Road test: Alpenheat AJ4 fire fleece

A HEATED unisex fleece top.

WHAT is it?

How does it work?
It looks like a regular sleeveless fleece, but built into the fabric on the back is a thin, flexible heating element, the size of an A4 sheet of paper, which connects via a wire to a palm-sized battery/control-unit in the front right pocket.

So isn't the garment kind of lumpy?
Not at all - the integration is seamless. You can barely feel the shape of the heating element, and you can't even see any bulges from the outside.

How toasty is it?
The control unit offers five heat settings: the warmest is like having a hot-water bottle between your shoulder blades. If you wear the fleece (which is machine-washable) under a top layer, your whole upper body hums with heat.

How long does it last?
Each recharge of the lithium battery gives you between 2.5 and 7.5 hours of use, Alpenheat says.

So what's it for?
Heated clothing is widely used by motorcyclists in cold climates, but its potential applications are much wider. For an elderly person in a draughty house, say, or for skiers. Or even for spectators at a footy game - and the best thing is, your mates won't call you a wuss ... because they'll never know.

Price: $220, allpurposeheatedclothing.com.au