Chilly? How about a heated jacket that'll give you a charge?

OC Register Blog - Kendry Morales

If you watched Friday night’s game between the Yankees and the Angels in chilly New York City, or read about it in Jack Curry’s story Saturday morning, you might find yourself shivering. Baby it was cold outside. The Yankees apparently were well equipped to deal with the conditions:

> They have bat racks are heated so that the wood stays toasty ( the players said it was worth it).

> There are seven heat vents on the walls in both dugouts, which is an improvement over the old Stadium dugouts, which had only air-conditioning.

> Lou Cucuzza, one of the Yankees’ clubhouse managers said the Yankees had a storage room that had about six dozen caps with ear flaps, about three dozen beanies, about three dozen masks and several bulky parkas that were mostly used by the relievers who sit in the bullpen.

Speaking of parkas, I wonder if any of the new Mountain Hardwear Refugium jackets found their way to NYC?

I first read about the jacket in The New York Times’ Gadgetwise blog.Â Apparently the Mountain Hardwear jacket works with some sort of heating element that will keep you toasty while it charges your gadgets.

I found the press release the company put out about the jacket (First Wintersport Jacket to both Heat the Body and Charge Electronic Devices Now Available from Mountain Hardwear).

They referred to it as the first pre-wired wintersport jacket for men and women that not only provides heat on demand but also provides power and re-charging capacity for handheld electronics including GPS devices, PDAs, MP3 players and digital cameras.

Mountain HardwearÂ® Men’s Refugium and Women’s Radiance insulated jackets are designed with a specialized, integrated pocket to accommodate the portable Ardica Moshi Power System from Ardica Technology. The Ardica Moshi power system, which has a flexible form factor, provides power necessary to generate heat through the integrated circuitry engineered into critical areas of the jackets, as well as power for handheld devices through cables located in the jacket pockets.

Ardica’s Moshi Power System, sold separately, weighs less than one pound and fits into a panel on the inside of the jacket between the shoulder blades. Users can adjust the temperature setting via a toggle switch on the left breast of the jacket to deliver up to 100-degree heat through lithium battery technologies in temperatures down to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 8.6 hours. They can also simultaneously operate or charge their handheld electronics through Ardica’s Technology Connector Kit accessory, also sold separately.

Impressive! The jacket runs $230 (MSRP). The Moshi Power System, which is $145 (MSRP), includes the rechargeable lithium ion battery power system, microcontroller and wall cube charger.

Some other facts:

Cutting edge technology provides greater power than any competing system and incorporates an embedded microprocessor that allows the device to operate intelligently
It’s simple to use, just plug the system in for instant heat or power; simultaneously runs heat and power
There’s a LED fuel gauge that shows power levels
Total system weight is 295g or the equivalent of 2 iPhones
Configured to be immune to external temperature conditions down to -40Â°F
Power output: 10 watts (sufficient to run cell phones, iPods, GPS, lights and other consumer products for approximately one half their usual run time)
Charging capabilities: 11 charges for cell phones; 20 charges for iPods, GPS and MP3 players

Gadgetwise’s Rik Fairlie had this to say,

“I tried on the men’s jacket with the heating element recently. I could feel the heating elements but they’re constructed in a flexible, modular block and covered with neoprene, so they’re pretty soft. (As a not-so-graceful skier, I did wonder how soft the heating elements would feel if I fell on them.) They produced quite noticeable heat that felt concentrated in the areas where the heating elements were located. I mentioned this to Ms. Boucher, and she said your body would evenly distribute the heat when you’re out and about in cold weather.”

Check out the video on the Ardica page of MountainHardwear.com to learn more.