The Duluth Trading Company has a clothing line called Alaskan Hardgear. It will keep you pretty warm.
How many Eskimo have easy internet access?
Thanks for all the input!
burpo the wonder mutt: I have a Vespa. I never drove it below freezing but it was outside in -13 F and there were no issues starting in up a month later (except that I trickle charged the battery during that time). When it first arrived I think it was around 0 F and it started in a second. There is antifreeze coolant liquid, but I have no idea if this it does something in the cold.
I have absolutely decided that I will drive during the entire Chicago winter no matter what. The cost of Uber is going to be >$600/mo for 2-3 months otherwise. So even if I need to pay $1000 if I were absolutely certain the item will keep me warm at -20 to -25 C / -4 to -13 F I would buy it for sure. The problem is that many gloves may work for most people who don’t have a hand circulation problem in the cold, but not be good enough for me. I have tried several already and I am always disappointed.
Are there any mitten, jacket and pants that I can get that will for sure keep me warm at those temps? What is the evidence for this? Is there any company out there that sells this stuff and have taken into account wind and no activity? Many companies claim their products work for some x degrees, but then they are assuming you are also running, not in the wind, don’t have circulation problems etc. These claims are usually ‘best case scenario’ claim. I guess in the case of a jacket I am in the same situation as anyone else, except that I also have wind, but I cannot find anything on Amazon that most reviewers agree works for these temps.
For mittens I have looked into these. They are claiming these are rated for -40 C.
For a jacket the best I could find is this which is rated for 5F (no activity, driving doesn’t get you warm). And it is for women but who cares.
xnylder: I have looked at the page, there is nothing there about temperature ratings. I cannot buy with no evidence or a realistic chance of the product working.
md2000: where can you buy these holofill products? what temperatures and conditions are they usually rated for?
ZonexandScout: can you name the brand or jacket that you are talking about? Do you have link for such a jacket for -13F?
brossa: the handle bar muff is an option / also heated handlebars – but where is the evidence that that handlebar muff is rated for -13F? Most cold weather product fail miserably in Chicago. I have no indication that the handle bar muff is any different.
Stranger On A Train: same problem, it is not rated for any specific temp., am I supposed to just hope for the best and least likely outcome?
Ike Witt: yeah – that’s the one! at least their products are temp. rated so I may end up getting one.
Any one heard anything about Triple F.A.T. Goose brand?
eBay?
There is no universal system for temperature ratings. Each manufacturer uses their own standards, and there’s not guarantee that what works for one person will work equally for you, or that you can compare ratings from one to another.
More than you might think.
Temperature ratings on garments, as others have mentioned, are really more guidelines than guarantees: this is our bulky, really cold weather coat rather than our trim, cold weather coat. The claims are all marketing wank, anyway. Maybe Columbia pumps hot water through a manikin in a freezer room and rates its coats at whatever external temperature produces a heat flux of x watts, but what good does that do you when your Raynaud’s kicks in despite your core being warm? Or when there’s a 30 mph headwind and your pant legs are soaked in slush? Or if their permitted amount of heat flux is greater than your own preference?
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to dress warmly in winter, just that temperature ratings are only the roughest of guidelines. I get where you’re coming from - my wife and her family all have Raynaud’s, and it’s hard for them to be comfortable in winter. I go on cold camping dogsled trips and ride a bicycle in winter, and on my first sleep-out-in-the-snow trip I was afraid of being cold too. But please, focus on the fundamentals of layers: wicking layer, insulation layer(s), and shell layer, rather than on the temp ratings of a single garment, because those are basically well-meaning lies.