How do you choose a heated jacket? When selecting winter clothes and winter gear, materials always matter. That is even more important when working outdoors for extended periods or in extreme temperatures. While winter jackets provide plenty of insulation, sometimes you want more than excellent insulation to keep you warm.
Despite the fact that heated socks and mittens are great for your extremities, your body maintains its temperature by concentrating heat at its core, which is why heated jackets and vests are so important. Some heated jackets are sold with batteries, others without, so make sure you supplement accordingly.
In addition to an excellent heated jacket, consider adding a backup battery or power bank to keep yourself warm. We’ll walk you through learning how to choose the most suitable heated jacket based on your lifestyle and needs.
In this article, we’ll focus on heated jackets. As you may know, there are countless heated jacket options on the market. We have narrowed them down and selected a few most comfortable, warmest, and most user-friendly heated jackets. All this is to help determine the best-heated jacket for every kind of need in the winter. No matter what you need a heated jacket for in the winter, such as fishing, hunting, driving unheated vehicles, working outdoors, or chopping wood, read on, and I’m sure you’ll find the best heated jacket for you.
Our Top Picks
Best Overall: Sailwind Lightweight Heated Jacket
Best Known: ORORO Men’s Soft Shell Heated Jacket
Hottest Heat: Smarkey Men’s Heated Jacket
Best Budget: TideWe Heated Jacket for Men
Best Work Jacket: Milwaukee M12 Heated Jacket
Sailwind Men’s Heated JacketBest overall
One of the first things we noticed about the Sailwind jacket was its comfort. Along with the velcro on the collar and its windproof cuffs designs to keep the wind out and the heat in. It features four heat zones: one on each side in the front pockets area, the upper back, and the collar region, keeping your core area and hands toasty. Once you press the heating button, you’ll be able to feel the heat in a few seconds, and it gets super warm. That’s why we recommend using medium heat, which is indicated by a blue light on the button, under most circumstances. The jacket generated heat for around 4.5 hours on high and 7 on medium, and the Softshell exterior with a soft lining blocked most of the cutting wind.
During our testing, it reached the waterproof ability it claims to be. We poured about half a bottle of water down the back of the jacket, and a few drops clung to the fabric after most water just slipped right off. We waited a few minutes before shaking them off, and there wasn’t any water spot on the fabric.
It has a separate and compact pocket for the battery at the front, barely feeling anything during movement. However, you’ll be able to feel it when you put your hand in the adjacent pocket. It also has a detachable hood, the seams are well-secured, and the material looks and feels durable. There is no doubt that this will be a great heated golf jacket for many years.
ORORO Men’s Soft Shell Heated Jacket
This jacket heated up to a balmy max temperature of 115 degrees F in less than 60 seconds while remaining at 76 degrees F inside without the heater. Some other jackets on the list get hotter in less time, but this will be sufficiently speedy and toasty for most people.
115 degrees F is the maximum temperature, and all three settings feel perceptibly different. Heat is primarily concentrated in the back and some in the chest, making for a comfortable experience overall. As far as the water resistance of the ORORO Heated Jacket is concerned, it rolled droplets from a spray bottle off the jacket without any moisture getting inside (although our tester did note that the inside of the sleeve felt damp even after a few minutes).
There is just one button to turn on and off the heater and cycle through the heat settings, which makes it easy to figure out. The instructions are straightforward and include pictures. In addition to being an excellent heated jacket, the ORORO also comes with a removable, adjustable hood and is machine washable.
This jacket has one flaw: the left chest has a small LED light that indicates when the heater is on, and that light can be seen from the outside, which means the heating isn’t entirely discrete.
Smarkey Men’s Heated Jacket
During our tests, Smarkey’s Heated Down Coat heated up from 78 to 139 degrees F in just 20 seconds, and it retained its heat well, measuring 128 degrees F after 15 minutes of no heating. As a bonus, this jacket automatically adjusts its temperature if it gets too hot, ensuring you are comfortable with less effort. (You can always unzip it to dissipate heat more quickly.)
Overall, our tester found this jacket super intuitive to use, even without the instructions, and to be accurately water-resistant. The jacket is water-resistant and extremely warm, so it would make an excellent ski or snow sports jacket, especially if you run really cold.
The jacket also looks nice and is well-constructed—a reasonable justification for the $148 price tag. Smarkey’s makes a women’s version of the jacket we didn’t test and has a less-powerful battery (4400mAh vs. the men’s 5200mAh).
TideWe Heated Jacket for Men
Despite being the most affordable heated jacket on our list, the TIDEWE Heated Jacket can get hot (117 degrees F) in under 25 seconds. Our testing confirms that the jacket is fully waterproof and windproof, with a stiff brim on the hood to prevent water from rolling into your eyes.
It may not be ideal for people who are shorter or prefer a cropped fit because of the long silhouette. Our tester also found the zipper to be a little cheap and finicky. Last but not least, it doesn’t come with instructions – although it was easy to figure out how to use it, despite this, some people may find it frustrating.
It is hard to beat the value of this product when you consider how well it heats up and the technical features it has to offer.
DEWBU Heated Jacket
This DEWBU Heated Jacket looks more like a short rain parka than a technical jacket, making it easy to blend in while running errands.
We found this lightweight parka to be plenty warm without the heater being turned on, and it still had plenty of room underneath to add layers. With the battery on, this heated jacket went from 80 to 117 degrees F in just over one minute and remained super toasty inside over time thanks to its five heating zones.
The jacket has a hood that’s adjustable and removable. While the DEWBU proved sufficiently waterproof, a visible wet spot remained on the outside after the water had beaned off in our tests. It’s also windproof and machine washable.
Milwaukee M12 Heated Jacket
The jacket is quite a bit heavy and thick. It is not your typical college zipper hoodie size, more like three of four put together. The outside is water-resistant; the whole thing is dense and has a quality but heavy feel.
Our tester found this jacket got warm but not necessarily hot, it cooled off rather quickly, and the battery died after two hours. In our opinion, these make it not worth the high price tag. However, you already own a few of Milwaukee’s M12 lineup. That’s one of the reasons to buy it since being able to use the same batteries & chargers is a great way to save money.
