Yes, I know that Gerbings make the best. However, was wondering if anyone has tried Venture? Much more affordable than Gerbings, and for the limited use I need it may work just fine. Your thoughts please ... Thx

 

Ya get what ya pay for. just saying!!!!

 

If money is an issue. I'm sure they would work just fine. I have never tried them so I can't tell you how long they will last.

 

Check out the "First Gear" line made by Warm n Safe.

I can vouch for the heated pants, jacket, and dual zone remote heat troller. All these items have worked great and they have a lifetime warranty on the wiring similar to Gerbing.

I ordered two full sets of this gear (me and the wife) and also got the First Gear gloves. I was very pleased with all but the gloves. Gloves were far inferior to the HD (Gerbing) heated gloves and didn't last a week. I sent them back to Motorcycle Superstore for a full refund.

I have to say that Motorcycle Superstore was great to work with as far as returns were concerned...I returned in total 4 items out of that order. 3 due to sizing errors by me not doing my homework...1 (riders gloves) due to quality. Returns/Exchanges were smooth and quick.

Instead of ordering the First Gear heated socks, I went with Gerbing heated insoles. Preference I guess. The insoles are very nice.

You can mix and match manufacturers that use the DC power cords any way you choose. Gerbing and First Gear interchange with no issues what-so-ever.

I have to say...I ride all year long in eastern NC. It's normally about 26 when I leave the house in the morning and close to freezing when I get home in the evening. In that kind of weather I find myself turning down the heat a bit midway through the ride due to being too warm.

Heated gear has made me enjoy riding during the winter more than the summer. At least now in the cold all I have to do is turn the heat up. In the summer there is only so much you can take off before you make riding unsafe.

http://www.firstgear-usa.com/Heated/CSSHeatedGear.html
http://www.warmnsafe.com/
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/

 

We recently tried the Venture Heat jacket liners and heated glove liners. I was pleased with the quality of construction and evenly distributed heat throughout the jacket liners. Liners was very warm [hot] on MAX setting. The collar was a little bit long, but neck was comfortable and warm.

I actually like the simple four setting controller. It was easy to select desired setting and the controller fit in either a pocket or could easily tucked up into jacket. Keep in mind that if you connect the glove liners to the plugs in the liners that the one controller will control both the jacket liner and gloves, i.e. it's not a dual temp controller that allows the liner and gloves to be set independent of each other. Although, you can accomplish independent control by purchasing another controller or use a dual temp controller from Gerbing or Warm & Safe--plug connectors are compatible.

The Venture Heat jacket liners are thicker than either the Harley (Gerbing) jacket liner or the Warm & Safe (aka FirstGear) jacket liners--W&S being the thinnest of the three. On milder days you could almost get by wearing the Venture Heat liner as an outer shell jacket. Styling was nice--tastefully badged.

The glove liners were well made also but, too bulky to be used as liners under our leather gloves. Only limited our experience with the glove liners by plugging them in briefly--standing next to bike--to feel them warm, then took them off.

One of jacket liners was too big for GF; therefore we were planning to exchange one of the jacket liners and the glove liners for heated gloves. The customer support--or lack thereof--was the reason we fell out of favor with the Venture Heat gear.

First, one of the jacket liner was missing a temperature controller and battery pig tail. I called PlusHeat to alert them and discussed possibility for need to exchange some of the items. After this conversation, I was able to get the lady whom I had spoken to on the phone again. She never responded to my email either. I contacted VentureHeat and spoke with another customer support person. He promised to call back with instructions and RMA number to exchange items. He never called back. I emailed him and CC'd the lady at Plus Heat, neither had returned a phone call nor an email.

After all this I had made up my mind to return everything, get a refund and go with the Harley heated jacket liner from the local dealership--at least then I would be able to talk to someone in person if having issues. Instead of trying to go to the last two persons' voice mail, I decided to wait for an operator at VentureHeat to answer. He did and I explained my issues. He offered to help with an exchange, but I old him that I was beyond that point. I got an RMA number is less than five minutes during this conversation--before I had been trying for nearly 10 days to get the other two persons to respond. I returned the items and got a refund minus the shipping.

Caveat Emptor dealing with PlusHeat--go directly with VentureHeat. I'd say the products are good quality for the price. Packaging and customer support is lacking. If only buying one jacket liner (and possibly add heated gloves) for yourself to heat body core--not buying for two or looking to add on other heated gear, for less than $140 it may be worth it. If you can stand to have money tied up--if there are issues--waiting to get someone to respond to your request for exchange/refund.

 

Very helpful information guys ... Thank You !!

 

I can tell you if it works heated gear is the best money I ever spent.

I have ridden all week with temps in the 20's every morning.

 

I have the glove liners they came complete with all of the wiring for the bike and the gloves...The ones I bought did not come with a heat control unit...But they are perfect for what I wanted...No more cold hands...Your regular gloves will need to be at least one size larger than what you normally wear...The price attracted me $69.95...Well worth it in my opinion.

 

I just looked at First Gear stuff at Motorcycle Superstore and they are actually about as expensive as Gerbing. I paid $90.00 for the Gerbing dual controller and MS wants $120.00 for the First Gear unit and the jacket is the same price as Gerbing. Sorry OP, don't know about Venture but again, you get what you pay for. I know if my Gerbing gloves go bad I can stop at any HD shop and swap them out. What happens if Venture gear goes bad? Best guess is you're gonna stay cold...

 

I have both Gerbing and Warmnsafe jackets. They are about even in quality and performance, both have lifetime wiring warranties. The Warmnsafe remote heat controller is heads above everything else, and fits perfectly into a purpose built pocket in the Gen. 4 jacket. For gloves I'd go with Gerbing due to the lifetime warranty. Apply a group when you register at warmnsafe and prices drop about 20 percent.