How do you stay warm on those cold winter days? While typically the answer is to throw on another layer, technology has given us another way to keep warm without the bulk: Heated clothing. Usually powered by a rechargeable battery, a heating element is weaved into the garment itself, in locations where you lose the most heat. As a result, you’ll be able to stay warm on even the coldest days without looking like the Michelin man.
Heated clothing comes in all shapes and sizes, including coats, base layers, gloves, socks, and more. After researching various review sites, product descriptions, and reading dozens of customer reviews on retail sites, these are some of the best options available.
Ororo Soft Shell Heated Jacket
Ororo has only been around for about four years now, but in that short time, it’s made a name for itself as one of the highest-rated heated clothing manufacturers on Amazon. Its softshell jacket is available in a men’s and women’s version and gets great reviews for its construction and performance. The heating elements are located across the chest and at the mid-back and have three different settings to adjust the warmth to your liking. The softshell fabric is waterproof, and a removable hood allows you to customize the amount of protection from the cold.
A 7.4-volt rechargeable battery powers the heating elements for up to 10 hours, but if you’d like, you can use the USB port on the rechargeable battery itself to charge your mobile device while out and about. It’s even completely machine washable with the battery removed. What we like is how much Ororo stands by their product: A generous three-year warranty is provided with the jacket, ensuring years of use out of your investment.
Revean Heated Jacket
Is Ororo’s softshell a little too blandly designed for your tastes? Revean’s jackets are stylish and comfortable and look just as good on the trail as it does running errands around town. But it also is slightly better than the Ororo: In addition to the chest and back heating elements, the Revean jacket also heats the pockets — a handy feature, pardon the pun. We’re also fans of the 100% down insulation, which will make this jacket warm even without the heating elements on. The hood is removable: on the men’s version it’s just a standard hood, but the women’s version adds a faux fur edge which we think is a nice touch.
Ravean says its 12-volt battery can provide up to 6.5 hours of continuous heat at the lowest setting, and like the Ororo can charge your mobile device at the same time. While we’re a bit disappointed at the shorter battery life, the added pocket heating and overall better-performing heating elements are likely behind that. It’s a tradeoff that might be worth it for those of us who seem always to have cold hands.
Ororo Heated Vest
Ororo makes our list again for another of its products, this time for its lightweight heated vest available for both men and women. We think this vest is a great option for those that might want to add extra heat under a favorite jacket, or in those fall and early spring months when it’s too cold to go out only in a sweater, but too warm for a heavy winter coat. Heating elements are located around the chest and mid-back, and in the front pockets, and its lightweight construction provides heat without restricting movement, and its machine washable with the battery removed.
Like the jacket, you’ll get about 10 hours on a single charge, and be able to charge your mobile devices simultaneously through the USB port on the removable battery itself. Unfortunately, this particular item only comes with a one-year warranty versus the three years you get with the jacket, though.
Venture Heat Heated Base Layer
Staying warm in the winter starts with a good base layer. Venture Heat has produced a line of base layers that not only wick moisture off your body but warm you through heating elements that run through the chest, shoulder and abdominal areas. You can select from any one of three different levels of heating, and the heating elements don’t restrict your movement, nor feel bulky when you wear it. While Venture Heat says that the battery life is up to six hours, you’ll only get about 90 minutes of heat on the highest setting — so keep that in mind when using these outdoors for extended periods.
Conquer the cold with the best heated clothing and outdoor apparel for 2020 [Digital Trends]