I'm considering adding heated grips to my Ultra Classic. I've read many mixed reviews about the HD heated grips. What's everyone's experience - are they reliable, do they fail after several seasons, are they worth the investment? My concern, based on they reviews I've read is that they're not reliable.

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

I love my heated grips! I had a problem with cold hands , I tried the heated gloves but the were too bulky for comfort so when I installed new handle bars on my Ultra Low ( Wild One 579's) and latter decided to install the heated grips. There was a little problem with the fit but reaming out the bars a bit it all worked and now I have the luxury off heated grips and reasonable gloves.
samk9lover

 

I can't speak to longevity but I really like the grips. It gets a bit nippy here in Minnesota and the heated grips can be a lifesaver at times. I have used them a lot and have had no problems at all.

 

I’ve put HD heated grips on all our bikes, haven’t had any problems so far. Grips on my bike are 4 years old, 30,000 miles.

 

I have heated grips on my road glide although I haven't used them much yet. My last touring bike also had heated grips, an ultra, and they got really hot.. The highest I ever had them on was 3 and that was only at start up and back to 1 for the rest of the ride. If you set them on 9-10 and leave them there, they will probably have a short life span but paying attention will likely give you years of service.

 

A good number of people had problems with the early designer heated grips. Like those that come on a CVO (slipstream, airflow, streamliner, etc).
The versions you can buy out of the catalog were just as bad and were externally wired and for some reason had a ton of issues.

In contrast, the standard plain black rubber internally wired heated grips (like those come on a Limited) have been known to last a long while and not have too many failures.
I heard all these grips were redesigned and even the designer series are now internally wired as well and may be just as reliable.

In either case, like the above post mentioned, yeah... number 3 is about the highest I can set them on without burning my hands.
They really are warm. Work well with thick gloves. Well worth the 165.00 I paid for them from Board Tracker.

 

They came stock on my 2012 Ultra Limited. Used them often and never had a problem. They will get very hot if you want them to and work well with even the thickest of gloves. Longevity - I had 70,000 miles on it when I traded it in and they were still going strong. Highly recommend them.

 

I had Wild 1 578 bars installed on my 14 FLHTK. Now the heated grips get warm but not hot. Using a temp gun they do not get more than 78 degrees. Do not know if the bar change has anything thing to do with it. Have not tried running the heated grips since last winter. At that time they would burn your hands at the third setting; any suggestions?

 

Heard stories that the plain Jane one's that are stock are the best, just plain black rubber not the fancy one's.
I got a new pair of take-off's on here for $70 bucks, just post it up and see what happens.

 

I really like mine have only had them on the bike 2 seasons but no problems.They were the first mod I did to my bike and would do it again.