The world has seen more than its fair share of battery-powered, climate-controlled garments, from hybrid down/battery-heat vests and polymer-based heating fabrics, all the way to robotically vented jackets. Most are focused on the upper body, but the new Heated Mid-Layer Pants from Norway's Heat Experience go low, packaging climate control a little differently than anything we've previously seen. The zip-away shorts slide easily over base layer pants and heat up your legs to keep you warm and toasty in cold weather.
Beyond heated jackets and vests, accessories (gloves, socks, etc.) are also fairly popular. Heated pants, though, are rarer. They're out there, but you just don't tend to see them being hawked as much as other styles of heated clothing.
And if heated pants are rare, heated zip-away shorts are all but non-existent. Heat Experience claims it has the first pair ever on its han .. er, legs, and not having encountered anything similar, we're not going to argue the point. The company classifies its Heated Mid-Layer Pants as 3/4 pants, but after looking over a few photos of the knee-length garments, we're sticking with "shorts."
What makes Heat Experience's design interesting is that, with the help of side zippers, the shorts can zip on and off over top base layer pants without the need to remove outer-layer ski pants or boots, making for versatile, on-the-fly climate control. If you're shivering all day and feeling like your testicles have retracted to nipple level (or the female equivalent of that), you can throw these shorts on, crank the heat to high and feel more comfortable in the cold. If you work up too much of a sweat, you can just as easily take them off right on the slope for immediate cool down.
Heat Experience's unisex shorts include carbon fiber heating elements at the front and rear. Three heat levels let the wearer balance warmth and up to 10 hours of life from the 4,400-mAh li-ion battery stored in a left-side battery pocket. Stretch fabric provides for better mobility. Heat Experience tells us that it's possible to upgrade to its larger 6,000-mAh battery, which also doubles as a USB gadget charger.
Heat Experience is currently running an Indiegogo campaign to pursue its heated clothing line. The heated shorts are available for pledge levels of US$99, which is a 50 percent discount off the estimated retail price. Additionally, Heat Experience is offering a heated vest, which includes Thinsulate insulation, front and back carbon fiber heating elements, mesh ventilation side panels and the 6,000-mAh battery with USB output. The vest is available at the $119 pledge level. Shipping, which is not included in those prices, will begin in August 2017, assuming everything plays out as planned. Heat Experience says that those that wear the vest and shorts at the same time can connect both garments to a single battery pack in the vest.
Source: Heat Experience