Sometimes all you’re missing is the perfect accessory. The difference between a pleasant hike and a thorn in your side is as small as a little bit of fabric and metal.
A good heated vest will do more than just warm up your pockets. They’ll vastly improve your daily life and every hike you bring it on. It’s hard to pick a good heated vest with words and pictures alone, so we’ve tested a handful of the best vests out there and reviewed them just for you!
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Here are the top 5 picks (keep scrolling for more details and picks 6-7).
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Ororo makes excellent vests. Even if this weren’t a battery-powered vest it’d be a great vest for everyday wear. It’s made from 100% nylon, so it’s durable and weather-resistant, two great things you’ll need from a vest full of electronics.
It’s machine washable as well, you’re not going to be stuck with nasty sweat-stained fabric. We love the emphasis on lightweight design. This vest is incredibly unobtrusive, it’s a great piece of equipment for folks that run cold during brisk weather or anybody that needs the extra utility of a heated vest.
It’s easily one of the best vests for a broad range of scenarios. Beyond the lightweight and slim design, it’s incredibly resilient. The nylon construction of this vest insulates well, keeping your energy costs low, but it does so much more than trap heat.
The choice to construct this vest from nylon is excellent in wet and windy climates. It’s wind-resistant where you need it, keeping your core warm, and it’s water-resistant as well. If there’s an article of clothing to get caught out in the rain with, it’s going to be this vest.
There are four heating elements distributed evenly around this vest one in the collar, one in your mid-back, and two underneath the pockets. We found this distribution to be an excellent heat distribution method. They’re button-operated and quick to heat up with the use of a 7.4V UL/CE-certified battery.
There’s some nice quality of life functionality of this vest. You’re getting about 10 hours of heat on a single charge, which is more than enough if you’re going on a day trip, and even if you don’t end up using the heating functionality there are USB ports inside of the vest for on the go charging of your smart devices.
Hands down, this is an excellent vest for no matter what you end up using it for. If you’re working in a cold office, this vest is subtle enough to wear casually. If you’re deep in the woods and you need a little extra kick, this vest is powerful and long-lasting enough for harsh weather.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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The Arris heated vest is a heated vest powered by a 7200mah battery. It’s long-lasting, powerful, and it’s easy to replace if something happens to it during regular use. The vest is covered in over half a dozen heated panels, making it quick to heat up and slow to give up your body heat.
The panels of this heated vest can be fine-tuned to five different temperature levels, gone are the days of constantly fiddling with the power switch to find the temperature sweet spot. With this vest, it’s easy to find a setting that suits your needs and allows it to do its work for an extended period of time.
This will free your mind up to focus on the hike ahead of you without being beaten down by the cold or betrayed by your vest in the middle of a difficult trail. The ability to individually operate the paneling on your vest is a total game-changer.
The Arris heated vest is totally machine washable. Your battery and paneling will keep for an incredibly long time despite the abuse your washing machine will throw its way. The washability of this vest also speaks to the long-lasting nature of its material.
This vest is made to keep up with your life no matter what tempo you’re living it. The outer fabric is made from weather and water-resistant polyester. As long as you keep it from your campfires, this polyester blend on the outside of the vest is going to be the perfect companion to the heating pads throughout the vest. It does this by keeping your core warm and dry even in the midst of an unexpected downpour.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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This vest from Venustas is bigger and better in pretty much every way. The battery lasts longer, the panels are larger, and the heating elements are lighter. You can tell that this heated vest has been through a lot of rigorous testing and used the results to improve on its design year after year.
This version of Venustas’ heated vest is made from 100% nylon, making it weather-resistant and water-resistant so your body will stay warm and dry. This also does an excellent job of protecting the electronics lining the vest. It’s great wearing this vest in the rain knowing that we weren’t going to suddenly lose power because a drop worked its way into the wrong crevice.
The protection the nylon of this vest provides also makes this vest machine washable, which is always a godsend when you’re dealing with outdoor gear. If you like to take your heated vests camping or hiking with you, then you’re probably going to get it dirty.
This vest accepts that and gives you an easy out. The heating elements in this version of Venustas’ heating vest are 30% larger than most of their competition’s. These larger heating elements, you guessed it, keep you warmer. The increased surface area means that your entire core will get the heat treatment when you flip the vest on.
The heating elements in the vest are made from ultra-thin carbon fiber and installed in the back and across the front, evenly distributed to warm your body equally. These heating elements can be set to three different levels, easily accessed with a simple button press.
The batteries last a solid 11 hours, and they’re powerful enough to pull double duty when you’re out and about. The batteries provide a nice kick to the heating elements, allowing them to get up to temperature quickly and easily, and they’re powerful enough to charge your smart devices rather quickly with the included USB port.
It’s also important to mention how surprisingly comfortable this vest is. The heating elements are light and flexible enough to slot into the vest without making it too rigid or heavy. The nylon, while durable and weather resistant, is light and easy to wear.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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This heated vest is fast and effective. This one is from Venture. They haven’t let us down before, and with the release of this vest, it doesn’t seem like they’re about to any time soon. It’s powerful, quick to heat up, and easy to control.
The heating elements run on a 12.5 watts/7.4 volt power system. It’s pretty standard for heated vests, but the implementation of the heating elements, the construction of the vest, and some of the quality of life improvements make this an exceptional heated vest for anybody keeping their eye out for a new one.
This vest is one of Venture’s newest editions. The heating panels are 20% larger than the previous iterations. These larger panels heat up faster than their predecessors and distribute heat more evenly across your entire torso by covering more surface area on your body.
A heated vest is only as good as its ability to warm you up, and the small increase in panel size is enough to drastically increase this vest’s capabilities. The heating panels are made from ultra-thin carbon fibers and distribute warmth all over your body without leeching too much to the world around you.
It’s hard to make heating elements more efficient than they already are, but the insulation methods used in this vest combined with the distribution of the panels around the body of this vest do an admirable job. There are only three settings on the vest, unfortunately.
Three temperature settings aren’t a death sentence, but when there are vests out there that allow you to individually control all of the panels on your vest, it’s hard to keep yourself from wishing for more. The three settings are all fine, no one single setting is too mild or too direct, and as long as you’re artfully changing settings throughout your trek, you’re going to have no problem keeping your body at the perfect temperature.
The batteries in this vest will last you around 10 hours, making them perfect for a solid day trip. If you’re an autumn ambler or a winter warrior, you’re probably used to battling the cold and chasing what little sunlight the end of the year holds, but with this vest by your side, the latter half of the year very quickly becomes a simple affair. The batteries are also capable of charging your phone and powering the mini flashlight built into the vest.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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This heated vest from Unilove is focused almost entirely on comfort and unrestricted movement (that, and providing heat, of course). At first glance, you’re greeted with the image of a sort of athletic vest, and upon closer inspection, that’s exactly what you’re getting.
This vest is incredibly lightweight and it’s designed to stay as far out of the way as possible. The vest itself has a low profile so it won’t be bulking up your jackets or weighing you down after you toss on your backpack. They manage to keep it flexible and lightweight while maintaining its insulation and durability by paring the design down to its most crucial elements.
Part of making this vest so light and durable was opting for nano fabric over nylon. Nano fabric is about as futuristic as it sounds. You’ll be getting all of the water and wind resistance of a more familiar material while shaving a few ounces of material off in the areas that matter most.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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This quick-heating vest from Axis is an excellent choice for folks that can’t stand the cold. It has a quick-heat function, total customization of temperature in each zone, and the elements are set up to keep you warm in one of the most effective patterns possible.
The Milwaukee M12 has heating elements set up all along your back and chest so your entire torso can feel the warm embrace of this futuristic heated vest. Each of the sections can be individually set to one of three heat settings with the touch of an LED one-touch controller.
The ease of access to the controls along with the hyper-customization makes this vest a million times more comfortable than a vest you set all at once. The quick-heat setting is brilliant. It just sets your vest into overdrive long enough to get your body heat up quickly, and then backs off so you’re not being baked alive inside of your vest.
The quick heating and customization come at a price, however. The batteries only last about 6 hours as opposed to the 10 hours you’re likely used to seeing on this list by now. That shorter time is a product of the amount of choice you have when it comes to the heating zones and all of their settings, the quick heating times, and the fact that the battery itself is much more compact than some of the other batteries found on this list.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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The DeWalt heated quilted vest is a bit more on the traditional vest side than the heated side, but that doesn’t mean you can count this vest out. True to the DeWalt name, this vest is powerful and reliable. The quilting of this heated vest works in tandem with the heating elements to save your battery, and it’s just plain comfortable to toss on before heading out the door.
The battery life on this vest is technically around 7 hours, but the quilting and the distribution of the heating elements make the effective life of the vest much longer. You’re probably going to be getting your heart rate up quite a bit.
When you combine that naturally increased body heat with the efficient heat generation of this vest and trap it within the quilting of the vest itself, you get a pocket of warmth that doesn’t easily give itself up to the elements. All of that means you can flip the heating elements off much more often than you’d expect.
More likely than not, you’re going to get a lot more than 7 hours of comfort out of this battery through insulation alone.
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
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It’s hard to find a negative thing to say about Ororo’s heated vest. The construction, design, and functionality are all top tier. This vest is one that is simply poised to give you a comfortable experience. Whether you’re hacking through winter trees near the crest of your favorite hiking hill or taking a stroll around your heavily shaded neighborhood.
The battery power is excellent, if you’re running through all 10 hours of battery life during a single hike, you’re probably just in desperate need of some more efficient layering. It’s a slender vest, especially when you put it on and feel firsthand how warm and comfortable those heating elements are. The lightweight design all it to fit seamlessly into any wardrobe or backpacking loadout.
If you’ve been stressing about which vest would suit you best, this is your best bet. It’s comfortable, reliable, and a joy to wear.
Bonus tip: Layers are going to be the thing that makes or breaks your hiking trip. This video will teach you the best way to layer up for a comfortable late-year hike!
Riley Draper is a writer and entrepreneur from Chattanooga, Tennessee. As a world traveler, he has been to more than fifty countries and hiked some of the most elusive trails in the world. He is the co-founder of WeCounsel Solutions and has published work in both national and global outlets, including the Times Free Press, Patch, and Healthcare Global. When he’s not writing, he’s probably on a hiking trip or climbing in the mountains.
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