aerostich heated versus gerbings

[Louisianaman]

can anyone fill me in on the pros and cons. I have a Aero Darien jacket, am completely satisfied with the product but have never had heated anything. would like to see some views.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

In general, Aerostitch makes good stuff. That said, when it came time for me to heat my tired old bod, I opted for the Gerbings jacket liner. I have never looked back. Keeps me toasty, with proper outer garments, in even heinous temperatures like the 18 degree, never going over 22, ride I took from Baton Rouge, LA to Gainesville, FL a couple of years ago. My saddle bags were mostly empty as I was wearing nearly everything I owned at that point.

[Mainuh]

I have a widder vest but have recently been looking at the Aerostich or Gerbings and leaning towards the Gerbings as they have plugins in the sleeves for heated gloves. I have ridden at below zero temps where the best gloves and heated grips on high have a hard time keeping up. Heated gloves might help.

[WeirdHarold]

I have a Hi-Viz Yellow Darien jacket, and I like it a lot. I've worn it for about 90,000 miles, put it through the washing machine a few times, and the only problems have been a couple of the zipper pulls, and some of the seam tape. Even now, it still does a good job of keeping me dry (I re-treat it after each wash). In the summer, the jacket is large enough to get pretty good air circulation inside as long as I keep moving. The sleeves catch the wind pretty well. Stopped in traffic, in this high-humidity summer environment, it's hot. (A mesh jacket would probably be cooler, but I've never tried one, so I can't say.)

 

I also have the Aerostich Kanetsu heated liner that zips into the Darien jacket. I do not recommend this liner, for several reasons:

• It does not provide as much heat as I'd like some times, and I live in Houston, where it seldom goes below freezing in the dead of winter.
  
• the collar is too short to keep my neck warm.
  
• They have only a one-year warranty period.
  
• the electrical wiring is fragile. I had to send it back to Aerostich twice because the jacket stopped heating on the left side. The first time, they said that the internal wiring was broken and they repaired it. The second time, it was out of warranty and they said that it couldn't be fixed so they sold me a new one for a discount.
  
• There seems to be no advantage to zipping the liner into the jacket anyway, so there's no advantage in having a "set" from the same manufacturer. Although I used my liner routinely during the winter, I never bothered to zip it into the jacket. It fits more snugly, and therefore more warmly, if it is zipped separately, instead of being zipped into the jacket.
  
• in order to increase the warmth, I sometimes wear another jacket in between the Kanetsu liner and the Darien jacket. This works much better than simply wearing another sweater under the liner. This is another reason why it doesn't help to be able to zip the Kanetsu liner into the Darien jacket.
  

 

Next time I plan get the Gerbing liner. Among other reasons, it has a lifetime warranty.

 

Hope this information helps you.

 

Don

[steveknapp]

I'm happy with mine. I've had it repaired once, and replaced it once at a discount. There are two variants. I've got the thicker windblock version, and IMHO it's the way to go, the thinnner one isn't warm enough to keep the electric heat inside.

 

There seems to be no advantage to zipping the liner into the jacket anyway

 

I like having ONE jacket to put on. It's just easy, or I'm just lazy?

 

It's not an oven. I run it "on" quite a bit. Where all the people I know with gerbings MUST use a heattroller. Tho with an 18AWG hook up cord the 'stich was better. Having said that, I use the heated liner as a helper, I don't like to count on it. Electrics do fail now and then, and if you're 1500mi at 35F away from home, you need a backup anyways.

 

Also, if you have the unheated liner, I think Gerbings will install their heated wiring in it.

 

in order to increase the warmth, I sometimes wear another jacket in between the Kanetsu liner and the Darien jacket.

 

This does lessen the heat a bit. You're basically insulating yourself from the heat. Ideal would be to have it right up close to you. Then an extra jacket outside of your heated gear.

[JR356]

Here is another jacketliner option.

 

www.warmnsafe.com

 

JR356

[Joel]

Here is another jacketliner option.

 

www.warmnsafe.com

 

JR356

 

Yep. I got it, I like it, I recommmend it. I wear mine with my Darien, even without the fleece liner sometimes. Keep in mind that a close fit over a thin layer provides the most warmth. Don's last 2 points are what I suspected, and why I didn't get Aerostich's offering, even though I am a big fan of Aerostich in general.

 

W&S warrants the garment for a year, but warrants the electronics for the life of the garment.

 

If you register on W&S's website as a member of a motorcycle club or discussion group, you can save ~20% off the regular pricing, which is comparable to Gerbing's list price (which is seldom discounted much, AFAIK).

 

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer, YMMV, yadda yadda.

[Shawnee Bill]

I now own three, the Darien with their heated liner, a Widder vest and a gerbings jacket liner.

 

The Darien jacket is great, the liner is nice but the heat just a little better than worthless, very little heat plus it has a "hot spot" where the cord attaches that will actually blister my side after a couple of hours, I keep a wash rag in the pocket to protect me. This seems to be a common problem with this liner.

 

The gerbing I just got last month, it is ok, but it has hot and cold spots, I'm not real happy about that. If I wear a long sleeved tee shirt under and a sweat shirt over it helps.

 

The Widder I have had two years, the heat from it is even all over, wonderful, MUCH better than gerbings and warms up much quicker. Even though it doesn't seem to put out quite as much heat as the gerbings, if it just had sleeves , never tried their arm chaps, I just don't like the looks of them. One complaint about the older Widder was that it didn't have a high enough collar, the System II has a high warm collar every bit as good as gerbings.

 

If I could try on a Warm'n'Safe liner and it is as good as rumors claim I think I might dump the rest, I was planning on buying one but they quit answering my emails and I could buy gerbing local so I did. I think a mistake, but I can’t be sure. They also claim to be able to work with both gerbing and (with a slight mod) Widder heated gloves.

 

Watch the classifieds, or PM me, I need to get rid of some of this stuff.

[Weyman]

I have a Darien jacket with the unheated fleece liner. One option is to send your liner to Gerbings and have them wire it, but the cost of that approaches the cost of buying a liner so I ended up buying a Gerbings jacket liner from my local BMW dealer. The current model (identifiable by a sewn-on lapel logo and by small zippered sleeve pockets for the glove hookups) have a Thinsulate lining. I like this liner very much, it gives a little warmth even when turned off, but without the bulk of a fleece liner. In very cold weather I've worn it under the fleece liner but usually I don't need the fleece. I am cold natured so I was drawn to the Gerbings over the Aerostich liner. The Warm-n-Safe liners are reputed to be warm as well. I did buy my bike-mounted HeatTroller thermostat from Warm-n-Safe; I'd recommend some sort of heat control.

[hANNAbONE]

gERBINGS.........

[mrsoup]

I have owned both...

Gerbing's is the best choice-more heat, packs smaller, better warranty, and corded for gloves. It is the better choice if you 'layer' for cold temps as if fits better under my jackets.

The 'Stich is better looking and warmer off the bike but I bought mine to wear while riding.