Is having a heated jacket cheating? You just press a button and it’s on. And you’re warm.
Ororo makes a ton of heated gear for working in the cold from heated vests to gloves to thin and thick jackets. Their thickest and warmest jacket is called the Heated Hooded Jacket. What it lacks in a fancy name it makes up for in heat and comfort in spades (or clubs? or boots?).
The heated jackets work by powering small heating coils in the front and back of the jacket with a lithium-ion battery pack in a small inside pocket. The power button is on the left side of the chest. Holding it for 3 seconds and it powers on.
After powering on the jacket preheats, flashing red and white on the power button. Once it’s heated up it goes into medium heat and the power button shows red. One click and it goes goes up to high mode and shows white. Another click and it goes back down to low mode and shows blue. Holding for another 3 seconds and it turns off.
The feeling of the heat is warm quickly and feels a bit like a heated blanket in your jacket. The medium is quite warm while the low is just a nice barely noticeable warmth. Hot is quite warm and is great for below freezing temperatures.
The 5200 mAh battery pack lasts for 3 hours on high, 6 on medium and 10 on low. When it needs a recharge, the USB-C charging cord can be plugged in anywhere. The battery pack has a very nice rubberized feel to it. The plug from the jacket into the battery pack is a proprietary plug. It would be nice to have just a USB-C plug there that could plug into any battery pack. There’s probably some technical power reasons that it can’t just be any old USB pack.
The feel of the jacket is very plush and soft. It’s soft and smooth on the inside and out. The rib-knit storm cuffs hug tightly to my wrists and prevent heat from escaping. It’s not a lightweight technical jacket for use in the mountains but it’s incredibly comfortable for working outside, wearing around town or car camping on cold days.
The insulation on the Heated Hooded model is quite thick. I’ve been wearing the jacket around on freezing days with just a t-shirt underneath and it’s plenty warm. After a few hours outside though, I need to have the heat turned on or another layer. Ororo have other jackets that are much thinner but still have the heating coils. They would make for great spring or fall jackets. For those cold winter days near freezing, this model with thick insulation is definitely my choice.
Can the jacket be worn comfortably without using the thumb hole of the of the storm cuffs?
Hi Suzanne! This version doesn’t have thumb holes in the cuff. I’d certainly wear it if it did! The cuffs are very comfortable.