For those few of you who have not yet experienced the glory that is an electric vest on cold days, I /strongly/ encourage you to pick one of these up:



Counter-intuitively, an electric vest will keep your extremities warmer because it keeps your core body temperature up which keeps your blood flowing.

I tried the Aerostitch vest, and found the outer cloth was superb, but the Electronics and wire routing out the top of the pocket were just wrong. In order to use the Powerlet adapter, I had to order an extra adapter that gave me a mile long cord with three connections. Also, I found the sizing to be a little small and unforgiving.
So, I returned it, and got the Gerbings vest. The material and collar on the Gerbings are not as nice, but the connectivity to the bike is vastly superior.

I've had an aerostich/kanetsu for several years now. I remember the sizing was not what I expected to be, but once I sorted that out, all was well. In the fall and Spring months, it lives on the bike--what a difference the vest makes in cold weather, along with heated grips...

Second the difference a vest makes. I won't leave home without it. But, I live in New England, where it can get pretty chilly in the mornings - even in July.

I have borrowed a few times the aerostich vest from Yermo. I have to agree the fit is not the best.

Check out the new age stuff "mobile warming" battery operated

I'm not familiar with how far battery operated vests have come. Do they have an option of plugging them in if the battery is drained?

I can just imagine being 200 miles from home on a 32deg night and having the battery die. That would suck.

Seem to have good reviews. I don't own one yet so I don't know. There is a car charger option that can easily be adapted for bike. I will have to try it out. Won't know until we try. Or "I try"

Does the charger power the vest or does it just charge the battery? I think that's the key issue I'd have with it.

If it can't be plugged into the bike and used when the battery is dead I'd say it's probably only useful for around town light duty usage.