John Anthony
Moderator
Another vote for Gerbings. Maggie and I visited their shop a few years ago and got outfitted head to toe. Nice people to work with. Good luck with whichever route you go.
John
John
Heated Vests
- Thread starter CruisingDog
- Start date
I have the warm n safe. The one I bought is the 5-AMP version. It's warm enuff. I am in Canada, I rode at close to freezing with it. I wore a windbreaker on top of my Aerostich. I was toasty. Excellent quality. Also, it has spandex sides. It makes for a tighter fit, which is what you want, good contact with the body. I usually wear a long sleeve t-shirt underneath. Downside of warm n safe is that they don't have a pair of heated pants. For me it wasn't an issue as I didn't want one. Didn't get the gloves as my bike has heated grips
The biggest reason I went with Gerbing's is the sleeves connect to the gloves. Their guarantee is A+ also.
jasonJonas
Saver of Turtles
another advantage of warm n safe over gerbings is their liner doesn't need to be re-wired to control the gloves separately from the liner itself. with a simple plug, you get to choose if the liner and gloves are controlled together or separately. the gerbing liner has to be wired specifically to support this.
number9
Powerlet also makes heated liners and controllers now. I can get a good deal on these but have yet to try them. If anyone is interested shoot me a PM.
http://www.powerletproducts.com/products/phg.php
I plan to order a single controller and heated liner soon to see how they compare to my Warm&Safe setup.
http://www.powerletproducts.com/products/phg.php
I plan to order a single controller and heated liner soon to see how they compare to my Warm&Safe setup.
That looks like a nice setup. I'm really curious.
I have the Warm n Safe full liner and dual heatroller, and (gasp) Harley heated gloves. Rode all winter with nary a problem. The heatroller technology is nice, and no matter which liner you use, I would use it with a heatroller. We had a group buy on here for them, and I saved some $$$.
gerbing jacket... and gloves... nice combo for me 
For these 2 issues - I rode a bunch in the mountains in the 2nd half of May and all of June. Wore a Gerbings jacket under a mesh jacket. Used a heat controller. I really appreciated being able to turn the heat up and down as needed. For me I can't imagine not being able to do that since a lot of the morning times I'd run the jacket barely turned on with most of the rest of the time the jacket turned up 25% to 50% of the range. Turned up all the way was too hot and since the jacket warms up fairly quickly I'm guessing that you'd be turning the jacket off and on a lot. As soon as the day warmed up off came the heated liner and the mesh jacket was enough. For the few cold, howling wind times I just put the FroggToggs jacket on over the mesh and Gerbings. I really appreciated having sleeves since a vest under mesh would leave my arms way too cold. I know people's heat tolerances vary. Arthritis makes me like being nice and toasty so if the jacket turned all the way up fries me I'd suspect it'd incinerate someone that likes to be cooler.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2005
- Messages
- 8,537
- Age
- 77
- Location
- Kingman, Arizona
- Bike
- 2000 ST1100 ABS TCS
- STOC #
- 004
I have Widder and Gerbing vests and a Warm & Safe jacket. The W&S is my choice for all uses now. Also have dual Heat Trollers for the jacket and for the heated grips on both STs.
Both my Widder and Gerbing have worked well for several years but the heated sleeves take the cake.
The HeaTroller by W&S is a solid unit, better than the knock-off sold by the other guys.
My opinion,
Both my Widder and Gerbing have worked well for several years but the heated sleeves take the cake.
The HeaTroller by W&S is a solid unit, better than the knock-off sold by the other guys.
My opinion,
Blue STreak
Bob Meyer
I used to have a Widder vest. (Actually, I still do, but I haven't worn it in a couple of years.) I suppose in SF it may be all you need, though.
The problem is that it's hard to get the right fit. They're either too tight in the belly and too loose in the chest, or vice versa. If you're one of the lucky ones that it fits, great. If not, where it's loose it provides little heat to the body.
I'm now using a warm'n'safe jacket liner. The side panels are elastic, so it always fits snugly, transferring maximum heat to the torso.
One more thing: the Widder arm chaps are worthless. They're a pain to use, with the velcro straps, and the don't cover all the parts of my arms that get cold.
The problem is that it's hard to get the right fit. They're either too tight in the belly and too loose in the chest, or vice versa. If you're one of the lucky ones that it fits, great. If not, where it's loose it provides little heat to the body.
I'm now using a warm'n'safe jacket liner. The side panels are elastic, so it always fits snugly, transferring maximum heat to the torso.
One more thing: the Widder arm chaps are worthless. They're a pain to use, with the velcro straps, and the don't cover all the parts of my arms that get cold.