Cypher Heat Vest for Winter Surfing and Cold Weather Sports

If you live in a cold climate but want to stay in the water all year, you are faced with a dilemma. You can trade your summer suit in for a thicker version, add some boots, gloves and helmet and lose flexibility and freedom of movement, or tough it out in a thinner suit, have shorter surfs and risk hypothermia. Fortunately, Quiksilver have developed a new product to make winter surfing more bearable: the Cypher Heat Vest.

If you live in a cold climate this heat vest could be your saviour! Treat yourself or a friend to a toasty warm season of surfing.

The Cypher Vest works with FAR infra-red technology. Inside the vest are flexible heat pads which are sealed into the vest and operated by rechargeable batteries. There are no hot wires or electromagnetic fields. The vest has a watertight button which you press to heat the vest up; one press for the high setting, two presses for low. You know you have successfully operated the battery because there each press is acknowledged by a vibration. To turn the heat off, hold the button in for around four seconds and six vibrations let you know it is powering down.

The vest doesn't heat your entire body; its flexible carbon panels target your core, mainly around your kidneys. If you are surfing super cold conditions, there is a hooded version too.

A single charge should keep the vest warm for 2.5 hours. There is a wall charger and also a car charger.

The vest performs well in the water. It can be worn under any suit, of any thickness or brand; it isn't designed to only work with Quiksilver suits. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the vest is it's thickness, or rather lack of it! It is really thin and flexible, yet is able to make a huge difference to your warmth with no negative impact on mobility.

Reviews of the vest suggest that it will allow you to remain in the water longer and will allow you to remain in a less bulky suit. One reviewer reported staying in his 3/2 through the winter and outlasting his friends in their 4/3s and 5/4/3s. He was managing surfs in the chilly North East of England for over two hours.

The vest comes in a stylish box that contains

• the Cypher vest
• a rechargeable battery
• a wall charger
• a car charger
• a set of international plug adaptors
• an instruction booklet

All my content is copyright of Judi Bee – © Judi Bee 2011. All rights reserved.