Gerbing vs Keis heated clothing

[stormbringer]

My keis jacket is fantastic ,in fact on the hotest setting its to hot .
Best thing I ever bought on its second year I ride every day and wear it on cool days whitout switching it on ,also bought the inner gloves in November but have yet to use them.

[jonny955]

I have had a set of Gerbings heated insoles for a while. I bought them because my enduro boots freeze my toes (must be the metal toecap within) and in the winter it's no laughing matter! I think the problem was compounded by the air flow on my Tiger because the protection from my KTM tanks seems to have lessened this a bit.

More recently, Wifey and I invested in a set of Gerbing heated gloves with the optional and frighteningly expensive 12v Li-Po batteries. The theory being that with the batteries, the gloves can multi-task (skiing, mountain walking etc.) We will be testing them out for skiing in a couple of weeks :cheer: but in the meantime we have found the batteries convenient for short winter rides when you don't want all the faffing with wires. In fact, I've not even fitted the Harness to the KTM yet to power the gloves from the bike :whistle: !

On medium setting, I can get about 4 hours use and on high about 2, although I haven't run a scientific test. We were out on Sunday in very cold temps & snow so I switched the gloves to maximum setting on the batteries and also put my heated grips on. Bliss !

It may sound like overkill to use both gloves and grips but the heating elements in the gloves warm the backs of your hands/fingers and the grips warm the inside of your hand.

To summarise the gloves;
Pros: Warm hands. Quality kit. With batteries, can be used for other winter sports. Oh, did I mention warm hands?
Cons: Expensive. A bit bulky to wear (like all winter gloves). Without batteries, needs a bit of faffing with wires.

[Flyby]

New kits coming in now
Bit of a game changer in the heated clothing arena, not just for bikers but for all users

http://www.riderz.co.uk/heated-liners/

[Roadsey]

Agree with Rederic, get a snug fit if you buy Kieis over base layer not loose over thick items, because you won't feel the heat, happy with my Kies, and my mates happy with his Gerbing.

[bimota]

Not strictly what you were asking but I have very recently got one of the powerlet heated jackets. My good that thing is a mile better than the kies one it replaces. The heat is really penetrating even on the low power consumption d setting and at half hear. The wireless controller makes life easy when you want to adjust while riding and the quality feels good.

Ialso swopped my kies one for the POWERLET JACKET bloody shocking how hot this gets better than gerbing and keis i,ve had all 3.

rob

[Philiptigerrice]

I have the Keiss X20, and its superb!

I ride Manchester - Aberdeen regularly through the year and through winter - and this totally makes it do-able in complete comfort. I put my Tucano Urbano muffs on the bars - stick my Keiss on - and could ride the arctic i reckon I love it.


In fact - I tend to wear just a base layer - Keiss on top - and then my jacket - and thats plenty!

I once put my Buffalo on over the keiss - and had to pull over casue I thought I was going to die! :laugh:




Here's another little thought about heated kit. I'll try and dig th'articles up...


But - as an Ex-Military / Ex-NHS / & now Offshore rig Medic - Hypothermia is something I've seen all too often.

Now - may years ago, working in A&E in Scarborough, in the winter of about 2008, I think - we had a spate of bike crashes come in to us. Not that unusual in Scarborough - its a popular Sunday Blast destination - and has Olivers Mount too. So, by definition, you get a lot of bikers - ergo, your crash rates go up.

But thats in summer.


This winter -we had LOADS of daft spills. All in dry bright weather - but it was cold!

We started noting that we were getting lots of guys in who had pranged their bikes, not at 120mph on silly bends- but who had come off at 50mph, in areas you wouldn't expect it, on dry quiet roads.

One of the consultants started looking up research on Motorbike Hypothermia.

And we reckon its what we were seeing.

Sports Bikers out for a jaunt - looks sunny outside - and heading out in the dry - in leathers and a £30 fleece.

The more we looked at it - the more it made sense.

We all know how distracting it is when you are really cold - you're thinking about your hands, your feet- wiggling to keep them warm - we've all been there. Next thing you aren't paying attention at all....

Some University has studied it, in Canada I think - where they couldn't understand why sensible middle aged geeezers, wearing really expensive kit on beautiful bikes - and shown by accident investigators to not have been speeding - and were well placed on the road - were killed at low speeds.... Its slow onset chronic hypothermia - (as opposed to acute, sudden onset hypothermia - like when you jump in a cold lake)

Anyways - you get where I'm coming from - but genuinely - I think heated kit saves lives (thumbs) - a few of my pals have different makes to me - and apart from one unlucky incident with a burnt nipple ( I shit you not) they've all performed well! :woohoo:


So whatever you get - get something!

[chrisjk]

I had a Gerbings jacket for about 10 years and it was fine but then packed up. I then replaced it with and EXO that was useless - never worked properly. I now have a Keis which I like very much - it heats up much faster than the Gerbings did although I believe Gerbing have newer designs which might be as good/better.

Either will probably be fine.

[Peirre]

Ive had Gerbing's jacket & pants for the past 5-6yrs
From what I read on the American ADV site Gerbing sold out a few years ago and the stuff was make in the Far East with a subsequent fall in quality. I now understand that the original company have started production in the US making the upgraded version previously mentioned

[GB]

I had a Kies that was very warm in deed, I now have the powerlet which is not as warm but a lot less bulky. Would have a Kies again no problem. I have gerbing gloves that I wore out in less than a year but they replaced them no quibble.
Like Flyby says contact riderz, very good service from them.

[malcopopolo]

+1 for keiss, as others have said get a size smaller. I have the full jacket and I have only had it on medium.