July 26, 2024

What is the right cooling vest for you, the UltraCool, RallyWrap, or UnderCool 3?

The easiest way to answer this question is with another question. (Don't you hate that??)

Are you playing pickleball, sitting at a baseball game, or wearing PPE, or a full-body costume? Different activities have different demands, and our cooling gear is designed and made to fulfill those requirements, for example:

For Pickleball, we recommend Undercool 3 with ExtendedCool Cooling Packs
Watching a baseball game, we recommend RallyWrap
For PPE or costumes, we recommend UltraCool

THINGS TO CONSIDER

Cooling Power

How much does the heat bother you? Some people are more sensitive to heat than others, age and medical conditions can dramatically impact how well our bodies tolerate heat. How well has your body acclimated to the heat? These personal traits help determine how much cooling your vest should provide.

Level of Activity

What activities are you doing when wearing your cooling vest? Do you need to wear it daily for the ends and out of going to the grocery store and errands? Is the cooling vest to help assist exercise or improve performance? What kind of movement do you want to do? How tight do you need the vest to do what you want? The attributes of cooling vests are very different for jogging compared to driving a dump truck without a/c.

Tip: Please note that ThermApparel Cooling Vests should fit snugly like yoga pants because the contact of our Cooling Packs to the skin/body provides the cooling. A baggie-fitting vest will not offer any cooling.

Time of Cooling

After you know what you want to do, like an all-day event, outdoor music festival, or going for a quick walk, the next question is how long do you need the cooling to last to do whatever you want?

Weight

To answer the question of what the right amount of weight is, let us combine all three of the above questions. What are your physical capabilities? Is carrying four pounds difficult? How about carrying that same four pounds for ten minutes, one hour, or four hours? Your physical prowess is significant because the longer the cooling lasts, the more weight the cooling product will be.

For example, the UltraCool Cooling Vest lasts the longest, up to 4 hours, weighing three pounds and ten ounces, compared to the UnderCool 3 Cooling Vest with SlimCool packs, which last an hour and a half and only weighs one pound eight ounces.

Now, let us couple that with the activity you want to do. If you need to be agile and are only active for an hour, like tennis or pickleball, the lightweight UnderCool 3 with ExtendedCool Cooling Packs is the way to go. If you are covered head to toe without airflow, the cooling power of UltraCool is more important than weight.

The posted cooling times above are measured with low to medium activity levels in the lower to middle 90°F's. If you use the vest in extreme conditions, the cooling will be reduced by the severity of the situation, like full PPE in the Los Vegas summer or running a marathon.

TIP: Can you take breaks? If you can, get an extra set of ThermApparel Cooling Packs and switch out the warmed-up packs for a freshly cooled set from a cooler with ice water. By doing this, cooling times become a moot point because you can keep switching out the Cooling Packs from the cooler. You can recharge all the Cooling Packs in 30 min in ice water, that's faster than the other set will melt!!

THERMAPPAREL COOLING VESTS COME IN 3 FORMS

UltraCool:

Provides the most cooling power by having twice as many Cooling Packs as the UnderCool 3, and the Cooling Packs go all around the lower torso for 360 degrees of cooling, it's on the heavier side of the scale but still allows for comfort and freedom of movement. For PPE, Mascots, Furry's, Santa's, Costumers, Cosplay, Ren Festivals, Theater, Film/TV, Haunters, Factory workers, Warehouses, or any time you have to be outside in the sun all day when weight is not a concern and cooling is the utmost priority UltraCool is your top pick.

RallyWap:

Quick, and easy is the best description for this large belt. Wrap around your torso, close tight, and let the cooling begin. Another advantage of RallyWrap is that it can go anywhere on the body. You don't have to wear it around your waist; put it on your legs, over your shoulder, you pick. Examples include sitting in the stands, using a wheelchair, and activities where a cooling vest is impractical. You can quickly put RallyWrap on and take it off, like between innings in baseball, or use it on your shoulder, back, knee, or while lying down.

UnderCool 3:

The do anything go anywhere vest. UnderCool 3 is a lightweight, comfortable, hidden alternative to other bulky cooling vest options for people with heat intolerance issues due to medical reasons and has become the standard in lightweight cooling for an active lifestyle.

This vest has the option of ultra-lightweight SlimCool Cooling Packs or longer-lasting ExtendedCool Cooling Packs. We generally do not recommend SlimCool Cooling Packs for heavy-duty activities. For situations when concealable is the absolute priority or weight is an issue, nothing can compare, like a singer suffering from the hot lights on stage, or a wheelchair user that needs something super lightweight.

The primary Cooling Pack for UnderCool 3 is ExtendedCool. This Cooling Pack is the perfect blend of lightweight and cooling power. Examples of what our customers like to do in their UnderCoo l3 with ExtendedCool Cooling Packs are golf, tennis, pickleball, cycling, hiking, jobs (bartending to electricians, security), horseback riding, gardening, keeping up with the kids, costuming and acting.

Extra Cooling

Remember, you can add extra cooling with our Cooling Accessories, Grab-n-Go, CoolSleve, and Headband. These offer short bursts of extra cooling power, especially right after that game. They are great for pre-cooling and post-cooling. These products will increase your performance by reducing fatigue and speeding up recovery.

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