When my editor asked me to review the Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket, my first thought was: What could go wrong by walking around with an electric heater attached to my chest? Would wearing the jacket in the rain somehow turn me into a piece of human bacon? Obviously, the engineers of this jacket had the foresight to create a product that wouldn’t accidentally electrocute the user, and, in truth, the Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket is an amazing example of tech’s expansion into non-traditional industries.
Unboxing
Upon unboxing, I was amazed by the discreetness of the heating coils. The material of the jacket retains all the flexibility of a traditional article of clothing, and if I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have suspected that there was anything special about it. The Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket comes with an instruction manual, the Powersheer™ XL Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery, and a USB-C charging cable. The battery itself is the size of a large smartphone and doesn’t come charged, which was a slight nuisance as it takes about four to five hours to get fully topped off. Moreover, getting the jacket fired up is not completely intuitive. To turn the jacket on, the user has to take the battery out of the sleeve in the right-hand jacket pocket; activate it, and then put it back in the sleeve. This process needs to be repeated after any period of extended inactivity.
Setup
The Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket includes four different levels of heating: 135-, 120-, 105-, and 90-degrees Fahrenheit. The user can toggle among these different levels of heating remotely by using the MW Connect mobile app or manually by using the built-in waterproof touch control button on the bottom right-hand corner of the jacket. When wearing the jacket, it can be challenging to tell what level of heating you are on by feel alone. Luckily, when in use, the touch control button lights up with a unique color that corresponds to each heating level. At full strength, the 7.4-volt battery can operate at the warmest setting for a little over three hours and at the lowest setting for a prolonged period of 13 hours. Available on the App Store or Google Play Store, the MW Connect mobile app links up to your mobile warming garment via Bluetooth, allowing the user to control the jacket from their phone. Via the mobile app, users can adjust heating levels, receive real-time information on the jacket’s battery level, and update the garment when new firmware is released.
Wearing and Using
Now to the fun stuff. Let’s get into the tech that goes into the Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket. The heating pads within the jacket comprise ultra-fine fiber elements that harness the energy within the battery. These fibers are pressed up against a conductive heating panel that faces towards the body and a reflective heating panel to the exterior to make sure that the most heat possible is projected onto the user. These ultra-fine fibers are also what make the heating pads in the jacket almost entirely unnoticeable. The exterior of the Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket is coated in polyurethane to create a waterproof shell that allows perspiration to escape. At the same time, the sewn seams of the jacket are sealed with waterproof thermoplastic tape. The jacket’s exterior utilizes a series of membranes that block wind from entering the core of the jacket to help the user preserve body heat. The jacket also features Fieldsheer’s PHOSLITE technology, which utilizes thousands of tiny reflective lenses in the jacket material to reflect light back to the source.
The Pupper Test
I know you all have been waiting to hear about what happened to me when I wore this jacket in the rain. I am sorry to disappoint, but the RAINGAURD technology did its job, and I did not get electrocuted. The Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket is certainly built to withstand the cold, which is a major blessing this time of year, as the nights here on the East Coast begin to get seriously frigid. Though the heating pads are centralized in the chest and back area, they deliver an effect that ripples across the entire upper body, so that when you are wearing the jacket outside, it feels as though you are wrapped in a warm comforter.
This jacket has made both my dog and me extremely happy campers. To her delight, I have been putting this jacket to the test on our nightly walks and trips to the dog park, which has increased the time we spend outside by a solid 30 minutes. She is two years old and is a big jumper with a lot of energy. I am happy to report that the jacket exterior is extremely durable, despite her best efforts to claw it to shreds.
Functionally, this jacket is impressive; however, the light-up LED button on the front of the jacket makes me feel a bit like a glowstick when I walk around at night. That being said, having the color designated light-up button makes it extremely easy to toggle settings when it’s cold outside and you don’t want to whip out your phone.
Takeaway
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket and plan on retaining it as a daily staple for dog walks, hikes, and the occasional ski trip once the season rolls around. When I use this jacket, I crank it up to the highest setting at 135 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal comfort. Because of this usage trend, I would like to see Fieldsheer develop a battery system that is capable of longer run-times at maximum output, which is currently only three hours.
Takeaway
The Fieldsheer Adventure Heated Jacket (fieldsheer.com) is available in heather gray and sells for $229.99. When selecting a size, keep in mind that these jackets run slightly small.
