Brief product review: Tourmaster Heated Jacket

[Cher]

Got a Tourmaster heated jacket for Christmas. Hooked it up directly to the battery with the supplied coaxial cable lead and in-line 15amp fuse; took 10 minutes.  My kind of "mod."

Went for a 40 minute highway cruise this afternoon; 42 degrees.  Leather non-perf jacket, t-shirt and non-perf leather pants.  Warm and toasty, no worries, jacket set on "Low".  

There are three heat settings with this jacket: High, Medium, and Low.  Scanning the TM Product Guide indicates that "Low" is 126.5 degrees; "Medium" works at a max of 150.8 and "High" gens out an impressive 167.9 degrees, the approximate temperature at which skin turns to vapor.

With a wind chill in the upper 30's, the Low setting was perfect.  I started the ride with the jacket set on Medium, but after about ten minutes it felt like a sauna.  I can't imagine what kind of weather conditions would warrant High so Low is how I rode  

The jacket has full length sleeves and a turtle neck with heat coils through out, in addition to the heating elements in the main body of the jacket.  Buy a size that will fit snug; Airspace = Bad.

A heated jacket should extend my riding season by a good month or two so let's ride  

Here's a link for the jacket:  http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?action=post;msg=817675;topic=45270.0;sesc=15ac7c1f63eefb7eb1740d420aa77743

[fastwin]

Neat stuff! My biggest problem with riding in that kind of temp is watering eyes. That cold air makes them tear up big time and it's real distraction. Takes my mind off my freezing torso and limbs!

[TresGatos]

I bet you rode the Triumph.  Just a guess. [moto]

[fastwin]

The 999 already has a built in heater.

[Cher]

The 999 already has a built in heater.

Roger that    But I do have an adaptor for the Duc SAE plug that works the battery tender.

I bet you rode the Triumph.  Just a guess. [moto]

Yep.  As OFT noted, the SBK has a distinct advantage in colder weather with it's built in bun warmer. The air-cooled Speedie produces no engine heat so the real test for the Tourmaster jacket was the Triumph.


Two other observations from the test ride yesterday; the jacket has pre-wired leads for TM heated pants and gloves, but once your "core" body temperature is warm, I think the heated pants would be overkill.  The tips of my fingers though still got unreasonably frozen but I think before I shell out the coin for the heated gloves I'll get an after market set of heated grips and see it that does the trick.

 

[TXGrillGuy]

Got a Tourmaster heated jacket for Christmas. Hooked it up directly to the battery with the supplied coaxial cable lead and in-line 15amp fuse; took 10 minutes.  My kind of "mod."

Went for a 40 minute highway cruise this afternoon; 42 degrees.  Leather non-perf jacket, t-shirt and non-perf leather pants.  Warm and toasty, no worries, jacket set on "Low".  

There are three heat settings with this jacket: High, Medium, and Low.  Scanning the TM Product Guide indicates that "Low" is 126.5 degrees; "Medium" works at a max of 150.8 and "High" gens out an impressive 167.9 degrees, the approximate temperature at which skin turns to vapor.

With a wind chill in the upper 30's, the Low setting was perfect.  I started the ride with the jacket set on Medium, but after about ten minutes it felt like a sauna.  I can't imagine what kind of weather conditions would warrant High so Low is how I rode  

The jacket has full length sleeves and a turtle neck with heat coils through out, in addition to the heating elements in the main body of the jacket.  Buy a size that will fit snug; Airspace = Bad.

A heated jacket should extend my riding season by a good month or two so let's ride  

Thanks for sharing the results of your new heated jacket. It's timely, as I was heading to Maxim's Honda tomorrow to price out some Gerbing heated gear for extending my riding this winter. I'll be sure to look at "exact fitting" of the jacket liner as you suggested. Thanks. 

[fastwin]

Heated grips wouldn't do me a lot of good. I tend to just rest the palm of my hand on the grip and barely wrap my thumb and index finger around it. I drape all the other fingers over both levers. Winter gloves and liners for me. But I do hate the way they kill the feel. I'm screwed either way. The fingers are frozen with no feel or all gloved up and no feel.

[CajunR]

Have any of you guys used nitrile gloves under your regular riding gloves?  I've heard of this 'trick' from a couple of off-road guys, but I've never tried it myself.  They are supposed to be great at blocking the wind from getting to your digits... nothing about ambient temps, but some cats swear by them.

I have a set of grip heaters that I bought last year and still haven't installed...   

[fastwin]

Don't know about the nitrile glove trick. Does nitrile breath? If it didn't I would think your hands would perspire then that moisture would get cold making matters worse. But what do I know? Never worn nitrile gloves. I don't have a problem with germs or leaving my fingerprints around.

[Cher]

Don't know about the nitrile glove trick. Does nitrile breath? If it didn't I would think your hands would perspire then that moisture would get cold making matters worse. But what do I know? Never worn nitrile gloves. I don't have a problem with germs or leaving my fingerprints around.

That's my take on nitrile gloves too.  When I "work" on my bike I'll wear nitrile gloves.  Granted it usually isn't freezing cold in my garage when I'm working but the gloves don't breath and water inside builds up in 10 or 15 minutes.  YRMV 

[Cher]

One more thing about the Tourmaster Jacket; Gerbing gloves work with this jacket too.

Here's a link for Gerbing Gloves:  http://www.gerbing.com/Products/Gloves/T5.html

And another for TM Gloves: http://www.tourmaster.com/xcart/catalog/Synergy-Electric-Gloves-p-260_59.html

I think at least two riders on this forum use Gerbing equipment and in talking with them over the last couple of winter riding seasons, they're happy with the performance.

I've also added a Tourmaster jacket link for my original post.  This is the Tourmaster website and shows the price for the jacket at 200 bucks.  Most online shops will routinely have it for sale at 180.  This price includes the jacket controller/three way switch.  Not sure if Gerbing gear is priced like that so that may be one thing to check if you're in the market for heated gear.

[Duc L'Smart]

I've got a Gerbing long sleeve mock turtle jacket liner, & the gloves, & they are awesome! They Gerbing has a continuous rheastat, not just low-med-high. Mucho Nice
Kept me warm whilst riding in sleet & snow in Utah.

[RichD]

Heated gear is good stuff!   
The pant liners are nice too -but only really needed for long trips in the cold.

[Ronr]

I've got a Gerbing long sleeve mock turtle jacket liner, & the gloves, & they are awesome! They Gerbing has a continuous rheastat, not just low-med-high. Mucho Nice
Kept me warm whilst riding in sleet & snow in Utah.

+1

Got the Gerbings last year and love it.  Good technology and adjustability on the controller.  I have leather overpants (not assless chaps like m-rat) and haven't needed the pants liner down to high 20's.  Keeping the thorax and fingers warm is the key.  Plus a balaclava when below 40 or so.  My eyeballs still get cold though. 

I'm guessing Gerbings has better fitment on the jacket liners (not familiar with Tourmaster).  They have very good fitment charts and sizes for various girths and armlengths so you can get it just right.  The Honda shop in Allen(?) has a really good sales rep that knows his sheet.  He can get you fitted perfectly.

Their gloves are nice with a few options.  There is one with pretty good protection, no hard armor that I recall, but good leather protection for sport riders.  Still lousy feel compared to racing-type gloves, but for winter you can't expect too much.  Just be happy you're in Texas and not Wyoming, and suck it up. 

[TXGrillGuy]

The Honda shop in Allen(?) has a really good sales rep that knows his sheet.  He can get you fitted perfectly.

It's Maxim Honda, next door (due South in the next parking lot) from Harley Davidson.