Review: turning up the HEAT with Harkila's smart gilet

What’s the best way to keep warm when you’re out fishing, shooting or stalking? Over the years fieldsports clothing has progressed. We started with tweeds, leather and oilcloth to keep the rain out and our temperatures up, and this was fine and dandy. But these undoubtedly had their shortcomings - weight for one, as anyone who has slogged around in sodden tweeds for day will attest . In more recent years came the development of ‘technical’ fabrics which have made a huge difference: breathable, lightweight and proof against all but the worst rain. However, some days are just cold, and when your core temperature drops it can be a challenge to get it back up again.

 

And if you’re fishing for Spring salmon on a cold Scottish March day with icy water lapping around your nethers and frost in the rod-rings, facing a long wait on the peg in January, hunkered down waiting for wildfowl on a wind-blasted foreshore, or waiting for hours on end in a high-seat, even the most advanced of fabrics can be left wanting.

But now Harkila have come up with a high-tech solution. Their new HEAT waistcoat doesn’t just prevent heat loss - it actively warms you up. At first glance it appears similar to many other puffa-style gilets, and, in fact, it is. The outer shell is made from polyester with a protective polyurethane coating. Beneath this is a layer of thermal filler, then there’s another polyester lining. So far so normal. But don’t stop reading yet, as this is where things start to get interesting.

 

 

First, the inner lining has been printed with the silvery material that you see marathon runners and lost hikers being wrapped in at the end of their respective ordeals. This stuff reflects your body heat back in, rather like the foil you wrap around your Christmas turkey to speed up the cooking process. Clever… but not revolutionary. But what is hidden in the small of the back of the gilet is, because concealed in the back and lumbar region is a heated membrane. Yes, that’s right: heated.

 

Powered from a battery that you plug in to a USB cable located in the right-hand pocket, the membranes are flexible enough that the gilet can be folded, scrunched and rolled and even stuffed into the waterproof stuff-sack that’s supplied with the garment. They are also washable, something that eluded makers of heated clothing that has gone before.

 

Once plugged in you can control the temperature of this membrane either from the button on the chest - which lights up when pressed to indicate which of the three settings you’re on - or from the associated smartphone app: gratifyingly space age, but also offering much opportunity for mischief. The button offers three temperature settings: 38C, which is pretty warm, 46C which is hot, and 52C which I haven’t been brave enough to try yet. The app gives yet more control, and you can set an exact temperature. Once the jacket reaches the desired temperature, the membrane automatically goes into standby to save battery life, turning back on again if the temperature drops a couple of degrees. This is the SMART revolution, people - the countryside equivalent of a smarthome - the future is now!

 

I first received the HEAT for review back in October and if I’m honest the weather hasn’t really been sufficiently cold here in the South East for me to properly put it through its paces.

 

Happily my colleague Frank Stephenson has just come back from a ski hunting trip trip in Sweden where the temperature was double-digits below for most of the week and where it snowed almost constantly. I sent him off with it asking for his take upon his return. Cross-country skiing is a sweaty business at the best of times, especially if you’re carrying a daypack and a rifle, but when you stop there’s a real danger that your body temperature can drop fast as the sweat on your skin cools.

 

“The gilet made a great mid-layer when it wasn’t turned on,” he reported back. “Not too bulky, but lightweight, and comfortable. But when we stopped skiing for a breather or in the evenings around the fire it was perfect. I’d put it on full whack and it kept me nice and toasty.”

 

 

But it would be remiss of me to write this review without having tried it out properly myself. I’ve been wearing the HEAT quite often this January, and although the weather hasn’t been that harsh, I have to say that even without the heated membranes activated, it is by far the warmest gilet I’ve owned, including some rather fancy down-filled ones. The heat-reflecting membrane really does work, to such an extent that one sometimes imagines that one can feel one’s own body heat reflecting back onto the skin. On a couple of days when the temperature has been in single figures I’ve felt comfortable leaving my coat behind and just wearing the gilet over a shirt and sweater, and the other weekend, having been to the climbing gym to try to work off the effects of Christmas and a few rather too indulgent shoot lunches, I was able to walk through the park wearing a t-shirt and the gilet with no discomfort. One feature that I'm a particular fan of, that is entirely unrelated to the thermal qualities, is the radio pocket on the chest, which is a great place to keep one's mobile.

 

But I really needed to be able to test out the main reason one would have for buying the HEAT, and that meant finding somewhere really cold. My initial idea of heading to the Icebar in London - which describes itself as “a -5°C experience in the heart of London” - but apparently the budget doesn’t stretch to cocktails in swanky bars, despite my protestations that it would count as research. But, being a resourceful, creative fellow, I came up with an alternative: I went to Iceland, and reader, I’ve never been toastier.