I never had one. I wish I had when I was younger and active, Now, I just hibernate in the A/C. (thank you God):)

I couldn't make through the spring and summer without my cooling vest. I've had one since 2001 and I love it. Yes, when I wear it I look like I have put on at least 10 pounds, but I'm comfortable.

Mine has the chemical pack inserts that freeze solid in 20 minutes, last about 4 hours and refreeze in 20 minutes. They freeze solid at only 64 degrees. Developed by NASA. Honestly, I couldn't even get through church on Sunday without it. I really need a new one since I've gained substantial weight since I first bought it.

Well worth the investment. I think you get to a point with these diseases and life in general, who cares what you look like as long as you're comfortable.

Craig, where did you get your cooling vest at? Who's the manufacturer? How much did it cost?

Alot depends on what you want to do with it, how long you want it to work, and what access you have to coolers/refridgerators. I looked into alot of different products to help me ride my bike more in the heat.

What I found was that the vests really capable of keeping up with the level of heat I was producing internally for more than a few minutes were the ones with blue ice packs in pockets and they were way too heavy and bulky and couldn't be replenished easily on the road unless I had somebody carrying a cooler full of the replacement packs.

The lighter weight vests just couldn't keep me cool very long and once they were spent on cooling ability, they trapped heat against my body and made the heat worse.

So if you are doing really heavy physical activity, none of them will likely work very well for very long unless you have access to a fridge to keep extra cold packs in. If you are just wanting something so you can be in a warm place without dying of heat, but won't be doing much activity, the vests with cool packs will work well, as will the ones that use evaporative cooling.

What I do on the bike when I know it will be hot is just always carry an extra bottle of plain water to dump over my head periodically to keep it cool. The wind blowing across my head wicks alot of water out of my hair even under my helmet and takes alot of heat with it.

One option for cooling yourself that is better than a plain bandanna and only requires access to water to activate are the Cool Cloths from Heyltex (http://www.heyltex.com/32degrees.php). I got some samples from them and plan to do a bulk buy to sell as a fundraiser for the MS150 next year.

Like I said above, they can't keep up with really heavy heat production like cycling in the summer, but they are great to use to cool down afterwards, or to keep cool when walking around or standing in the heat. The best part about them is that you don't have to stick them in a freezer or fridge...they just use water to generate the cooling.

After researching on the internet back in 2001, I purchased a "CoolSport" vest from http://www.coolsport.net/index2.html . You'll find it under Cool Lite category and at the time it cost about $112 and has lasted performing well, all of these years. I still use it.

Regarding access to refrigeration/freezer to refreeze the inserts. Mine is designed so it will freeze at 64 degrees simply by placing it into an ice cooler with ice or ice water will freeze them solid in about 20 minutes. When wearing it I'm reminded of the bullet proof vest I used to wear as a police officer years ago when they first came out.

Hope this helps. There are so many on the market now and I'm sure the technology is greatly improved.

Craig,

I don't doubt that under normal exertion usage, that vest works like a charm. My main problem with all of them has been that in 85F-90+F weather, when I am riding hard, I will heat one of those vests from 64F to 85-90F in about 5-10 minutes, and then instead of cooling, it begins to function as a heat trap and makes me hotter instead of cooler. Since break points on most rides are 10-15 miles apart (~40-60 minutes riding), I would get about 10 minutes of benefit and 30-50 minutes of harm out of a vest before I could change out the inserts.

If I instead start with the inserts cooled to 20-30F, then I can get longer usage before they become ineffective, but then I have to have a fridge or freezer to keep replacements that cold. Now if I could just get a little mini fridge powered by the bike wheel and mounted on a rack behind the seat, I would be set...