Tour Master Synergy Heated Vest Review

For those of us unfortunate enough to be caught riding when the weather starts to get extremely cold - unless you take frequent breaks to warm up - it is not much fun.

Keeping your core warm is essential to maintaining a safe and comfortable temperature throughout your entire body. What better way to do so then with a heated vest.

Tourmaster's Synergy Heated Vest does just the trick at ensuring your ride is a safe, warm, and cozy one.

The Synergy Heated Vest operates from a vehicle's standard 12-volt electrical system and is heated by a series of durable carbon fiber heating elements, which generate safe, electronically controlled infrared heat.

style

The Synergy Heated vest is a solid black vest that makes any wearer instantly look like a member of a special operations team. The vest has a simple design and the wiring is concealable and are not dangling every which way.

features

The Synergy's main purpose is to provide the wearer with safe, even heating - and it does just that. The carbon fiber elements heat up quite quickly and unlike some other heated vests the heat is evenly distributed so it does not get too hot.

The elements themselves are flexible which allows for greater movement under a jacket and other clothing. They are also lightweight and are able to safely operate in wet conditions.

To make sure the vest stays in place and that the heat properly transfers to your body the vest has plenty of elastic material that ensures a snug fit to keep the heat close.

Every Synergy heated clothing comes with it's own controller and harness. The controller has several settings: low, medium, and high - for those ultra cold nights! The controller also comes with a Velcro strap which you can attach to your thigh. The vest's wiring, like all Synergy heated clothing, can be connected to other Tourmaster Synergy heated items, such as their heated jacket, gloves, and pants.

safety

As previously mentioned, as the Synergy vest distributes heat evenly throughout the vest there is little concern of becoming too hot or the vest developing 'hot spots' while wearing the vest.

The vest does require an electrical charge and therefore must be connected to the bike's battery - meaning that you are still 'plugged in' - just remember this when getting on / off the bike and you will be fine.

quality

The jacket is heated with carbon fiber elements opposed to the old fashioned wire systems - this greatly helps with transferring the heat to your body as well as ensuring that the heat is spread out evenly.

The harness and controller and very convenient, and unlike some heated clothing manufacturers, Tour Master includes these with the vest. The controllers are waterproof to ensure safety and the vest itself is machine washable (I guess Tour Master wants you to sweat in it).

show me the money

Tour Master's Synergy heated vest retails for USD $119.99.

overall value

We cannot say enough good things about this vest. It does the job it is set out to do - keep you warm, comfortable, and safe. The carbon fiber elements are amazing at heat transfer and the elastic material of the vest ensures a snug fit.

Tour Master's pioneering decision of common sense to include the controller with all of their heated apparel is a refreshing take on common sense - as so many other heated garment manufactures view selling the controller and heated clothing separately as another way to squeeze a few bucks out of the consumer. Along with including the controller and harness with the vest they also keep the price at a reasonable rate.

rating

• Style: 5/10
• Features: 10/10
• Safety: 8/10
• Quality: 9/10
• Price: 8/10
• Overall: 9/10