Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/07/30/wearable-miniature-cooler-warm.html
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Hmm. People wearing these will be pumping heat out into the surrounding environment. I wouldn’t want to be the person not wearing one in a crowded elevator.
On the other hand, perhaps a solution to sexist office thermostats?
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I wouldn’t mind doing a comparison tes of this vs a freezer gel thingy, all the same size.
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One small problem I can see…one has to buy the custom shirts for this to work properly. I would actually prefer to have a coolsuit (available on Amazon!) but that entails dragging around a wheeled cooler making one look like an early astronaut getting into the NASA van during prelaunch, minus the space suit of course.
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Sony, small independent company with limited funds, is crowdfunding a Peltier-based gadget, that is made to be inserted into specially-designed shirts, and connects to your phone…
So many problems with this…
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Rub it in, why don’t you.
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Meh. Wake me up when there’s astronaut-grade liquid cooled underpants available.
Deep Heat has the effect of both cooling and then heating, when rubbed in.
ETA PS - count me as one of the (ironically) disappointed ones because this turned out not to be a BoingBoingStore post.
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More expensive but probably more practical and effective is this device:
Been following it since I saw a prototype at the annual Energy Night at MIT a few years ago. Might even buy one if it every gets below $100.
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Yeah, sew a pocket onto the back of a T-shirt & insert a gel icepack. Think I’ll try that in the next heatwave!
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One of those DIY neck coolers might last longer, but a test of which works better would be helpful.
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I bought one at a store, and they’re great. (Assuming less than super-saturated humidity.)
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they won’t. it uses the Peltier effect. It has no heating element and the temperature change is slight. These things do work, they take advantage of the bundles of thermoreceptors in your neck (or wrist, as in the case of Embr Wave), concentrating a slight increase or decrease of temp to trick your brain into thinking it’s a lot cooler or warmer. It’s like putting a wet washcloth on the back of your neck but without the sloppy wetness.
it’s not that great tbqh. i get a better effect from the back of my neck.
But unlike that gizmo, a wet washcloth doesn’t require batteries, is cheap, can be recycled…
I’ll take sloppy wetness over “you must buy our shirts and use our app” any day.
It’s been a great while, but I recall a TV ‘science’ program wherein a loopy amateur inventor from the UK was promoting the notion that by simply heating one’s head, the rest of the body – naked – would not feel the Winter cold. (!!!) To underscore this, he was shown walking down the street with a clear cylindrical plastic dome over his head, and dressed only in shorts and shoes. The dome had some sort of heater integrated into it. I wasn’t buying it, but I was interested in the fact that passersby appeared, by and large, to ignore him.
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Unless you’re planning for the extremes of space, military-grade should be adequate:
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sadly that’s not always practical, particularly when one is hot for reasons that are not weather-related.
Just how mоist are those on the skin?
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It probably depends on the outer fabric, how much it wicks away from the inner tube of gel. Mine does a good job of staying ■■■■■ without dribbling.
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