I bought them things yesterday to see if they’d be good solutions to keep my tootsies warm when I cycle long distance under 5 degrees (258K for you metric freaks). I’m testing the battery life right now: I’m lounging on my sofa with a wam blanket on top of me, I have the socks on with the batteries at half power, and my feet are wonderfully warm.
Those socks ain’t cheap. In fact, they’re stupidly expensive: I got the whole package (socks and battery packs) on sale for “only” 245 euros. Er… I’ve never bought a 245-euro pair of socks before. But boy! I’m happy as a clam on my sofa right now
@anon3825968 I’ve tried different heated socks, that simply does not work (not giving enough heat etc)
Main problem is that some ‘electric socks’ work to a degree if you move a lot, but fail completely if feet are still and its cold outside (riding a EUC or sitting on a horse for example)
You live in a climate not much different from mine, so I am genuinely interested in your review of these after you’ve tried them out for a while
Aah but see that’s the thing: my feet are not completely still (I pedal in the bike, and being a good cyclist, I pedal round so it’s not like I’m constantly pushing on the pedals) and I’m not completely outside. I ride in a velomobile, which is fully enclosed and protected from the wind.
The issue I have is that it’s piping hot inside the velomobile, even when temperatures are way down outside. So even if it’s below 15 outside, I’m still in shorts and t-shirt inside the bike. But heat goes up, so I’m burning hot from my hips up, but I’m freezing cold on my feet.
I can sort of manage with two pairs of thermal socks, but it’s not quite enough when it’s really cold. I just need a little extra help to make it workable below 5. The electric socks on low will do nicely.
I don’t cycle at -30C. I could easily do it physically, but there are two problems:
If I get a puncture, forget about patching the tube. Or any other mechanical failure. It’s game over, I have to leave the bike there and come back get it later with my minivan. But if I break down in the forest, I’m in a pickle because I have to change into freezing cold winter clothing and get somewhere to get help on foot. In short, it’s dangerous.
The oil in my gearbox becomes so thick I spend most of my energy spinning the gears in thick honey instead of moving foward. That gearbox was fine in Belgium where I used to operate the velomobile, but it’s ill-suited to northern winter conditions. I could swap it for an electric assist motor, which would make sense here to move in thick snow. But I feel like electric assist is like giving up on life: that’s what I’ll do when I’m old, and I’m not old
A couple colleagues and I went onto the frozen lake by our company to test one of our products in the field: I stood knee-deep in the snow at -13C (metric!) almost without moving for two hours with the socks on at full power, and they worked beautifully.
Does it count if you made it? I put together some work shirts while I wait for my NeXT install.
I picked up some rewritable T5577 25mm round PVC coins, cloned them as my hid access badge (for facility doors) & time clock. Tested them prior to torturing them through various laundry and dryer settings before sewing them into the cuff of my work shirts.
Obviously not as awesome as implants but so far it works.
That’s a great idea! As a fan of useless data collection, I could see myself doing this to new clothes or shoes if for nothing more than to write date of purchase to it only to see how long they last before wearing out.
I’m currently a CS major while also teaching myself fashion design and basic electrical engineering with this exact concept in mind so when I create some cool cyberpunk/cyborg clothing ill lyk
