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Heated Gloves

4K views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  CarGuy 
#1 ·
So not wanting to store it for the winter. I feel good at 50 - 60 mph at 40 degrees besides my hands! Did a search on this forum and last I could find on subject was back in 2011. Lots of new products since then. So....has anyone tried recent wireless gloves? I am looking at two sets: Fly Ignitor Pro and Joe Rocket heated leather. I do not do many trips over 2 hours straight one way but, The next question is, should I just go with the 12 volt? It seems if I am going to do any trips over 2 hours, then i should be looking at the 12 volt due to high setting on wireless seem to last only about 2 hours. I have a permanent battery tender hooked up that slides hangs out of seat. Can i use that connection for the 12 volt gloves? I have no idea what to look for on any wired heated clothing. I do know i don't want to use the battery tender here in NC! I want to ride it instead! So whats best between brands I mentioned on wireless and then, should i just go 12 volt? thanks all!!
 
#2 ·
When you say wireless, I assume you mean battery operated. I say this because some heated gear has wireless remote controls but the gear itself runs off the bike's power.

I've never used battery operated heated gear, so I can't advise you there. I don't like the idea of my batteries running out while I'm still miles from home. keep in mind that the battery life will depend on how high you have to run the gloves. I rarely run my gloves at more than 50%. Even at temps near single digit temps, they are painfully hot if run at 75% or higher.

I'm sure the tender hookup can handle at least 5 amps, so you can run 12V gear thru the battery tender connection if you are only running gloves. You are looking at less than 5 amps (most heated gloves are less than 25 - 30 watts per pair or about 2 - 2.5 amps/pair at 12V) but you need to know how many amps the hookup can handle (or change to a bigger fuse if the wire gauge is sufficient) if you were to ever add more heated gear. I run my gear thru a tender hookup with a 10 amp fuse (actually, I have 2 hookups, both with 10 amp fuses since I have gloves, and a jacket on one, and insoles, and pants on the other, both with wireless remote controllers that allow me to control all four independently).

Most battery operated heated gear uses lithium batteries which are typically slow charged but some are fast charging. You should investigate recharge time for the particular brand if that would be an issue for you. If you have all night to charge them up, you should have no problems, but if you plan more than one ride a day that would require recharges in between (to and from work?) it might be an issue for you. And bigger batteries would likely mean longer charge times.
 
#3 ·
When you say wireless, I assume you mean battery operated. I say this because some heated gear has wireless remote controls but the gear itself runs off the bike's power.

I've never used battery operated heated gear, so I can't advise you there. I don't like the idea of my batteries running out while I'm still miles from home. keep in mind that the battery life will depend on how high you have to run the gloves. I rarely run my gloves at more than 50%. Even at temps near single digit temps, they are painfully hot if run at 75% or higher.

I'm sure the tender hookup can handle at least 5 amps, so you can run 12V gear thru the battery tender connection if you are only running gloves. You are looking at less than 5 amps (most heated gloves are less than 25 - 30 watts per pair or about 2 - 2.5 amps/pair at 12V) but you need to know how many amps the hookup can handle (or change to a bigger fuse if the wire gauge is sufficient) if you were to ever add more heated gear. I run my gear thru a tender hookup with a 10 amp fuse (actually, I have 2 hookups, both with 10 amp fuses since I have gloves, and a jacket on one, and insoles, and pants on the other, both with wireless remote controllers that allow me to control all four independently).


Most battery operated heated gear uses lithium batteries which are typically slow charged but some are fast charging. You should investigate recharge time for the particular brand if that would be an issue for you. If you have all night to charge them up, you should have no problems, but if you plan more than one ride a day that would require recharges in between (to and from work?) it might be an issue for you. And bigger batteries would likely mean longer charge times.
Great stuff, thanks for your help!
 
#4 · (Edited)
I recently picked up some heated gear for my commute, and it has been a game changer.

I, like you, was originally looking at battery operated gear, and tried out a battery operated vest that a friend had. It was... okay. Didn't get too hot, and would probably do in a pinch, but not something that I wanted to drop big bucks on.

I eventually went with "Hotwired" heated gear, from cycle gear. I went with a heated jacket and glove liner. They connect to one another, and use just one controller. The jacket will get hot, and the glove liners will not let your hand get cold, although I suppose it matters what gloves you're wearing over them. They heat up the second you connect them, which is nice on a cold morning.

Coldest I've ridden in so far has been about 28F for about 35 mins. Didn't have the gear turned up all the way and felt fine.

I didn't connect it to my battery tender line, its a different style connecting and I didn't bother looking for any sort of an adapter.

I would recommend doing a vest/jacket as well as gloves. Your hands might feel like the only thing getting cold on a long ride, but keeping your core temp up is really important.
 
#5 ·
What a timely thread!

I got a pair of FirstGear heated riding gloves for my birthday about a month ago, and they allowed me to ride comfortably down to about 32F. At that point, the tops of my legs and my toes get cold. I rode in 25-28F temperatures Friday night for 102 miles - about 1.25 hours at a time. My toes hurt, and my legs were cold, and my torso got chilly, but my hands were nice and warm. It would've been downright dangerous if I would've had battery-powered gloves and the power went out.

I'd recommend going with a dedicated cord. I ran the Y harness for my gloves through my riding jacket (mesh) and down the sleeves, so the wires never get tangled or in the way. I installed the heat controller directly to the battery, and left the end of it draped around the front of my seat (2016 Vaquero), if that makes sense. I just walk up to the bike while it's warming up, plug the gloves into the wires in my jacket, and then the heat controller into the bike, get on, and go.

I would advise against using your existing battery tender harness. In fact, if you get the FirstGear stuff, they make an adapter that converts their RCA plug on the heat controller harness into a battery tender harness, so you can use just the one (which I plan to do). All of the instruction manuals and stuff say that the tender harness wires are not thick enough to handle the juice going to heated gear.

Oh, and if you go with FirstGear, I recommend the belt pouch for the heat controller. Makes it a lot easier to adjust the power while you're riding.

FYI, my wife ordered the gloves, heat controller, and Y adapter through DennisKirk.com.

-John
 
#6 · (Edited)
Excellent detail here guys I really appreciate it! So I went down and picked up a pair of fly ignitor 2 thinking I don't want to have to mess with harnesses going through jackets and whatnot. But after you get a pair, you may not have to deal with the harness and such, but you do have to keep the things charged! Now I'm beginning to think that the wired is the way to go not to mention the Heat. Now I rode the other day for a test drive 1 hour straight highway 65 to 75 miles an hour. I had the glove set on the highest level out of 3 about 30 minutes my hands did start to get a little cold. with just my old regular gloves gloves , well they are winter riding gloves, at 28 degrees at highway speeds, I know my fingertips would have been hurting, I went for another half-hour back, this time into the Sun, and it did warm to about 31 degrees. I did notice the sun help out on the gloves and they felt warmer. But if it was night time, look out! I think I have really been killed after an hour. Don't know if my expectations are too high on heated gloves., but it sounds like folks are more happy with the wired kind. And in the long run, I think the wire or less of a hassle. I'm going to be trying to return these to the stealership. This particular dealership does not like to take items back. I've been to that barbecue before with them, wish me luck! I let the gloves' die completely, and they took about four and a half hours to recharge!
 
#7 ·
I don't have any, but last time I rode in the cold, it was about 35-40F. It was a pleasant 65F when I rode to work and I had my snowboard gloves on but wow. I quickly realized if a deer or anything else jumped in front of me, I was a gonner. My hands were mostly frozen to the point that it took effort just to clutch, much less get on a quick brake!
 
#9 ·
Yeah, get the wired ones. It's really no big deal. I thought the same thing - I didn't want a mess of wires going everywhere, but I gave it a few moments of thought, planned it out, and it's been a breeze. The one time I forgot to unplug the heat controller from the harness on the bike, it just popped out, nothing broken!

PRO TIP: When you install the wiring harness on your bike, route the cable to the left side (when you're sitting on it) of the bike, and use two zip ties to hold the pigtail in place, so that if you do what I did, the wires unplug, but nothing gets ripped. I used 2 zip ties on a cable management bracket on my Vaquero, and it worked great.

As for the jacket wires, I use the belt pouch to hold the heat controller, as I said before, and then I ran the individual glove wires through the sleeves and used twist ties to hold them at the ends, where the zip-out liner has holders for the ends of the sleeves, if that makes sense. Then, I bundled up the extra wires and tucked them into a cell phone pouch inside the liner, and used a twist tie to hold them there.

Problem solved, warm hands. Like I said before, I have the FirstGear heated gloves, and even at mid-20F temps, my hands stay nice and warm.

-John
 
#13 ·
Nano tips paint on touch screen paint works on one pair of my leather gloves (joe rocket) but not on my insulated (first gear) leather gloves. In addition it peels off and needs to be re applied frequently. Not sure why it does not work on the first gear gloves, the fingers are goat skin and not cow hide.????

At best nano tip paint is OK i.e. better than nothing, great concept, I hope they can improve the formula for more durability.

WB
 
#14 ·
Thanks Wild Bill yeah I saw some reviews on the paint on screen stuff. They said it did not work on some motorcycle gloves so I kind of discounted using it. I was able to return the fly ignitor twos, good glove if you're going to not be below the forties, did not like it just heated the back of the hands as I do not have heated grips. I did like there that I could use those gloves for other things, skiing, just being outside on a real cold day, can't do that with the wired kind. I was really eyeballing the T5 from gerbing, hybrid, as it seems to be about The Best of Both Worlds, but when you add it all up with battery packs, you're looking at $300! Unless you didn't want the battery packs . Just ordered yesterday a pair of gerbing g4 for a close out sale at RevZilla for $89! They're supposed to be cowhide leather with heating throughout the entire Glove, not just the back of the hand but the Palm too, including the tips of every finger, also touchscreen compatible. Kind of weird there was only 9 reviews on RevZilla, absolutely no YouTube reviews, or any other reviews. I'm supposed to have them on the 22nd, I plan on doing a full YouTube review for people out there looking at these gloves, which are priced really good.
 
#15 ·
Dang, 89 bucks? sounds like a steal! My setup was a little over $200 (thanks Mrs. DraKhen99!)

I'm still trying to figure out an easy way to use my First Gear gloves with my snow thrower... perhaps a small battery attached to the thrower? Gotta figure out if the electrics on the thrower can power these gloves ;)

-John
 
#18 ·
Just a quick update ... about a month ago, my FirstGear gloves, which I received in November of 2016, failed. Specifically, the left glove stopped heating. A couple quick emails and a couple of pictures to FG, and less than a week later, I had a new pair of gloves! Great customer service! New gloves work great, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

-JOhn
 
#19 ·
After reading this thread I bought the Gerbings from Revzilla as a Christmas present to myself. I don't think I have very good circulation in my hands and they get chilled easily. Along with the gloves I got the dual controller with the intention to eventually get a heated vest as well. I LOVE MY GLOVES! These gloves are so comfortable even without the heat on, and only more so with the heat on. So far I haven't ridden in any really cold weather, but have several times in the low 50's, and I only turned the contoller up about 25%. Man, these things are nice! Thanks Keller123 for pointing out the sale.
 
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