Cooling Vests

[gyre]

Since search doesn't pull up links to this subject, here's a thread.

There are evaporative types that will work on the playa, but not humid locations, and types that will work anywhere.

Some links

http://www.mscooling.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_vest
http://www.arcticheatusa.com/
http://www.safetysmartgear.com/Safety_V ... Vests.html
http://www.safetysmartgear.com/Safety_V ... Vests.html
http://www.glaciertek.com/
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/produc ... RecID=5151
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group. ... upID=KCOOL
http://www.polarproducts.com/surgeon.html
http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/outerw ... d-at-FDIC/

[BlackRockCityPimp]

I got gifted a cooling bandanna, thing worked real good but only for a short time. Personally I try to be as dry and dusty as possible without getting to the point of bleeding fingers n toes n nose. The heat I am totally cool with so no misting for me thank you. BUT if someone needs it those cooling products are pimp, I hear the vests are decent too. Cant really imagine anyone that needs that stuff having too good a time of it in BRC. It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

[Drawingablank]

I got gifted a cooling bandanna, thing worked real good but only for a short time. Personally I try to be as dry and dusty as possible without getting to the point of bleeding fingers n toes n nose. The heat I am totally cool with so no misting for me thank you. BUT if someone needs it those cooling products are pimp, I hear the vests are decent too. Cant really imagine anyone that needs that stuff having too good a time of it in BRC. It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

That cooling bandanna must not have been made well or was made with old crystals. I made a bunch and although I rehydrated them overnight, I experimented with one of them and it took 3 days to fully dry out on the playa.

[jkisha]

The bandannas are great; will keep you cool all day. The vests, I think, are overkill.

[illy dilly]

It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

Yeah it was extremely mild (if there is such an oxymoron).
Didn't even have to bust out the fans and spray bottles


Though, I sure as shit, was thanking the amazing weather, not hoping for more heat!

[Boijoy]

I read on some of the online reviews that those vests get "slimey". Ew!! I think Id rather just dip my t-shirt in some cold water.

[5280MeV]

I was looking for a synthetic cloth dust scarf that the army uses, and accidentally bought a traditional afghani shemagh (shown in my picture) at the surplus store.

I was kind of disappointed at first, as I didn't really want to wrap my head up ninja style, but the thing turned out to be an extremely handy cooling scarf. You put some water in it and it will cool your neck for hours. It was fantastic - I hardly ever took it off.

[BlackRockCityPimp]

I got gifted a cooling bandanna, thing worked real good but only for a short time. Personally I try to be as dry and dusty as possible without getting to the point of bleeding fingers n toes n nose. The heat I am totally cool with so no misting for me thank you. BUT if someone needs it those cooling products are pimp, I hear the vests are decent too. Cant really imagine anyone that needs that stuff having too good a time of it in BRC. It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

That cooling bandanna must not have been made well or was made with old crystals. I made a bunch and although I rehydrated them overnight, I experimented with one of them and it took 3 days to fully dry out on the playa.

I must have gotten a bad one.. it dried out in an hour or so. Maybe it was an off brand or didnt have enough crystal. It did work after resoaking but dried out again just as quick. Do you know what the crystals are called or where to get some for making homemade cooling?

[delle]

I got a thought today..............

So I have this HUGE hat. Unfortunately, it's a solid hat and therefore would be a sail on the Playa. No good at all.



...I was wondering tho.

How much does aluminet weigh?????????


'Cause my worst thing was my shoulders while out there, but I had no desire whatsoever to clothe them.

Think it could work? (without props and wheels and 6 people to help push it around????

[delle]

Do you know what the crystals are called or where to get some for making homemade cooling?

Disposable diapers. (clean ones please)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Sew-Ver ... ck-Cooler/

[jkisha]

I got gifted a cooling bandanna, thing worked real good but only for a short time. Personally I try to be as dry and dusty as possible without getting to the point of bleeding fingers n toes n nose. The heat I am totally cool with so no misting for me thank you. BUT if someone needs it those cooling products are pimp, I hear the vests are decent too. Cant really imagine anyone that needs that stuff having too good a time of it in BRC. It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

That cooling bandanna must not have been made well or was made with old crystals. I made a bunch and although I rehydrated them overnight, I experimented with one of them and it took 3 days to fully dry out on the playa.

I must have gotten a bad one.. it dried out in an hour or so. Maybe it was an off brand or didnt have enough crystal. It did work after resoaking but dried out again just as quick. Do you know what the crystals are called or where to get some for making homemade cooling?

How long did you soak it? We bought a couple of hundred of those bands to gift several years ago. We didn't give them all away the first or even the second year. We brought the rest back again this year and discovered that in order for them to hydrate to their fullest, they needed to soak at least overnight. This was discovered by accident when we threw a bunch of them in a tub of water to gift away during a float service, but lots of them just never seemed to hydrate in time to give away. We forgot about them and the next day, they were just as good as new and fully hydrated.

[Risky]

There is a huge interest in cooling vests for the law enforcement industry.
They wear lots of gear and armor with their uniforms.
I have seen some of these in circulation (sloppy seconds from Fishy's pun thread).
It seems as though it is not quite perfected.

[BlackRockCityPimp]

jkisha: Well that explains alot, I only soaked it for about 15 mins or so. I will bring it and soak overnight, I am sure I will have better results.

delle: Thanks for the link, crystals pictured in instructables were white and finer grains than the bandanna I got. The one I have is a blue green crystal that sorta chunky like instant coffee.

[delle]

Sodium polyacrylate comes in many sizes and colours. It could still be the same thing. I'm not finding any alternatives.... http://watergelcrystals.com/ There's a sizing chart that shows that the best one for bandanas is 1-2mm.

(this site also boasts a page on how to care for your cricket. A handy little bonus piece of information I hadn't counted on this morning!)

[VultureChow]

There is a huge interest in cooling vests for the law enforcement industry.
They wear lots of gear and armor with their uniforms.
I have seen some of these in circulation (sloppy seconds from Fishy's pun thread).
It seems as though it is not quite perfected.

I believe they're not designed for comfort but to keep core body temp down. Thus their effectiveness is not measured by how comfortable they are or how cool you feel wearing them, but by how likely you are to drop dead from heat stroke. I was thinking about getting a cheapish one just to try and draw out the sleepable temperature period a little longer.

[Drawingablank]

I must have gotten a bad one.. it dried out in an hour or so. Maybe it was an off brand or didnt have enough crystal. It did work after resoaking but dried out again just as quick. Do you know what the crystals are called or where to get some for making homemade cooling?

If you just need a few, another source is in craft stores - they sell them in small packages for use in vases. I was able to make about a dozen with one package.

Just remember these things absorb about 600 times their own weight in water so don't overfill them or they ooze through the fabric. IIRC it was about 1 level teaspoon per neck wrap.

[enfyre]

Coldstrap also makes a consumer priced cooling vest, much lighter than other types and works in humidity, see here: Cooling vests

[DoctorIknow]

While awake, there are all kinds of ways to keep cool, or get hot and rest, whatever....YOU ARE AWAKE and can do something!
I love the crystal scarves, but many years did fine on the hottest days just using common sense, hat, long sleeves, water, etc.

But when sleeping when one can do nothing, the fan below is fantastic. The "D" batteries last a long time, two speeds....

Better than the fan alone would be the fan with a timed mister nozzel head in front of the fan.

I've seen battery powered portable misters (yeah, pumping up one is such hard work!) and a timer could probably be hacked into it very easily....Any takers???? Raise money on Kickstarter?

The amount of time to set between mists would be a learned skill. The point would be to cool the sleeping body, but not have a build up of water. Depending on the skin temp and tent temp, one would want an interval where the last spritz has totally evaporated. I've tested "manually" and it seems like 1 minute would work on hot days. Of course, I have to be awake to test it, thus defeating the idea of sleeping peacefully in the middle of the day.

[enfyre]

It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

Yeah it was extremely mild (if there is such an oxymoron).
Didn't even have to bust out the fans and spray bottles


Though, I sure as shit, was thanking the amazing weather, not hoping for more heat!

I could use one of these for my tent

[Rice]

It can get hot and dusty as fawk, out of 8 years this past year was the mildest for me. I actually wanted more heat and dust.

Yeah it was extremely mild (if there is such an oxymoron).
Didn't even have to bust out the fans and spray bottles


Though, I sure as shit, was thanking the amazing weather, not hoping for more heat!

I could use one of these for my tent

about 4 years ago I had a thermometer in my tent (in BRC) - it registered 70C (158F) at about 1 in the afternoon... I am not certain that the above mentioned fan would be adequate (Now, my tent was out in the open & not under any shade)