Heated Vest on a cold day

[CraigHew]

This morning saw my first run out in the car since the (long) winter lay-up.  Nothing too ambitious; 110 miles or so around Bridgenorth / Craven Arms / Much Wenlock area of Shropshire, sticking to some really superb B roads.  The car didn't miss a beat and I enjoyed a couple of hours of early spring sun.

What made this trip different was my new heated vest that the wife bought me for my birthday over the winter, after a little bit of prompting and a fair bit of research by me beforehand.

I must confess, I'm a lover of heated seats.  Be it in my previous 5 series, the wife's SLK (which has the bonus of the Air-Scarf system too) or my Pick up truck; I tend to click the seat heating to full when I jump in for the first few miles then notch it back to a steady comfortable level.

I have looked into heating the Westfield seats but always abandoned the idea for various reasons; the main one being rain water in an open top car mixing with the electrics.

I seriously looked at the aftermarket pads that can be bought very reasonably but didn't really trust them not to set me or the car on fire.

So a heated vest it was.  The item is from the motorcycle world and it's a Keis V501 Premium heated vest https://www.keisapparel.co.uk/product/v501-premium-heated-vest/

It's not particularly cheap at £140 although in January the wife picked it up for just over £100, and it's available at most bike outles for ~£129, but my god what a difference it made on a chilly day.  The vest itself has carbon fibre heat pads and plugs either into a cable connected direct to the car battery or as I've chosen to do, via a 12v cigarette socket.

There's a controller that hangs out of a side pocket that controls power on/off and lets you select the Low/Med/High heat settings.

I started out on the drive at home be selecting high, but before i was out of town I had to knock the heat down to medium.  I left it on medium for the remainder of the drive and was toasty warm around the chest and back but especially around the kidney area which was a nice feeling.

As the mornings get lighter towards June I do like to head out early to beat the traffic and enjoy the North Wales roads at their quietest so the vest should help with some 4 or 5am starts before the sun has had chance to warm things up.

As stated, it's a fair chunk of cash but the heating elements have a lifetime warranty so I'm hoping to get a fair bit of use out of it.  It does have sockets to connect a pair of heated gloves but that may be a step too far even for me...!

Just thought I'd share.....

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

Could you smell roast pork as you drove around? ( @CosKev) made me type this. 

 

Glad you're out of hibernation 

[CosKev]

3 hours ago, IanK (Bagpuss) said:

Could you smell roast pork as you drove around? ( @CosKev) made me type this. 

 

Glad you're out of hibernation 

He could smell bacon and sausage at one point on his drive I'll bet

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

@CraigHew where does the power connection enter the vest and on which side.

I have looked into these before as I also like the early mornings but get a bit chilly sometimes.

I have a power socket available between my seats on the vertical panel.

Just wondering about the power leads.

[CraigHew]

Hi Geoffrey,

It enters via a hidden zip on the front left side (see photo 2) so ideal to reach over and plug into passenger side / centre consol outlet.

The heat controller comes out of it's own zipped pocket also on the left and hangs out on its sturdy cable pigtail. (I've pulled it right out of the pocket in photo 1 for clarity).

If you do buy one, get at least a size smaller than you think you need. I got a 2XL, sent it back for an XL then sent that one back for a L. It neeeds to be a snug fit to heat you properly.

The L is marked as 56 and seems good for me at 16.5 stone.

All the wiring is hidden within the vest and there are additional plugs (as can be seen in photo 2) for trousers and gloves if added later.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

That’s brilliant Craig.

Time to spend some pennies. 

[CraigHew]

    I don't think you'll be disappointed it's a quality bit of kit....

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

@CraigHew did the cigarette lighter socket come included or was it an added extra.

[CraigHew]

The plug in bit came with the vest, along with the controller and a set of leads to attach to the battery (although the leads are designed for a bike where the battery is a lot closer rather than in a kitcar).

My 12v socket was added under the dash by the factory before I picked the car up.

 

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Look what Mr Postman just brought me.

Looks very well made upon opening the box.

Thanks for posting @CraigHew