2021 test5 productsWorkwear & Safety Gear
Which Heated Jackets Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 5 heated jackets options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Budget pick
ORORO
Price shown in test: $150 for the jacket, the charger, and the battery
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | System | Fabric | Warranty/origin | Weight | Mobility (extended-arm scale test) | Wind resistance | Water resistance | Heating element coverage | Cold chamber test (minus 40F freezer, 30 min, chest/arm/back sensors) | Real-world wind test (~25 mph motorbike, upper-30s F, 15 min) | Total runtime at highest heat setting | Battery | Origin | Cold chamber test | Real-world wind test | Features | Fabric/care | Claims/features | Battery note | Power source | Care | Battery location | Mobility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Bosch 12V heated jacket (with portable power adapter, 12V battery, charger)$139 for the jacket, a portable power adapter, a 12-V battery, as well as a charger | 12V system, 3 heating pads (1 lower back, 2 chest), heating power 9.5 W, max runtime 7 hours with a 2-Ah battery | outer fabric and lining 60% cotton / 40% polyester; padding 100% polyester | jacket and charger 3-year warranty, battery 2-year warranty, 30-day money-back guarantee; jacket and power adapter made in China, battery made in Malaysia | 2.4 lb / 1.2 kg, the lightest jacket tested | very good freedom of movement, just over half a pound of weight on the extended arm - the best (most mobile) result of the brands with a numeric mobility reading | peaked at 2.5 mph of air movement through the fabric (vs 6 mph baseline robe); noticeably worse than the other four heated jackets, which fully blocked airflow | outer layer felt pretty wet after the test, inner fabric stayed dry | 4.5in x 7in back element + two 3.5in x 3.5in chest elements = 52.5 sq in total, the least coverage of the five brands | started at 71/71/72F, ended at back 47F, chest 50F, arm 37F, average loss of 27F | back 67F, chest 52F, arm 48F, average 56F - the worst (coldest) result of the five brands | 189 minutes, second-longest of the five brands | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 2ORORO heated jacket (with charger and battery)$150 for the jacket, the charger, and the battery | not tested | outer layer 93.5% polyester / 6.5% spandex; substrate and lining 100% polyester; jacket includes a storage bag | not tested | 3 lb / 1.4 kg, just over half a pound more than the Bosch | 1.2 lb of weight on the extended arm; heavier fabric than Bosch and doesn't offer nearly as much mobility | did a great job, completely blocking the movement of air through the fabric | did a great job; both inner and outer fabric remained dry after the test, the best result of the five brands | 7.5in back element + two 3in x 6in chest elements = 81 sq in total, third-most of the five brands | not tested | not tested | 238 minutes with only three heating elements, the longest of all five brands | 2.5 Ah at 7.4V, includes a power level indicator and a USB power port | made in China | started at 72/73/78F, ended at back 49F, chest 53F, arm 51F, average loss of 23F - the best (lowest heat loss) of all five brands | back 77F, chest 50F, arm 57F, average 61F, fourth of five brands (only beating Bosch) | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 3DeWalt heated jacket (with battery and charger)$203 for the jacket, the battery, as well as the charger | not tested | not tested | jacket 1-year warranty, battery 3-year warranty; heated gear/accessories made in China, charger made in China or Thailand, batteries made in China, Japan, Korea, or Malaysia | 3.6 lb / 1.6 kg, the heaviest jacket tested up to that point (later tied by Milwaukee) | has underarm mobility gussets; 1.2 lb of weight on the extended arm, the same as ORORO | completely blocked the movement of air through the fabric, tied with ORORO for the best result | outer fabric felt slightly damp, inside of the jacket dry | 7.5in back element + two 4.5in x 3in chest elements + two 4.5in x 3in shoulder elements = 85.5 sq in total, the most coverage of all five brands | not tested | not tested | 142 minutes, fourth of five brands | not tested | not tested | started at 69/75/74F, ended at back 43F, chest 55F, arm 43F, average loss of 26F, second-best of the five brands | back 76F, chest 46F, arm 65F, average 62F, 1 degree better than ORORO; noted as more of a work jacket with a looser, more drafty fit around the waist/wrist/neck, though the two extra heating elements (shoulders) seemed to help | high/medium/low heat settings, USB charging port, battery level indicator, 5 heat zones, wind and water resistant claim, preheat mode with blinking LED for approximately 5 minutes before switching to medium | shell 100% cotton, liner and filling 100% polyester; machine wash cold delicate, do not wring or bleach, tumble dry on low | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 4Makita heated jacket (jacket only; battery and charger sold separately)$210 for just the jacket, not the battery or the charger | not tested | not tested | not tested | 3.4 lb / 1.5 kg, slightly less than the DeWalt | battery and adapter are very bulky with a large bulge on the side; 1.4 lb of weight on the extended arm, the least mobile of the brands with a numeric reading | did very well, grouped with ORORO/DeWalt/Milwaukee as effectively blocking airflow | outer fabric absorbed some water, inside of the jacket stayed dry | 7in x 5in lower-back element + two 3.5in x 3in upper-back elements + a 3.5in x 3in element near the front pockets = 77 sq in total, fourth of five brands | not tested | not tested | 176 minutes, third of five brands | not tested | made in China | started at 69/71/72F, ended at back 41F, chest 47F, arm 41F, average loss of 28F, tied-worst with Milwaukee | back 76F, chest 47F, arm 66F, average 63F, took the lead from DeWalt at this point, second-best of the five brands (only beaten by Milwaukee); 'did a terrific job at wind resistance and the heating elements definitely helped' | not tested | not tested | 3-year warranty; claims up to 35 hours of runtime on low setting with a 6-Ah battery; polyester shell for wind/water resistance; stretchy side panels for mobility; fleece interior; 5 core heat zones (left chest, right chest, back, both pockets); 3 heat settings | does not include a charger or battery; narrator purchased a separate 2-Ah Makita battery to keep the comparison fair; battery stored in the outer left pocket (other brands store it in an inner pocket) | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 5Milwaukee M12 Heated Tough Shell Jacket, Stretch Polyester (jacket only)$280 for just the jacket | not tested | not tested | not tested | 3.6 lb / 1.6 kg, tied with DeWalt as the heaviest jacket tested | not tested | performed just as well as ORORO, DeWalt, and Makita, fully blocking airflow | outer fabric felt slightly damp, inside of the jacket dry | 7in x 4.5in back element + two 4.5in x 3in chest elements + two 4.5in x 3in pocket-area elements = 81.5 sq in total, second-most coverage of the five brands, just behind DeWalt | not tested | not tested | 120 minutes, the shortest of all five brands | not tested | not tested | started at 73/79/74F, ended at back 46F, chest 52F, arm 44F, average loss of 28F, tied-worst with Makita | back 81F, chest 50F, arm 68F, average 66F, the best (warmest) result of all five brands with all heat zones activated | not tested | not tested | polyester claimed to offer up to 5 times the life; up to 8 hours of runtime on a 2-Ah battery; chest, back, and front pocket heat zones; wind and water resistant claim; 4 heat zones on the front plus 1 in the back; can include heat zones for the jacket or for compatible heated hands/gloves | not tested | does not come with a battery, but includes a compact charger that serves as the power source; narrator used a 2-Ah battery to test it | machine wash gentle cycle in warm water | stored in the back of the jacket (the front left pocket is separate); praised as the best design for standing/walking work use, but a liability if sitting in a seat with back support | no numeric extended-arm test result given in the transcript; narrator's closing statement frames it as the best jacket for mobility in a work context |
How it was tested
- mobility test: extended-arm downward force measured on a scale while wearing each jacket (subjective, notes it can vary by build)
- wind resistance test: air blower and wind meter, baseline robe vs each jacket
- water resistance test: water poured over fabric for approximately 30 seconds, inner/outer fabric dryness assessed
- heating element size and body-coverage measurement: each heating element measured and summed to total square inches
- cold chamber test: 30 minutes inside a commercial lab freezer set to minus 40F, three body-temperature sensors (chest, arm, back), average heat loss computed
- real-world wind+cold test: motorbike ride at approximately 25 mph in upper-30s F outside temperature for 15 minutes, three temperature sensors, average temperature computed
- total runtime test on the jacket's highest heat setting
Data notes and caveats
Video ends with explicit per-use-case picks rather than a single overall winner: 'Well, I think that really depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a good work jacket that offers a lot of mobility, the Milwaukee's going to be hard to beat... If you're looking for a casual jacket, $150 for the Roura is a pretty good price and it's also a pretty nice jacket.' Per the per-use-case-favorites rule, winner and runnerUp are left null; ORORO is set as budgetPick since it is explicitly named as the best-value/casual recommendation, and Milwaukee's work-jacket/mobility recommendation is preserved in its own product notes instead of forcing it into winner. chapterMap is false because the meta chapter 'Heating Element Size and Location' (479s-787s, over 5 minutes) actually bundles in the entire cold-chamber freezer test and the entire real-world motorbike test in addition to the heating-element measurements, so chapter titles do not cleanly map to distinct test segments in that portion of the video. Data quality is otherwise clean and numeric throughout (only real ambiguity is the ORORO brand name being caption-garbled two different ways, both clearly resolvable via the description), so confidence is high.