FlexiFreeze Personal Series Ice Vest (Zipper Closure)

I bought this vest in anticipation of doing some work on our property in 114 degree weather (Arizona). We had a bunch of fill dirt to move around in a Bobcat - everything was set up weeks in advance so I just had to grin and bear it. It's a pretty simple design and the level of adjustability (velcro, elastic cords) makes it look and feel a bit cheap, but it's perfectly functional. The thin layer of neoprene on the outside (blue) makes a good insulating layer to keep ambient heat from getting in to make sure most of the heat is sucked out of your body instead. The ice panels are easy to swap out and I found the vest pretty easy to adjust - perhaps because I read the directions and opened the little velcro compartments on the front that let out all the elastic cord so it can expand to size. I'm 6'2/210lb and it fits me just fine. On to the effectiveness - this vest is COLD. I was sitting in the cab of a Bobcat in 95-114 degree heat (morning to early afternoon) and although I would say it's actually painfully cold with just a thin T-shirt on (the ice is basically pressed against you directly - so wear a thick shirt if it's too intense), that's not really cold enough when it's that hot out so I guess it's as cold as it needs to be. In that extreme heat I got about 2 hours before most of the vest was melted. I swapped ice packs in the deep freeze and got another 2 hours, but when those were toast the first packs were not re-frozen again. I'd estimate it probably takes 5-6 hours to freeze them so if you want to have cold continuously - you need 2 or 3 sets of ice panels. I plan to buy at least one more set. Although it's intensely cold - it managed to make me mostly forget about the oppressive heat while I was working the Bobcat and I got hours of work done in conditions that would have otherwise probably made me sick. I was still sweating a little, but it made a big difference. A couple of times I had to get out to do stuff by hand like heft around rocks, etc. and it was not enough to keep up under those circumstances - but it was sure better than nothing. For anyone who lives in a hot area and does anything outside - this vest really helps. Away from the house - if you had a cooler and 2-3 extra packs I bet you could get 8 hours of dramatically increased comfort working outside. I'm looking forward to the other ways I can use this vest in the future - it's basically the equivalent of a great winter coat in a cold winter blizzard for those of us that have moved to warmer climes.

This cooling vest is an adjustable neoprene vest that’s just like a wetsuit. It has three separate inserts. One for each side on the front and line larger piece for the back. Inserts are mesh and have Velcro to hold them into the vest itself. The inserts consist of interconnected cubes that are filled with plain water and are presealed so you don’t have to deal with filling them up. You can freeze these already in the mesh pockets or the cubes are removable and you can freeze them that way. You just have to deal with inserting them back into the mesh pockets and then placing them back into the vest. The vest is adjustable on the sides using elastic lacing. Zips up front and vest is meant to be worn snugly against skin so you should wear a garment of some type such as a cotton t-shirt underneath so as to not cause possible skin damage from cold such as frost bite. That’s it. It’s very simple. The ice keeps your core temperature low which in turn keeps your remaining temperature low as well. Depending on outside temperature and amount of time working will determine the amount of time the ice lasts in best. I did about 1 1/2 hrs and the ice was completely thawed in some areas but partially frozen still in other areas. I was comfortable the whole time as far as temp went. You can also purchase ice cube sets that are pre-cut to fit each panel of mesh inserts. You can get the additional inserts needed and keep them pre-frozen in freezer or portable ice chest so you do not run out of frozen panels in the middle of working. I purchased a portable chest with compressor so it can get down to -4 degrees C. I can place everything in ice chest to freeze it and keep it frozen until using. This system works in insuring I have a cold ice vest available at all times, one frozen on stand-by already in mesh inserts that only need to be switched out with thawed ice packs and you can have frozen as many sets as you would like. Polyurethane portion is washable in machine. This one and refills are not cheap but they do get the job done and keep you from melting. Using a portable freezer that you have with you and keep pre-frozen ice pack sets in insures you constantly have cooling. You can also find decent, cheap ice chest freezers on Amazon as well.

Heat exhaustion is a really dangerous problem here and have had a lot of very scary health scares and problems with it! This works great! Helps to stay cool and to psychologically not worry as much about overheating! Because of how hot it is, the vest stays good for about an hour if in the direct constant excessive sun/temps so highly recommend getting the vest with the extra ice panels or buying more than one vest. We ended up buying initially one vest and bought another vest with extra ice panels for essentially three rounds of ice vest. Very easy to store in the freezer and freezes quick! Very durable and good quality! Thanks!

Not built for busty women and it smells like chemicals