Post by everydaybiker on Dec 31, 2008 17:19:32 GMT 1
Was going to add to the earlier post surveying what clothing we wear, but this is a slightly different issue.
Some of you may know from the old forum that I have an all year 150-mile daily commute between Caerphilly and Swindon. It ain't good at this time of year, it has to be said. Fortunately my boss, who is also my brother-in-law, saw me thawing out each morning (despite good gear and a fairing), took pity and bought me some EXO-2 kit a couple of weeks ago. He also spread the word around other family members and hey presto I now have the following:
Am I a lucky guy or what? Anyway, to the point, are they any good?
These items are made using a heat-conductive inner material developed in the aerospace industry, negating the need for heating elements which are prone to hot spots and / or element failure. It also means the garment is lightweight, not too bulky and washable. The downside is the price, as they're not cheap - fortunately for me the various items of kit have been bought for me by others!
The jacket is really the main component, and so far it's been superb. It warms up very quickly and can be turned down to a lower setting soon after setting off on the journey. The controller has 9 settings between 50% and 100% power, so no problem finding a temperature to suit. One push-on connector to the power wire from the bike, which will pull apart if you forget and walk away from the bike connected!
The gloves connect the same way, with one connection to the bike. They are a good quality kevlar-reinforced full gauntlet - sizes are generous so don't over-estimate. The heat comes to the back of your hands and fingers, which complements my heated grips (which tend to work the opposite way but leave cold spots, particularly with thumbs). The gloves are quite bulky and take a bit of adjusting to but that's partly due to the stiffness of new leather I suspect.
The feet warmers comprise heated insoles attached to clip-on mini power packs which you charge at home and then get 5-7 hours of use (enough for my return journey each day). They don't feel 'warm' like the gloves or jacket but obviously seem to do their job as my toes are not frozen at the end of a sub-zero journey.
The wind chill at zero degrees C takes it down to around -18 apparently, so my commute becomes a major endurance test in the winter, and I'm glad of the heat boost.
Customer service from EXO-2 seems to be very good. The small switch on one of the boot power packs broke yesterday and I had an email from the MD within half an hour apologising and making arrangements for replacement. No complaints there then.
I'll update this from time to time, but so far so good. If you're interested, see:
www.exo2.co.uk
Some of you may know from the old forum that I have an all year 150-mile daily commute between Caerphilly and Swindon. It ain't good at this time of year, it has to be said. Fortunately my boss, who is also my brother-in-law, saw me thawing out each morning (despite good gear and a fairing), took pity and bought me some EXO-2 kit a couple of weeks ago. He also spread the word around other family members and hey presto I now have the following:
- Heated vest / jacket with optional heat controller
- Heated gloves (work off same controller)
- Heated boot insoles (have small clip-on power packs)
Am I a lucky guy or what? Anyway, to the point, are they any good?
These items are made using a heat-conductive inner material developed in the aerospace industry, negating the need for heating elements which are prone to hot spots and / or element failure. It also means the garment is lightweight, not too bulky and washable. The downside is the price, as they're not cheap - fortunately for me the various items of kit have been bought for me by others!
The jacket is really the main component, and so far it's been superb. It warms up very quickly and can be turned down to a lower setting soon after setting off on the journey. The controller has 9 settings between 50% and 100% power, so no problem finding a temperature to suit. One push-on connector to the power wire from the bike, which will pull apart if you forget and walk away from the bike connected!
The gloves connect the same way, with one connection to the bike. They are a good quality kevlar-reinforced full gauntlet - sizes are generous so don't over-estimate. The heat comes to the back of your hands and fingers, which complements my heated grips (which tend to work the opposite way but leave cold spots, particularly with thumbs). The gloves are quite bulky and take a bit of adjusting to but that's partly due to the stiffness of new leather I suspect.
The feet warmers comprise heated insoles attached to clip-on mini power packs which you charge at home and then get 5-7 hours of use (enough for my return journey each day). They don't feel 'warm' like the gloves or jacket but obviously seem to do their job as my toes are not frozen at the end of a sub-zero journey.
The wind chill at zero degrees C takes it down to around -18 apparently, so my commute becomes a major endurance test in the winter, and I'm glad of the heat boost.
Customer service from EXO-2 seems to be very good. The small switch on one of the boot power packs broke yesterday and I had an email from the MD within half an hour apologising and making arrangements for replacement. No complaints there then.
I'll update this from time to time, but so far so good. If you're interested, see:
www.exo2.co.uk
