Hi Guys,

Some thoughts on my new Heated vest (Waistcoat here in UK) .

I am putting this in here as it contains info specific to the CBR1000f, but I do accept that it may be moved to another section (Hopefully you will all get to see it first)
You can read an actual “Professional review” here

http://www.webbikeworld.com/heated-m...nergy/vest.htm

It arrived yesterday and was fitted this morning in a matter of minutes
The weather this morning had surface ice which had begun to clear in direct sunlight (Sorry don’t have actual temps).
The vest is very comfy (Mine has the collar) and I started off with the temp set to LOW typically traffic this morning on the way to the freeway was particularly heavy – and I had my Givis’ on so no filtering.
I did have a Voltmeter connected up so I could get some sort of reading (Note I ALWAYS ride with my headlight on dipped beam). Also the vest is said to consume 4.5 amps (Collar version)

Set on LOW the temp was adequate and was keeping me relatively warm whilst queuing in traffic – my battery was showing 14.5 volts at anything over 2000rpm (Which I believe is very good – if a little unusual)
HOWEVER when the bike warmed up and the fan kicked in the bike battery would drop to about 13.4 needless to say I can easily see how foodman ran into so much trouble using 2x 6 amp vest + gloves and needed jumping so much!

Once on the freeway @ 80mph (Indicated) LOW wasn’t QUIET cutting it so I moved up to MEDIUM, which took me back to nice and warm. (REALLY good control system here(Thigh Mounted – which is INCLUDED in the price unlike other brands))
At one point I began to doubt whether it was making any real difference and turned up to HIGH but this was decidedly uncomfortable so I turned back down to medium, about this time the car in front decided to wash his windscreen and by the time the water got to me it was ice lol. I continued my journey into work on MEDIUM as it was “Just Right”.
During the day we had a couple of flurries of snow (Which didn’t “Stick”) and as the sun went down the skies were clear – which meant the temp dropped quite badly (Well to me anyway – I am sure our Nordic friends would still be skinny dipping lol).
I had to pop over to my folks which was a round journey of about 80 miles – not a huge distance, but far enough in these temps. The journey there was made at MEDIUM setting, the journey home was much later in the evening and I made use of the HIGH setting.
As a bit of a test on the way Home I decided to turn the vest OFF completely.
Now this thing Heats up real quick (2 mins to full temp) and it cools down just as quick. After 60 secs with it off I was starting to get very cold, 2 mins with it off and I was struggling not to shiver – so it went back on set to HIGH. Let me tell you those 2 mins for it to warm back up were an eternity.

My verdict is that for the princely sum of £100 GBP (Delivered including import duties etc) I have added a good few months to my riding year, to me for a vest that performs like this its real good value for money.
It not just a comfort thing by the way – the amount my concentration that dropped away from my riding when I turned the vest off was simply scary – During the ride I was wearing a T-SHIRT – the vest – my leathers, so no “Bulk” was added to my clothing meaning I could still look around with ease.
As I said – I had the Vest with collar, my leathers are a little snug so I didn’t want the jacket version – if yours are a little looser (OK I’m a bit fat lol) then you may want to go with the jacket. However I did encounter a weird phenonimum, that I had previously only read about.
Although my arms were obviously colder than my main body – they were no-where near as cold as they should have been, (My arms were bare under my leather jacket) likewise my hands – in summer grade gauntlets weren’t any more than slightly chilled) apparently because your main body is heated then the blood flow will transfer some of the warmth to your extremities.
A very nice side effect !

Without doubt though the best feature of this incredibly well performing bit of kit was the controller. It has nice big buttons with clear LED indicators and has an OFF button just in case you notice the battery level dropping.

I am VERY happy with this kit and would recommend it to anyone (I am going to buy some long sleeve t-shirt tops though as it just doesn’t feel right wearing a short sleeve t-shirt when you’re riding in the snow)

Also because it is so comfy with its elastically expanding sides I will prob keep wearing it during summer - it can get a bit cold at nights here and it wont be a chore to carry it (IE Wear it)

 

Good news Harry - thanks for the report.
I'm surprised at your voltage readings at low revs - d'you have a std reg/rec in your bike ?