heated vests and gloves opinions

[428Bird]

Looking at heated vest/liner and gloves. Found some deals on Tourmaster. Seems TM has a controller issue (they fail). What does everyone else use? Anyone use the Victory vest?

[king dumb]

bird i live in florida and it does not get cold here for  long period of times. when it does i do not ride. but to help you look for what you are needing i do have family that lives in snow states and swear by the heated vest and vest liners and gloves made by Gerbing's. try searching that brand. good luck. KD.

[428Bird]

After the ride the other night, moving to Florida is a much better idea than a heated vest!

[Syberfly]

We are lucky with the nice weather here in Florida, Unlike King, I ride all year long, 7 day a week rain or shine or even tropical storms/hurricanes won't keep me off my KP. 

[king dumb]

We are lucky with the nice weather here in Florida, Unlike King, I ride all year long, 7 day a week rain or shine or even tropical storms/hurricanes won't keep me off my KP. 

I have 7 kids i am still raising, and can not afford to get sick. but don't get me wrong i have road when it was 17 deg last year, but prefer to ride in my superduty with heat. there are pleanty of days to ride in the sunshine state. by the way how the hell have ya been doing , havent hered from you lately. i gess riding that pin hu. how many miles ya got on her now.

[Syberfly]

I would be the same way if I had 7 kids , only one left and he is almost 17 you have your work cut out for you King

[BMC]

Heated jacket combined with heated grips. Never get cold.

[golfmystic55]

I bought a Widder vest in 1992. It still work great, the only problem I have is, that it's collar is wearing out. I only have an on / off switch. Which I turn off most of the time. I live outside Pittsburgh, PA and it's 29 right now. So the vest is off and so is my Pin. Covered up right now, resting for that 40 deg day. I also have a Tourmaster coat and pants set with liners. My hands are my biggest issue. No heated gloves, just a dream of heated grips.

[dejevoo]

Hey BMC, What brand of heated grips do you have instaled? I live in Northern California, it's not too cold but I have terrible circulation to the feet and hands. I've been thinking about heating grips for quite awhile now.
Thanks

[king dumb]

Hey BMC, What brand of heated grips do you have instaled? I live in Northern California, it's not too cold but I have terrible circulation to the feet and hands. I've been thinking about heating grips for quite awhile now.
Thanks

have several friends who have these on there bikes and they work great. great price to. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVERSAL-HEATED-GRIPS-KIT-MOTORCYCLE-ATV-SNOWMOBILE_W0QQitemZ280409001018QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_ATV_Parts_Accessories?hash=item4149adcc3a

[ironhead3]

check out warmandsafe.com   american co. I have the gloves,jacket and pants with dual controller. love em, have ridden in 11 degrees 4 50 miles. only issue was the face shield frosting up. i usually dont bother with the pants unless its in the 20s just chaps over jeans. have the pleather elephant ears on the highway bars to keep the wind off my feet. seemed like a better deal to me than the gerbings.

[dejevoo]

Hey BMC, What brand of heated grips do you have instaled? I live in Northern California, it's not too cold but I have terrible circulation to the feet and hands. I've been thinking about heating grips for quite awhile now.
Thanks

have several friends who have these on there bikes and they work great. great price to. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVERSAL-HEATED-GRIPS-KIT-MOTORCYCLE-ATV-SNOWMOBILE_W0QQitemZ280409001018QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_ATV_Parts_Accessories?hash=item4149adcc3a

Thanks KD - I've seen these before and wondered how well they worked. I don't like the way multi-layer winter gloves feel and can't see dropping $140 plus dollars on heated gloves yet.

[ColoradoKP]

I live in Colorado and it's Gerbing for me.

Got the heated gloves, jacket liner, and pants.  Wore them in 20 degrees and never felt the cold.

[king dumb]

Thanks KD - I've seen these before and wondered how well they worked. I don't like the way multi-layer winter gloves feel and can't see dropping $140 plus dollars on heated gloves yet.

your welcome dejevoo. does any body know if they sell air conditioning vests, it's hot as hell in florida at the moment. 80deg.

[David T]

Looking at heated vest/liner and gloves. Found some deals on Tourmaster. Seems TM has a controller issue (they fail). What does everyone else use? Anyone use the Victory vest?

I had heard about the Tourmaster controller issue, but that was apparently resolved late 2008.  Prior to that, they had a batch of bad units.   That aside, their heated liners are excellent!  They use carbon fiber heating 'cloth', which eliminiates the wires that other brands use, and distributes heat much more evenly and efficiently.  They are also machine washable, and can be wadded up without fear of damaging the heating material.   My jacket liner gets so warm in 20 degree weather, that I can't put it on high.  The gloves are a tad bulky, but function flawlessly as well.... very very rarely have I gone above medium heat setting.  They too use carbon fiber heating elements instead of wires.

While each Tourmaster heated item comes with it's own controller,  they can all be interconnected to each other, and controlled via a single controller.  There are connectors that zip out at the end of the sleeves to plug into the gloves, and a connector for a pants liner.  However, and this is my only complaint about the Tourmaster heated clothing.....   in order to use more than one controller, you need to route the wires separately from a power source (battery) to each item, bypassing the built in interconnects.  For example, I like to use individual controllers for my gloves and jacket liner, so I use the 'included' Y connector to split power to the jacket controller, and then run the wiring harness up my jacket and down the sleeves to the gloves, keeping the glove controller in the loop.  While this functions fine, it takes some getting used to pulling the wires down the sleeves for the gloves, and tucking the controller into the right hand glove.  Once done, it works great!   

I understand that Gerbing has an integrated power distribution unit in the jacket liner that can allow connecting two separately controlled items on two individual circuits, with the wiring already built in.  Wish the TM's would come up with something like this.

I do not regret my purchase of the TM product at all.  They get plenty warm, sometimes too warm, and the controllers are easy to work, even with gloves on.  I just wish they would find a way to redo separate control of the gloves....