Customer Reviews

Evaporative Cooling Sport Vest (1 vest)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I absolutely love this vest. I live in Northwest Florida and our highs even now are in the high 90's with humidity approaching 90%.. It's also hurricane season and after living through Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis, I know if the power goes out, I'm still set.

I have Lupus and am VERY sensitive to heat. I put this vest on and I felt like I was in my own personal air conditioner! I have discovered you can control how long the crystals will stay activated. The longer the vest is submerged, the longer it stays cold. I have found that a 1 minute dunk is good for the day. Leave it longer and it can stay cool several days. I don't have a lot of hand strength to squeeze the water out, so I also roll the vest in a towel until I am ready to go outside. Size does run snug, but not too small. Several friends, as well as my doctor who has many patients who are intolerant to heat, have asked for the website address.

Also, this is the best price for this item that I have found on the Web.

The vest came before I expected it to. It works fairly well for what it is and has been a lifesaver for me since I have MS and it has been 100+ degrees outside. THe only thing I didn't understand was the instructions stated "submerge insert in water"...it is not like the vest comes apart...you submerge the whole vest..Yesterday I used it and this mornig parts of the vest is still cool.

I got my Evaporative Cooling Sport Vest just in time for my road trip from Southern California to Tombstone, AZ on my Harley. Palm Springs was 108 deg. and we had triple digit temperatures for most of the ride. I wore a white long sleeve t-shirt with the cooling vest over that and my leather riding vest over that. I re-soaked the vest at every fuel stop and it worked great! I was cool and very comfortable the whole ride. Now I don't let the heat stop me from doing road trips through the desert in the summer anymore. Best $27 I ever spent!

I live on the Arizona desert, an ideal test site for evaporative vests. This vest does a wonderful job of keeping me cooler while riding my motorcycle. The reason I am not giving five stars on the review is that the vest is incredibly SMALL. I ordered one size larger than I normally wear and the vest is much too small on me. People should not have to guess about what size to order. The company should have them sized according to normal sizing standards.

Arizona.....a dry heat? Yes, terribly hot in the summer but mainly dry which is exactly why an evaporative cooling vest works in Arizona. If a person interested in staying cooler lives in an area with humidity of over 30 percent don't waste your money as you will just be wet. My job has me working outside all the time and I purchased one of these just to see whether or not it would help. They help more than you realize until you take it off. No, it's not air conditioning but for those of us in AZ they can take the edge off. I use one at work and one while I am out walking the dog. By the way, they make them for dogs as well.

I used a laser temp gauge at work pointing it at the concrete around me finding a surface temperature of 113 degrees. I then pointed laser at the inside surface of my cool vest, it was 77 degrees. Yeah, they work! I think the biggest problem is finding one that holds enough water for what one is doing. Some styles hold a lot of water which makes them very heavy but they last a long time. (mine when new would last 4-6 hrs depending ambient temps but it is heavy 10-20 lbs as guess) The light ones don't last long but might be good for an hour or two depending on ambient temps. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the use of one of these on a motorcycle! A day ride around Arizona is much more comfortable with on of these babies!

Good luck and stay cool!

I have MS so do not tolerate the heat very well and purchased this item in hopes of being able to be at my son's baseball games, ride my bike, spend a little more time outside, etc on nice warm days. I tried the vest one time. You have to soak the vest and wring it out before wearing. I did this and wore it all day on a day when it was in the 80's. It was humid out so this may have made it not work as well. All it did for me was totally soak my shirt I had on underneath and make me feel more sticky/hot from the humidity. Summer is pretty much over so I doubt I will try it again this year. I do not recommend it for others with MS looking to get out more on nice summer days.

I've used two of these vests. The first was completely defective in that it wouldn't absorb water. The polymer gel once it got wet literally leaked out of the vest. The second one lasted about six weeks. In the end, the gel in it too wouldn't hold moisture. When it did work, it was great. I used it for bicycle riding in 100+ degree heat. It made the difference in feeling the heat. The drawback is that it's heavy when it's wet. Your shirt definitely gets wet too. When it loses it's evaporative ability after a couple of hours, it is still heavy and because it doesn't breath, you start to overheat. If you can keep it wet, then you're good, but if you don't have access to a ready water supply, you're out of luck. The big thing is that it's sort of pricey for it's short life span.

I read all of the reviews and have written one for the same vest with a collar. Some advice for those using this vest for medical purposes: I have a medical condition very similar to MS and am absolutely heat intolerant. I live in DC with the hideous humidity and find this vest perfectly effective. The trick is, I have to wear it NEXT TO MY SKIN, UNDERNEATH MY T-SHIRT. I am a 60 year old female, so I wear it over my bra, but absolutely, it has to be next to my skin. Otherwise, all the complaints about it drying out too soon, not cooling enough, etc, will be true. Next to my skin, it will keep me cool for hours (up to 8 or 9) in 90+ degree heat, working in my garden or camping in the sun. Soak it, roll it in a bath towel, then put it on. Put a cotton T-shirt OVER the vest and carry on outdoors. I think you will be pleased with the performance of the vest. Same for you motorcyclists. Yes, it feels a bit clammy at first, but then........heaven....... for hours and hours. Try it, you will love it. I am a veteran outdoors girl who used to ride a bike upward of 30 miles a day. I used to love the heat. This vest has given me my outdoor life back. Just put it NEXT TO YOUR SKIN!!!!

With the exceptional heat we have had here in the Southeast, I needed to find solutions for staying cooled off on my motorcycle. I was looking around at different solutions, and this one seemed to be the best. The first day I tried it, it was 98 degrees with a heat index of about 107. I dunked the vest in the sink of water. The vest sucked all that water up and wanted more, so I filled the sink again and it absorbed about half of that again. I think it may have soaked up about a gallon of water. I hung it up in the shower to let some of the excess water run off. I hopped on the bike about 10 minutes later and headed down the road, already realizing how much cooler I was. The one down side is that I am was completely soaked from my shoulders to down below my waist, but I was definitely cooled of. It was like a little refrigerator on your shoulders.

I rode around for about 2-3 hours and was kept at an even temperature during the entire ride. I even noticed that I wasn't as thirsty as I might normally be when riding in that sort of heat.

If you can deal with being wet during your ride, you should be in good shape. It is a great piece of gear that can get you out on the roads riding around no matter what the temperature. It seems like the vest is good for 3-4 hours of steady riding before it needs to be soaked again to keep you cool. But you can probably go another hour after it dries up since the rest of you is still wet.

I highly recommend this vest for any motorcyclist.

The Techniche evaporative vest is a phenomenal buy, much cheaper than the others on the web. I have given them to myself, my husband, my mail carrier in PHX friend, and a my sister. They are life savers. I can ride my horse now where before all summer he pretty much stood around because it was too hot for me to ride except at dawn. He is happier, I am happier. If heat gets to you and makes you stay inside during the day, get and wear a techniche evaporative vest.