When it comes to hunting, body temperature management is possibly the greatest ongoing challenge a hunter faces, which is where Gobi Heat heated jackets come into play.
In this article we will provide you with a Gobi Heat jacket review, based on our own experiences from the field.
The products we tested are the:
Gobi Heat Reviews:
The Gobi Heat heated jackets work by incorporating conductive thread heating elements into the jacket.
Battery
These jackets are heated via a small rechargeable battery unit, similar to a power bank. On that note, these batteries can actually charge your phone too!
The lightweight lithium-ion battery nestles into and connects to a pocket on the inside of the jacket. There are three different power options: low, medium and high.
Fitting
Gobi Heat has done a great job of ensuring that the jackets feel natural, despite the fact that they have heating technology built into it.
When out in the field you want to make sure that your clothing layers work well together, fit comfortably and serve its purpose.
Ultimately you want to be as comfortable as possible in the field, without having to rely solely on the heating function.
If possible, it is recommended to size the jackets to be form-fitted where possible, as the benefits of the heating are accentuated when it is pressed closer to the skin.
Heat Zones
The Shadow Hoodie and Sahara Jacket both have two heating panels across the chest, along with one large panel across the back, known as a “three zone jacket”.
This keeps the core of your body warm, especially across your vital organs.
When the core of your body is warm, you are also less likely to have blood drawn away from your extremities, therefore also helping to keep the rest of you warmer.
These jackets when set to high have the ability to heat up to 140 degrees fahrenheit (or 60 degrees celsius), making for a pretty toasty experience.
Styles
There is a plethora of heated jacket styles that Gobi Heat has created:
The hunting camo designs used in the jackets is a Mossy Oak Camo, primarily incorporating brownish tones of natural foliage, to provide a fairly universal hunting camouflage pattern.
Deer do not see colors well, and instead look for outlines.
A well designed camouflage pattern helps you to blend in with the surroundings and break up the shape of your figure.
Washing
Even though these jackets have heating technology built into them, that does not mean you are inconvenienced by special washing requirements.
These jackets are both machine washable, and tumble dryable.
To wash these jackets all you have to do is:
Sahara Heated Hunting Jacket Review:
Via Amazon.com
The Sahara jacket is a warm jacket in itself, without even using Gobi’s built-in heating function.
It is significant without being too bulky (max 2.8 lbs), and can be used as either an outer layer or a solid mid-layer.
Shadow Heated Hunting Hoodie Review
Via Amazon.com
The Shadow hoodie is comfortable wear not only out in the field but casually around town.
The elasticated waist and wrists, along with the built-in hood close in the exposed areas, making for a tighter, snug, comforting feel.
How Do you Turn your Gobi Heat Jacket On?
1. In order to use the heating elements of the jacket, you firstly need to firstly plug the cable into the battery pack.
You should see the orange lights on the battery pack illuminated, showing how much power is left.
2. To activate the jacket, you want to hold down the Gobi Heat logo button on the breast of the jacket for 3-5 seconds.
When the first bar on the logo lights up, which means it is on the low heat setting.
3. To cycle through the power settings to medium and high continue to click the logo button.
4. To turn off the heat setting, again press down the logo button on your jacket breast for 3-5 seconds, until there are no lights displayed on the logo.
Testing in the Field:
Every year myself and a couple friends venture out on a mid-fall western whitetail hunt.
The day usually starts well before sunrise in the bitter cold, usually about two hours before sunrise.
The morning being the coldest time of the day I would find myself either overdressing or grinning and bearing it, starting the day cold knowing that I will warm up when hiking.
Once venturing a mile or two down the path, I would warm up, and usually sweat, and then be delayering, carrying my extra jacket or layer around with me, inconveniently.
After getting out into the field an hour or two later, I would then be sitting down in a spot, either glassing the area for deer, or tucked away in a honey hole, where I would then start to cool down, especially if having had sweat earlier.
This past trip, using the Gobi Heat jackets I found that the extra heating feature allowed me to fight the cold during those specifically cooler periods of time, without needing to endlessly re-layer and de-layer.
Not only did this offer me better body temperature management, but also reduced the amount of gear on hand, and the noise and movement I would usually make changing my clothing.
The Good, the Bad and the Other:
Let’s break it down the aspects that were great about the gear, as well as any areas that may be improved:
The Good:
The Bad:
The Other:
Summary:
Having spent many cold and miserable days in the field, we as hunters are always keen to find ways to improve our experience and be able to stay out there longer.
The Gobi Heat heated jackets genuinely improve one’s ability to stay warm in the field, whilst effectively managing the ever-changing body temperatures.
With these jackets, the ability to get your core warming up within a minute or two of turning it on, is now a game-changer for me and I wouldn’t venture into the woods without it.
I’ll definitely be continuing to use these jackets after the hunting season closes, and the real winter hits.
Have you used heated clothing products before? We would love to hear your experiences in the comments below!
