Now the winter is upon us, soon the coldest time will arrive, and we should be prepared. Unlike normal jacket we wear every day to keep you in a decent warm situation, a heated vest or jacket can be a better choice when you want to go outside. This time we have the iHoodwarm Heated Vest for review, this vest has a built-in warming system inside, and can heat you up quickly. Let’s have a look at it.
How it works
Basically, it has a battery bank to act as the power source, and there is a pocket at the left corner to hold it. In the pocket, there is a dedicated connector to link the battery bank to the warming system spread out in the vest. Then we have heat plates in three areas, Chest and Belly, Back, Ears and Neck. These are the key body parts that need warmth and will pretty much preserve the energy well.
At the left chest area, there is a rounded control panel that can help you select the area to heat up, or control the light on or off. It feels very natural to use these buttons.
Build Quality
As a winter vest, it has solid materials used at every part, the surface is made of stretchy and anti-dirt nylon, and it feels much better than some random vest you pick up at Walmart. The filler is probably artificial fiber, it is well-stacked and won’t go anywhere since they are separated by the sewing threads. The inside is also nylon I think, it is slightly thinner than the outside but has a soft touch to it, so it feels comfortable to have your body surrounded by the vest. The hat is made of a different material, it is polyester I think, it has some give to it, so it can fit the different shapes of heads, also there are buckles built-in to make sure you can have the hat on very tightly.
The main zipper and the pocket zippers are made by YKK, and the ones on the hat and battery bank pocket are standard, they all work smoothly and seem to last long. Since there is no waterproof rating on this vest, based on my experience with the material used on this vest, it should be able to withstand light rain or snow.
The heating system is made by a 14400mAh/ 3.63V lithium battery bank, and the heating patches are spread in the three areas mentioned earlier. The battery bank looks standard, but it is UN38.3 & MSDS certified, so the reliability should be very good. There are four ports, 2 USB-A for output, 1 USB-C and 1 Micro-USB for in and out, by seeing these ports you know that you can also use them to charge your phone or other devices at the same time, but this will have to sacrifice the overall heating time of course. The connector used for linking the heating system is with a USB-A port, so you can only use one of the USB-A ports on the battery bank. The brand is also kind enough to include a charging brick for you to charge the battery bank.
So there are three heating areas on this vest, basically the main body except the limbs, they are the key parts that need to keep warm. The heating patches are really thin and flexible, but they are fixed in certain spaces by the threads, so they won’t be running around in the vest, certainly won’t break loose anyway. When you put your hands on them, you can feel there are lines inside the patch, but they are not that thick, so it won’t affect the wearing comfort.
Use Experience
Now they claim that there are three heating modes, High: 149-158°F/65-70°C, Medium: 131-149°F/55-65℃, Low: 122-131°F/50-55℃. This can definitely help you tackle different scenarios, like shoveling snow on really cold days outside, or simply wearing them for a run. And if you have an elder person in the family, this can help them keep warm very well.
In our place, it does not get that cold in winter, but we did use the thermoprobe to see if it can reach the advertised temperatures, and it does. As you can see, the max temperature comes from the wires around the heating patch, then conduct the heat to other areas as well. When the battery bank is linked with the patches, the heat comes up immediately, I can feel it right away, so whenever you want to go out, you can simply grab this vest and go.
*The temperatures may vary in different situations.
Now the control panel is made of rubber, and the buttons are clicky, so once you press it, it responds instantly. By pressing the buttons, you can select the different temperatures for each area, this is a very innovative design. I even found turning on the heat in the neck area can be somehow a massage, you can try it and let us know how you feel.
Is It Safe?
Somebody would be worried about its reliability, but iHood has addressed it very thoroughly on the website. Basically there are two things that makes it very reliable, which are the solid battery bank and our real-time user experience. The battery bank is made of UN38.3 & MSDS-certified lithium cells, and it’s not built for extreme output, so it does not heat up crazy. Also based on our experience, during several hours’ test, the battery bank remained just a bit warm, and certainly within the tolerance level of a lithium cell, the vest remained stable. And thirdly, the battery is well below 20000mAh so it is TSA approved, and also iHood said it’s hand washable or machine washable, if they have faith in it, so should we, isn’t it?
Verdict
So this is the iHoodwarm Heated Vest. As the winter has come, the Heated Vest could be your best companion for going outside, working, or playing, which also can be a Heartwarming Christmas gift for families and any human you care about. They have some other products in the lineup, if you need a heated jacket or gloves, searching through their website is the right way.
