REVIEW – It’s winter, and while I grew up with snow and wind chills, it doesn’t mean I will ever get used to it. I prefer jackets of all sorts because coats are thick, annoying, and don’t do so swell if you are going to be indoors. What about a jacket that heats up though? Wear Graphene came out with their nice looking GAMMA jacket with a built-in heater for those cold days where you don’t want to wear a coat. My cold self had to try it out, and even in Georgia, we managed to get some nice wind chills and below freezing temperatures to truly see how versatile it is.
What is it?
The Wear Graphene GAMMA heated jacket has three heat settings to keep your body warm in the cold.
What’s in the box?
- Wear Graphene GAMMA heated jacket
- Instructions
Design and features
I honestly was quite skeptical when it came to a heated jacket. Not only did I think I would just always require it to be on to stay warm, but I felt it would be uncomfortable when wearing it with the wires and heating pads built-in. I was quite impressed and my mind changed when I pulled the Wear Graphene GAMMA heated jacket out of the box. It was lightweight and when I opened it up to look at it, I couldn’t even tell that it had heating elements built-in due to the flexibility of the fabric. My initial reaction was very positive.
Their sizing is made for guys and gals. Using their sizing system, I was a size S/M. I always worry around the hips when it comes to unisex sizing but luckily I had no issue. It’s tighter around the hips than my other jackets, but not in an uncomfortable way. The chest and arm area is loose enough to fit over a sweater without being uncomfortable. The arms fit length wise, and the hand sleeve seems like it will fit most hand sizes. My hands are very thin so it was slightly loose, but once again, not uncomfortable by any means. The hood fit over my head and was not loose which I prefer. When zipped up all the way, the hood did not want to come down. I get annoyed when you have a hood that will fall when zipped up fully.
Speaking of zipper, the quality of the zippers, pulls, and velcro straps are very good. The zipper zips smoothly and the velcro straps around the wrist tighten even around my tiny wrists.
There are ten pockets in total in the Wear Graphene GAMMA heated jacket. Two standard pockets that can be zipped up are near the bottom. Each side along the chest has a zippered pocket as well. The left arm has a small zippered pocket along the shoulder area and the right arm has a small zippered pocket near the wrist. Lastly, there are four pockets on the inside of the jacket, though one is made for holding your power bank and has a USB attachment within.
The GAMMA heated jacket requires a power bank in order to heat the jacket. Unfortunately, they decided not to include one with the jacket which for the cost makes no sense at all. Thankfully, I am a Gadgeteer, so I used a Belkin power bank that I reviewed a few years ago to power the jacket. It fit perfectly in the pocket it is meant for and gave me roughly 50 minutes of powered heat time. About half of it was on high, while the other half was on low.
Once you have the power bank plugged in, you push whatever button turns on the power bank and then hold down the button inside of the left side of the jacket. This turns on the power. Once on, you have a choice between red, (high) orange, (medium), and green (low). I actually love the fact that there is a high, medium, and low setting choice. With most ‘heated’ items, I choose the high setting at first to get it heated up quickly, then move it down to low when I get too warm. This keeps me nice and warm without burning through power at Mach-3.
As a jacket in general, the Wear Graphene GAMMA heated jacket works very well. No, it’s not made for staying warm in sub-freezing temperatures, but that’s what the heating aspect is for. Once you turn on the heat, you can tolerate those sub-freezing temperatures much better. The arms are the only part that still will be cool as the heating elements aren’t up in the arms, but your torso stays toasty warm. One thing that I didn’t think of when I started using the jacket was how nice it would be to walk around the grocery store or dine in at a restaurant. At the grocery store, I just turned off the heat and it was like wearing a nice jacket on a 45-50 degree day and while at the restaurant I was able to easily just slide the jacket off (or leave it on if it was cool indoors) without having a giant coat to deal with. That to me is a definite perk!
What I like
- Stylish and sleek looking.
- Fits well around the torso.
- It keeps you warm!
What needs to be improved
- Needs to come with its own power bank.
Final thoughts
Overall, I was quite impressed with the Wear Graphene GAMMA heated jacket. If the wind chill is a big factor, it might not protect the best, but it’s also a jacket and not a coat meant for extra cold temperatures. A slight wind chill with freezing temperatures worked just fine for me with the jacket on high. For the price, I wish it came with its own power bank since they are relatively inexpensive. The GAMMA heated jacket by Wear Graphene may set your pocketbook back a bit but it looks and feels nice, is versatile, and keeps you warm.
Price: $395
Where to buy: Wear Graphene Website
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Wear Graphene.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
1) this kind of jacket or equipment scares me, I leave an object of this type somewhere for whatever reason it is capable of catching fire, I wear it, I will be on the front page of the newspapers as I am of spontaneous self-combustion.
2) Finally the “graphene” in France is considered harmful to health as for the asbestos or the ceramic. During the pandemic, protective masks had to be banned from the territory by the health administration.
So I hope that the term “graphene” does not correspond to the textile of the garment (wear and tear and therefore emission of microparticles).
I purchased one of these Gamma jackets via the IndieGoGo campaign and I honestly can say it was a waste of money. This jacket is definitely NOT 100% waterproof, I would say it’s not even 20% waterproof,. I felt the water going through it after being in very light rain for a couple of mins. The heating elements are very weak and not in the best locations, oh and it doesn’t really warm you up, it does however keep your hands slightly warm if you keep them in your pockets. I would not wear this jacket at any temperature under 5 degrees and in any type of rain. On the only plus side, the design is pretty good. I really wanted to like this jacket, and the idea of it is perfect, but they haven’t got anywhere near what they are saying about it. Maybe in the future, they will get there, but I’m not holding my breath. Talking about the company, they have been terrible to deal with, and customer support is non-existent, with no refunds even though they show a 1-year guarantee on their website. To the point that they are running very close to being called a scam! I highly recommend you save your money and look for another jacket.
Well at least you got yours. I was part of the same campaign. Estimated delivery July 2021. Issued me a tracking number and claimed it was shipped in November 2021. Tracking number didn’t work and I never got the jacket so I followed up in December and finally got a response saying they were behind on production and may not actually ship until February. Now its April and still no jacket. I’m waiting a couple more days to see if they respond to my latest request for a refund, then I’m reporting them as fraud to my credit card company.
I had same experience, then all the heating elements quit working after a year and the company offered me a new jacket at half price. Not even worth half price. Dont waste your money this jacket is a piece of crap!
Yep.. jacket not waterproof and it’s not really good at keeping any heat. The outer layer of the pocket is very thin so the outer side of your hand will be cold and also humid as it is not breathable. Shame as i was quite hyped with what was promised.
This company is a scam. They pretend to be a legit company. I’ve ordered an item and they sent me a tracking code that never seems to move. It only moved when I send them multiple emails. It moved out of China and it arrived after 5 weeks. What arrived was an empty box with the same tracking code. I sent them an email and they never wrote back.
False Advertising: I loved everything about the coat: the fit, the pockets, the heater, etc. No issue. however, at 2:08 in their YouTube this video is says it is 100% waterproof and it is NOT. I sat in the rain during a soccer game and it soaked my clothes through to my skin. It was the first time I used it in a heavy rain and it just slowly absorbed the water. It will wick some water off and possible snow but do not expect to go hiking with this coat expecting to be dry if if rains. I contacted customer support and they were not willing to address my questions or concerns. They even updated their website AFTER I emailed them and it now just says moisture wicking. It’s a shame i have to post this here since their customer support did not do a good job.
My jacket stopped working, and I am now left with a very expensive windbreaker.
I backed the Kickstarter campaign; the jacket arrived in October 2021.
After one year of light casual city usage (I live in Italy, which has pretty warm weather, so I rarely had to use the heating system last year). I did not use it for any heavy sports activity, just walking around my city.
Today, as a nice Christmas Gift, the jacket heating system just stopped working (only the left pocket gets warm, but the rest of the jacket remains cold, just like the electric system has some broken links), basically leaving me without a jacket for the winter (I literally gave away all my other jackets… it was supposed to be a jacket for life)!!
I am just out of the 1-year guarantee, and on the website, there is no information about what to do in case the jacket breaks / stops working!
I will contact the support today and see what happens…
TERRIBLE COMPANY! I ordered a jacket for my wife for Christmas. Not wanting to make a mistake due to the cost of this jacket, I told my wife beforehand where she used a tape measure and we ordered a size based on their guidelines on the website. It was too large and they are refusing to take it back in exchange. They have since ghosted me and do not answer any emails. BEWARE of this company (Wear Graphene) and their shady practices!
I bought it, wore it out in the rain and it is NOT waterproof. And IF it’s advertised as WATERPROOF, it should be WATERPROOF. The feel is nice, seemed to block the wind. The heater was on 100% but barely felt it and I bought the battery pack they sell. I did review it and it doesn’t show up on their site. If you expect it to be everything they claim, you will be disappointed, if you view it as a light windbreaker that your hands will feel the heat then you will have overpaid.
This jacket is a waste of your money. Not waterproof, not warm. All heating elements quit after a year. This is a scam. Company offered to sell me a new jacket for half price. Not even worth that! Don’t waste your time with this jacket.
I immediately requested return instructions upon learning my son’s school would not allow him to wear this type of garment while working in the shop and welding, which was the reason I purchased it. I was told after a 2-week wait that if I could provide them with photos of the unworn item and the packing materials they would provide me with return instructions. This was done 1/3/24. No reply. I intend to file a complaint with my credit card company.