Milwaukee, the first power tool brand to come out with professional use heated jackets is further expanding their lineup with a couple of new M12 jackets, a vest, and sweatshirt refresh.
Yes, again. Last year they came with 3rd generation jackets, which are quite good I might add. It took me a day or two to like the Gen3 jacket compared to the Gen2, but the Gen3 ultimately won my favor.
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First, there’s a new more weather-resistant jacket, shown above, which has a ripstop outer shell. It should shed water more easily, resulting in a drier and warmer experience. To be fair, I never saw water infiltration with the Gen2 or Gen3 jackets, but I also tended to wear a different jacket in the coldest and snowiest of weather.
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There will also be a new vest made with the same outer ripstop material. It should be good for layering, perhaps with a Milwaukee heated sweatshirt.
Both the new jacket and vest are said to offer better weather resistance, ripstop durability, and heavy duty construction. I would think that inner shell and heating features are similar to the 3rd generation jackets.
While Milwaukee’s other heated jackets are mostly inconspicuous for users who wear them in public on their downtime, the new ripstop jackets are a little less so. They’ve got these big chest pockets on both sides, perfect for holding a pen, Inkzall marker, or even pliers.
And look at this – a new women’s heated jacket. Do you know what I’m not seeing? Any hint of pink accenting. A lot of women really don’t like pink zippers, pink accents, and other such decorations, and it looks like they got their wish with this new jacket.
The new women’s jacket offers water and wind resistance (like all of Milwaukee’s other jackets), multiple heat settings, and it comes with a (new?) power adapter with a USB charging port that can deliver up to 2.1A to recharge your personal electronic devices.
According to my “what’s coming out” cheat sheet, there will also be a sweatshirt refresh. Sorry, I must have wandered off during that part and so details will be forthcoming.
I was impressed at the level of complexity Milwaukee put into their displays. Keep in mind that the event wasn’t at Milwaukee HQ, they rented out a convention hall. Everything was setup in a couple of days, and taken apart shortly thereafter.
Milwaukee had their heated jackets separated into “on-site” and “off-site” sections.
In addition to camo-pattern jackets, there are also hi-viz jackets not shown here.
ETA for all the heated gear: Aug 2015