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As somebody that works outside in Canada, I dread as soon as the weather begins to change in October. This is when things begin to become increasingly chilly and dressing appropriately becomes more and more difficult. Keeping your chest warm is the key to keeping your whole body warm in the colder weather. This is where having heated jackets comes in to play.
There are a lot of advantages that come with having a proper heated work coat. Keeping your body warm while still being able to have freedom of movement during these seasons is incredibly important and having the right apparel that allows you to do that is difficult to find.
This is why we have put together this list of the best heated jackets for working outside and reviews to go along with each of these brands. Along with this is a comparison of these brands and their heated jackets that are designed to keep you warm in the cold weather while allowing you to move freely.
Why Buy a Heated Jacket?
A lot of people may not consider purchasing a heated jacket to be a worthwhile investment. Why purchase a heated jacket when you can just layer up to appropriately keep your body warm or wear a winter jacket?
Well, there are several reasons why investing into a heated jacket is important. One reason being that if you are layering up or if you are wearing a thick winter jacket, your freedom of movement is severely decreased. When you are working construction outside, there may be some instances where you will really need to stress to move when you have multiple layers on or a thick winter jacket. In addition to this, you could be knocking things over or hitting things with your thick coat that you otherwise would not be if you were not wearing it.
Also, if you are wearing multiple layers and working you are likely to build up some sweat and have to take a layer or two off depending on how hot you are at any given point. This can become inconvenient when you are leaving coats and hoodies around the job site and you may lose them. This increasingly becomes a problem when the weather is extremely cold in the mornings but it warms up by noon. Having to take off layers when you get too warm and put layers back on when you get too cold is a pain.
Enter the heated jacket. These are thin jackets that allow you the freedom of movement that you want, as well as keeping you warm when you need them to. They will not get in the way of your work and you will not have to be wearing layers to keep you warm. Also, when you are too hot at any given point during the day you can simply turn off the heat on your jacket to cool down your body. You do not have to take off a layer and forget about it somewhere and then when you get too cold you have to look for where you put it. It is a simple on and off button that can control this with your heated jacket.
Top Rated Heated Jackets
Purchasing one of the top rated heated jackets provides you with the warmth and quality that you deserve when working outdoors. There are several of these on the market by different brands, but only a few that are made by brands that we have come to love and trust in this industry. We have used our experience, as well as others within the industry, to compile a list of our favorite heated jackets on the market.
These jackets all have similar characteristics that make them a perfect choice for your next jacket. These include:
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Battery Powered Heated Jacket
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Wind and Water Resistant
They are battery operated heated jackets. This means that they are rechargeable to keep you warm for longer in any situation. This is a must as you obviously would not want to be walking around while you are plugged into a wall socket, generator, or not even having a power source near you. This battery operated heated coats will keep you mobile and ready to move around while on site.
These are soft shell jackets that allow you the freedom to move and to keep you from hitting things with your movements that you should not be. This also means that they are created to be wind and water resistant to protect you as much as possible from the elements.
Heated Jacket Reviews
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Milwaukee Heated Jacket Review
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Milwaukee Heated Jacket: Men’s
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Milwaukee Heated Jacket: Women’s
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Ororo Heated Jacket Review
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Ororo Heated Jacket: Men’s
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Ororo Heated Jacket: Women’s
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DeWalt Heated Jacket Review
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DeWalt Heated Jacket: Men’s
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DeWalt Heated Jacket: Women’s
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Makita Heated Jacket Review
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Makita Heated Jacket: Men’s
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Makita Heated Jacket: Women’s
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Bosch Heated Jacket Review
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Bosch Heated Jacket: Men’s and Women’s
Powered with carbon fiber heating technology and their Red-lithium batteries that handle extreme temperatures, these jackets are designed by one of the most trusted names in the business.
Their jackets heat up in just 2.5 minutes which reduces the time spent freezing while your jacket is doing what it is supposed to be doing. With three different heat settings, you can adjust your heat level for the temperature outside with a push of a button and lasts for up to 8 hours of run time. However, we have seen that it does not last the full 8 hours on the high setting.
Their jackets are designed with stretch polyester to allow for flexibility and reinforced where it matters to ensure your jackets will remain strong on your job sites. They are dryer and washer safe, but follow the guidelines on the tags. Milwaukee provides a one year warranty on their jackets.
The M12 Heated Toughshell Jacket is available in red, black, and camouflage. There are heating coils on the chest, back, and pockets.
The Heated Axis Jackets are available in black and olive green. The difference between this jacket and the Toughshell is that the heating coils are on the chest, back, and shoulders with the Axis jackets. Also, the Axis jackets are designed slightly different with an emphasis on durability.
Milwaukee Men’s Heated Jacket
The M12 Women’s Heated Softshell Jacket is Milwaukee’s heated jacket for women that is comparable to the Heated Toughshell Jacket described above.
Milwaukee Women’s Heated Jacket
Ororo does one thing and does it really well. That is that they make quality heated apparel of all forms. The company will be less known in the construction industry, but they have made quite a name for themselves since their beginning in 2015 in the Midwest. They have the most selection to choose from when it comes to heated apparel, but today we will just be talking about their heated coats.
Their fabric is breathable with a soft shell fabric exterior and a fleece lining. There are three carbon fiber heating elements across the left and right breasts of the chest and mid-back. You are also able to adjust the heat according to low, medium, and high heat with a press of a button. These jackets are wind and water resistant. The battery also includes a USB port to charge your phone.
These jackets heat up in seconds! They also last up to 10 hours on a full charge on low heat, 6 hours on medium, and 3 hours on high. Definitely the most transparent company when it comes to these numbers and the reviews prove that.
These heated jackets are machine washable, and Ororo offers the best warranty with a 30 day money back guarantee and a three year warranty on the heating elements. In addition to the two jackets that we cover below by Ororo, they also offer a wonderful heated fleece jacket.
The Men’s Heated Jacket by Ororo is a wonderfully designed soft shell jacket with a fleece interior. It has the battery pocket inside of the jacket and a detachable hood for those really cold days. It comes in only black.
With all of the features listed above and available in just the black color, the women’s heated jacket is just as stylish.
DeWalt is another trusted name in the construction industry. With their introduction into the heated apparel industry, they have a heated soft shell jacket for both men and women. Their jackets are wind and water resistant like most on this list.
Their jackets feature four heating zones including the left and right breast of the chest, the mid-back, and the collar which is not featured in any other jacket on this list. The soft shell is made of a polyester material. They also have a three temperature setting of low, medium, and high. Unfortunately the DeWalt heated jackets have the least battery life at up to 5.5 hours on the lowest setting.
This low battery life on the lowest heat setting can prove to be a problem whenever you are on the job site. At some points in their website they claim that it actually lasts up to 7 hours on the lowest setting, however we have learned to go with the lower number in these scenarios. Unfortunately, DeWalt does not provide how long it takes for the jacket to reach full heat and we were not able to discover this information. There is a preheat setting on the jacket, but we do not know what this means.
The men’s soft shell heated jacket is designed similar to other soft shell jackets and available in grey and black. There is no hood provided, like most on this list.
DeWalt Men’s Heated Jacket
The women’s soft shell heated jacket is also similarly designed to other women’s soft shell jackets and is available in grey and black colors. It does include a detachable hood.
DeWalt Women’s Heated Jacket
Makita is yet another known name in the construction industry that offers something different that no other company offers and for those looking for a heated jacket. They offer a few different styles of jackets from the typical soft shell black colored jacket, a camouflage patterned jacket, and a high visibility fluorescent yellow heated jacket with silver strips for those requiring an easy to spot jacket while on site.
Their heated coats have a front chest and back heating area. They also have three heating settings with a low, medium, and high and a battery with a USB port to charge your mobile device. Their batteries support an 8.5 hour run continuous run time. Their jackets are machine washable and can be machine dried as well, but the camouflage jacket must be hand washed only! Their jackets are also the only jackets that claim to be waterproof and windproof.
The Makita jackets are available in black, high visibility yellow with silver stripes, and camouflage styles. The black and yellow jackets are made of 100% polyester while the camouflage is made of 94% polyester and 6% spandex. The camouflage also does not provide as much output at its highest setting coming in at 8.0 W versus 11.5 W with the other two.
Makita Men’s Black Heated Jacket
Makita Men’s High Visibility Heated Jacket
Makita has no specifically fitted women’s jackets on the market at this time.
The last name on our list, Bosch is another name within the construction industry that we have come to love and respect. They too have their own heated jacket that is of similar style to others on this list. A similar 100% polyester soft shell jacket that is only available in black.
These jackets have three heat settings at low, medium, and high with front chest and back heat zones. They are also designed to be heat and water resistant. These jackets begin heating in seconds, but there is no documentation on how fast they reach their maximum heat. On the lowest setting, they clock in at up to 6 hours of continuous run time. They too include a USB charging port on their batteries.
There are no differences between the Men’s and Women’s Bosch heated jackets and feature all of the above description.
Bosch Men’s Heated Jacket
Bosch Women’s Heated Jacket
Heated Jacket Comparison
To simplify what was described above, we took four important aspects that you may be looking for in a heated jacket. These four categories are: heating location, heating time, battery life, and dryer / washer safe.
Best Heated Jacket: Women’s and Men’s
There are some great choices of battery powered heated jackets on the market. It takes some comparison to be able to see the bigger picture of these big brands and how they compare. There are some jackets that are better choices in certain aspects, but there is no complete domination by one single brand. That is why we have a few different choices for the best heated jacket depending on what is most important to you in your choice.
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If the number of heating zones is most important to you…
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If the battery life is most important to you…
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If the time for the jacket to heat up is most important to you…
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If the choice of style is most important to you…
The Milwaukee heated jacket offers the most heating areas with one on either breast, lower torso sides, as well as on the back. This provides the most amount of heated areas for you to stay warm. They offer both men’s and women’s heated jackets.
Ororo offers some of the best battery life in the industry and tops this list at up to 10 hours on the lowest setting. Not only that, but they are extremely transparent with their battery life offering the maximum amount of hours that the jacket will last you on each setting. They offer both men’s and women’s heated jackets.
Along with being the dominant player with battery life, Ororo is also dominant when it comes to how long it takes for their jackets to heat up. This is in a matter of seconds! Compared to other jackets clocking in at 2.5 minutes and up, Ororo proves that they do heated apparel really well.
Most soft shell jackets are designed in a similar way and though there are a few color options available from these suppliers, Makita takes their jackets a step further and even offers a high visibility fluorescent yellow with silver stripes jacket and camouflage pattern to personalize your heated jacket a little bit. Unfortunately they do not have their jackets specifically for women.
We hope that this post has helped you in your decision to investing in your battery powered heated jacket. We feel that this are great solutions for those who work outdoors in the colder seasons that we experience further north. They keep you flexible with a better range of motion because you are not bundling yourself up with layers upon layers or wearing a winter coat. They also provide you with control over your temperature without needing to shed layers around your job site.
There are so many benefits to these jackets that would make for a much more comfortable winter for you and your work.
If you own a heated jacket, let us know what you think of it in the comments below!