves die after that, your option is to buy another pair at a slightly discounted price. Don't ask me how I know this ... So if you get to pay for the gloves twice, all of a sudden the Gordon price with a lifetime warranty is not such a bad price. That is why I went with the original Gerbing stuff because of their lifetime warranty - which they stood behind until the business crashed and they lost it. So you do run the risk of Gordon's folding and the warranty being useless, but they seem to have it together after 4 years(?) in the new business. They managed to rehire most of their workers when they started up again which I think is also a good thing. Plus I do like the fact that the gloves are made in the USA and understand that feature does cost more most of the time.

 

[Tom P]

Good point of course...and thier glove is actually made by Churchill gloves which have been around for a long time.

 

[paulcb]

FWIW, according to Heated Clothing RX, they cover the Gerbing's lifetime warranty. When I had my T5s repaired, they said the heating elements were still under the Gerbing's lifetime warranty, but the connector was not, thus I was charged a nominal fee ($30 total) to get both my connectors repaired.

 

[Uncle Phil]

FWIW, according to Heated Clothing RX, they cover the Gerbing's lifetime warranty. When I had my T5s repaired, they said the heating elements were still under the Gerbing's lifetime warranty, but the connector was not, thus I was charged a nominal fee ($30 total) to get both my connectors repaired.

I repaired my own T5 connectors twice and then just gave up on them when they quit working the third time. I never hear of Heated Clothing RX until you mentioned it. With all my hand surgeries, my hands are extremely sensitive to cold so having dependable heated gloves is a big deal. When my hands get cold, they turn into 'functionless' clubs. The last long trip I took (up into the Dakotas), the left and right gloves (of another manufacturer) failed at less than 9 months old and the temps were in the 20's and I forgot to bring a backup pair (which is unusual for me and only happens when I need them). I got into some serious difficulty that almost ended badly. Fortunately the temps rose some and I was able to recover. Time will tell about the reliability of the Gordon's but the amount of heat they produce above the others is pretty significant to me and well worth the extra price. Plus the gloves are really well made and very comfortable with the deer skin. Difference in Gordon's customer service and another company - with them one email, they apologized and asked me to send back both my gloves so they could inspect them for any other problems and make sure they got them fixed (they were working but a heating wire had come out of the lining in one glove). They got the gloves on a Saturday in Washington State, and I had the 'corrected' gloves back in my hands by Thursday in Nashville. With the other company, it took about 10+ emails and some 'strong suggestions' to get anything done.

 

[paulcb]

Very glad to hear it didn't end badly UP! I repaired the connectors on my old Gerbing's liner, but couldn't find a break in the glove connectors, so I figured it was the heating elements, and didn't want to get into that, thus the Heated Clothing RX option.

 

[Uncle Phil]

The old liners are basically 'lamp' cord which is easy to solder. I've separated the glove circuit from the jacket circuit on all of mine and changed one from the SAE connectors to the coax connectors so I would be all coax. The bad thing with the Gerbing stuff was the 'warranty' went out the window when the company got bought by the investor's group. Quite an ugly story and the way it was dealt with, so that is why I don't do business with the 'new' Gerbing. They want to claim how long they've been in the heated gear business (back to the days of Gordon Gerbing), but yet treat the old customers from the 'beginning' as if they do not exist and invalidated all the warranties. To me, you can't have it both ways - if you claim the heritage, then back up!

 

[Daboo]

I've been using Gerbing T5s for years. One is the old design...probably made by Gordon Gerbing. The other is a newer design. They used to keep my hands toasty warm, but now I'm finding I'm more sensitive to the cold.

I don't tuck my gloves under the jacket cuffs. I just pull the drawstring at the glove opening and that seems to keep water out. Maybe the trick is to go fast??? ...so the water flows to the rear?

My gloves haven't failed, but the connector in the jacket liner has. I'd be interested to see how anyone fixes theirs.

Oh...and I've found the Gerbing T5s to be waterproof. The Hipora liner seems to work well. I also spray them at the beginning of each season with waterproofing spray.

Chris

 

[paulcb]

I've been using Gerbing T5s for years. One is the old design...probably made by Gordon Gerbing. The other is a newer design. They used to keep my hands toasty warm, but now I'm finding I'm more sensitive to the cold.

I don't tuck my gloves under the jacket cuffs. I just pull the drawstring at the glove opening and that seems to keep water out. Maybe the trick is to go fast??? ...so the water flows to the rear?

My gloves haven't failed, but the connector in the jacket liner has. I'd be interested to see how anyone fixes theirs.

Oh...and I've found the Gerbing T5s to be waterproof. The Hipora liner seems to work well. I also spray them at the beginning of each season with waterproofing spray.

Chris

For my liner, I bought new coax connectors, cut the old ones off and installed the new ones. I like your idea about the waterproofing spray, what do you use Chris? I was looking at this from Nikwax, which looks like it's applied by hand with a sponge, not a spray.

IME, with the cuffs out, it takes a while (depending on rain level) for the water to run down my forearm and eventually into my glove enough for me to notice, which I feel first on my wrist. Of course it depends on how hard it's raining and how tight the cuff is. TBH, sometimes it's hard to tell if the inside is wet because of the open cuff or the Hipora liner not working well, probably a little of both. Either way, my gloves are soaked thru and thru, but the heat is still working just enough to keep my hands from being not warm but not cold. Bottom line is it's happened several times with my T5s when I've been caught in hours of rain, thus my desire to get the WK gloves with Gore-Tex, which have worked very well so far, just wish they had heat on the palms. Guess I need some grip heaters.

 

[Uncle Phil]

My gloves haven't failed, but the connector in the jacket liner has. I'd be interested to see how anyone fixes theirs.

As it turns out, the standalone harness they usually send with a new pair of gloves has sturdier connectors than the ones that come on the jacket liners.
On the Gerbing liners, IIRC, there is a flap at the left inside bottom that is the 'access door'.
You just have to remove a few stitches with a seam ripper to open it .
Once inside, you'll see the soldered connections and can trace them out pretty easily.
I just snipped the old wires (about like lamp cord) close to the original connection, pulled them out, worked the new wires back in, soldered and heat shrinked the new wires and then stitched up the flap. This is based on the 'old' style liners (before microwire) as I've never had one of those.
You may have to unknot the cords as I believe they are knotted just before they come out of the sleeves.
As long as you are handy with a soldering iron and a needle, it's no big deal.
If the harness wires are too short, you can just solder in more length as needed.
Just be sure to heat shrink all redone connections.

 

[Daboo]

Phil, I wish I had thought of that. Much cleaner than what I did. I cut some of the wire and made the repaired connection in the sleeve itself. With the soldered connection, it is pretty stiff and not flexible. I'm expecting the wire to break from flexing up or down from that repaired connection.

Paul, I've used Kiwi Camp Dry waterproofing spray. It works well. Doesn't smell like some other waterproofing sprays. I buy mine at Fred Meyer on the senior discount days and save 10%, even though it isn't expensive at around $8.

I use that Kiwi waterproofing spray on everything. I'll wash the jacket, pants and air bag vest. Let the dry. Then spray them. If you're spraying in the garage, put a tarp on the ground because the silicon in the spray will make the floor really slick. While my riding gear is "waterproof", I find it helps to keep to keep the outer layer from soaking up water and then taking forever to dry.

Chris

 

[rjs987]

Actually, @Daboo , water on the arms flows "backwards" toward the hands due to the back flow of air coming around the fairing and even your body. And even if there is dead air around your arms water will flow toward the hands... unless you use ape hanger handlebars, and then you would have other "issues" to deal with.

My summer gloves are short enough that my jacket sleeves "fall" over them, but otherwise all my warmer cold weather and heated gloves are worn with the gauntlet over my jacket sleeves. IF there is rain I wear Frogg Toggs over everything, including gloves, since I like my jacket and riding pants to remain dry so I am warmer. I do have rain liners that work well in both but that liner is on the inside so the jacket outer layer gets soaked making me feel clammy even if the rain water doesn't penetrate. So the Frogg Toggs prevent that and also easily fit over my gloves to prevent water running down my arms into them. And my Gerbing gloves have been in light rain and kept my hands dry (they claim to be waterproof but I know there are really only levels of water resistance possible). Been running this way for the last 15 years.

For heat I do have old Gerbing gloves, bought in late 2006 or early 2007, and they are still working great. I did have a special coiled Y-cable that I had bought that failed maybe 10 years ago. I didn't replace it since I still had the original straight Y-cable that is still working great today. Though I am thinking the current stuff from them is nowhere near what the older stuff was so if I do need to replace I'd have to consider Gordon's.

I know this setup is not new or even current for my heated gear. But just a good word for good heated gear, which I believe Gordon Heated gloves to be. My hands are warm down to the coldest I've been on the bike... which is just under -15F for a little more than an hour. Other than my heated gloves I simply wear many layers. I don't mind the bulk that creates as long as I'm warm. I really don't need to be all that flexible while sitting on my scoot as long as the hands work to operate the controls. I do notice I am more sensitive to cold as I get older (just signed up for Medicare!) but I can still handle riding in the cold, just maybe not quite as cold as before. -2F was still fine recently but not sure I'd be comfortable still at -15F. I used to be able to ride down to 30F before turning on the heat but now it depends more on humidity also and I usually turn on heat around 35F. And, yes, I know it's a matter of what kind of weather you are used riding in based on where you live.