Gotta say...I love heated gear

[Rocky]

I too am looking at the Mobile Warming gloves, and like Warren I would rathe rnot be hooked to the bike with the wiring. The battery technology gets better all the time, and I could use the gloves on both my bikes, and if my friend brings his snowmobiles to the house, well you get it. The draw back that I see is the glove is not really a "motorcycle" glove, and the batteries only last a limited time. The limited time (up to ten hours) is not a real concern for me because if I am going to ride that long the weather will not require heated gloves, of course that does not apply for Phil! Anyone with experiance let us know!
Thanks.

 

[Rmcapozzi]

Everyone's experiences are a bit different, but I found that the heated grips work really well at cancelling out the "heat sink" affect of holding onto cold handlebars. The gloves are very nice but the elements are only on the outside of the hand. They aren't on the palm. Holding onto handlebars that are 10F makes my hands VERY cold even with the gloves turned way up.

Having heated grips means that the heat transfer when holding onto the grips is neutral or increasing warmth instead of sucking the heat out of my hands. This is where I find the try benefit of heated grips.

If I had one to pick (heated grips or gloves), the gloves would win out every time for me.

I have the Gerbing jacket and gloves and of course love it. What I particularly like are the gloves. I read people putting heated grips on their bike. I had heated grips on my old VTX before and found that the inside of my hands were toasty but the outsides could still get very cold. The gloves keep my whole had warm. I particularly like the wiring around the thumb area of the glove. Driving in cold weather (low30's), my hands are toasty. Love this system. Probably my 'favorite' farkle.

Terry

 

[Rmcapozzi]

Take a look at Gerbing's Hybrid products. They make a glove that will work both from the "typical" motorcycle wired to the battery as well as their battery packs.

The run times however don't look really long enough to be useful for long rides but it is an option.

I too am looking at the Mobile Warming gloves, and like Warren I would rathe rnot be hooked to the bike with the wiring. The battery technology gets better all the time, and I could use the gloves on both my bikes, and if my friend brings his snowmobiles to the house, well you get it. The draw back that I see is the glove is not really a "motorcycle" glove, and the batteries only last a limited time. The limited time (up to ten hours) is not a real concern for me because if I am going to ride that long the weather will not require heated gloves, of course that does not apply for Phil! Anyone with experiance let us know!
Thanks.

 

[Rob]

the battery packs, it is my understanding, do not provide as much heat - but then again, that still could be plenty. i too was looking at the hybrid system as well as just the battery stuff from gerbing's. i find the system works so well, i may get the battery jacket (the non-riding one) regardless. i didn't want to spend a couple hundred more for the hybrid jacket because i have a riding jacket i already love so i opted for the mid-layer - which meant no batteries.

 

[Phil Tarman]

My winter gloves, thin glove liners, and heated grips keep my hands warm down to around 10F -- might go lower, but I haven't been in much colder temps for any significant time.

With the connector between the controller and my jacket, I'm hardly wired to the motorcycle. It's a straight pull that doesn't take too much to disconnect. Sure wouldn't be a problem if I needed to leave the bike. Or if I just walked away without remembering to unplug.

 

[Rob]

you could go the battery-powered route, rick. and keep a few charged batteries in your tank bag if you're doing a long haul in the cold. probably plenty warm since you already have the heated grips:
http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/gerbings-core-heat-s-2-gloves

Or you could just do a heated liner to put inside your favorite riding gloves (wired connection)
http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/gerbings-heated-glove-liner

just some other options to think about.

as far as the wiring if you went that route...a connection to your fuzeblock leaves a connector hanging out near the front of your seat. this plugs into the heat controller, which you clip to your jacket, tank bag, wherever. if you have no plans on adding more heated gear, you would get a single heat controller (one dial to control heat for one device). the wire from this connects to the gloves.

The gloves would come with a large y-connector. one connection by your waist to connect to the controller, and then you would run the two ends through each sleeve. this is how it works for gerbing's anyway - i'm sure it's about the same with any of them.

 

[Rob]

Then there are some extra connectors in a pocket in the front of the jacket, and depending on how you plug them in, and what controllers you use, you can either run jacket and gloves off one dial, or give them each their own dial.

yep - forgot about the connector in that pocket. that explains it!

 

[elizilla]

My heated grips get the most use, of any heated item I have. I'll turn them on after dark or in the rain, even in the summer. They will cook the water out of my damp gloves in light rain, and when the sun sets on me while I'm riding and my hands get slightly cold, I can kick them on without having to stop and mess around. Yes, they are not really adequate once it gets really cold, but I don't ride in extreme cold, nearly as often as I am riding along and thinking, gosh, it's gotten slightly chilly, I wish I could turn on some heat.

Even in extreme cold, for short hops around town, they're a lot less trouble than adding extra layers that then have to be plugged in. If I'm considering whether to take the car or the bike, for that two mile trek to the supermarket, I'm not going to plug in a whole bunch of stuff. It's not worth it for a five minute ride to a place where I will then have to unplug, wander through the grocery aisles, then plug back in again to ride five minutes home.

The basic heated grips can also be installed cheaper than any other heated gear.

 

[Phil Tarman]

+1 to what Katherine says. I use my heated grips when the temperatures in the 50s and even the low 60s with my Elkskin Ropers.

 

[elizilla]

I have never tried the factory grips, but my cheap inserts get too hot to touch with bare hands on the high setting. I rarely turn them up above half way. There's a point when it gets cold enough that they're uncomfortably hot under my palms even while my fingertips are too cold and I can't wrap my hands tightly enough around the grips to get my fingertips to thaw. I don't think that grips that got any hotter, would be useful - once you get to that extreme you need something else, like mittens, or heated gloves.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Rick, I had Symex (or something like that) heated grip strips under my grips on both Connies. They were two-level heat, barely warm and kinda' warm The Hondaline heated grips are muy mucho warmer.

 

[elizilla]

Aerostiches play very well with heated gear.

When I had an Aerostich and a set of Gerbing gloves (an older style with huge gauntlets), I ran the glove wires out the underarm vents. The gauntlets were too big to fit inside the cuffs of the suit, the plugs were on the gauntlets, and routing a wire down the sleeve, out the cuff, and looping it around the giant gauntlet to the plug, was a pain. Routing the wires out the underarm vents, put them in a more convenient spot to plug in. Then inside the suit, I ran the wires behind the back protector; it held them in place and was more comfortable then routing them between the back protector and me. And the 'sitch has zipper openings on the side for access to your jeans pockets; these are perfect from routing the wire to the bike.

I posted a review of my new heated glove liners, here. One of the things I describe there, is what I disliked about my previous heated gloves. The heated liners are nice; they hardly add any bulk. I can choose any glove I want to wear over them; I'm not just limited to whatever compromise the heated glove designers made.