Boot Heaters.

Hi, anyone use the Hotronic M4 bootheating system? Thinking of setting a set, as I always suffer from cold feet (it's a tall thing..). These seem to be suitable for a custom footbed apprently..

Do they work? Worth the money?

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On Jan 3, 10:13*am, MarkG wrote:
Hi, anyone use the Hotronic M4 bootheating system? *Thinking of setting a set, as I always suffer from cold feet (it's a tall thing..). *These seem to be suitable for a custom footbed apprently..

Do they work? *Worth the money?

I use the older system. Worth every penny I paid. Older I get, the
colder my extremities are. Saves the day when the temps drop and my
feet used to freeze, now I just turn up the heaters a notch. Even
picked up a couple spare batteries for those days I forget to
recharge.

On 2009-01-03 11:13:58 -0700, MarkG said:

Hi, anyone use the Hotronic M4 bootheating system? Thinking of setting
a set, as I always suffer from cold feet (it's a tall thing..). These
seem to be suitable for a custom footbed apprently..

Do they work? Worth the money?

You might want to also look at Thermic heaters, which work great, and
have the advantage of having a remote control. Plus, they are lithium
batteries and weigh nearly nothing. I got mine at Surefoot.

Mike...

--
Breckenridge Ski Photography: http://BreckenridgeSkiPhotos.com
Breckenridge photo ski blog: http://Powderday.us
Carpe powder-diem!

On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:39:16 -0000, Let Mikey Ski It! wrote:

On 2009-01-03 11:13:58 -0700, MarkG said:

Hi, anyone use the Hotronic M4 bootheating system? Thinking of setting
a set, as I always suffer from cold feet (it's a tall thing..). These
seem to be suitable for a custom footbed apprently..
Do they work? Worth the money?

You might want to also look at Thermic heaters, which work great, and
have the advantage of having a remote control. Plus, they are lithium
batteries and weigh nearly nothing. I got mine at Surefoot.

Mike...


I did look at the Therm-ic ones, but they seem to be heading to a more integratred footsole, which means I have to throw my custom footbeds in the bin, and also they are considerably more expensive, for what is essentially the same item. I only get away 1 week a year for skiing, so any solution has to offer value for money, as the use it's going to get is minimal.

Thanks for the replies, I think the Hotronic M4 will suit my needs down to a tee.

The only thing that slightly confuses me, as my custom footbed was heat moulded, won't the heatpad in the M4 soften the moulding of the footbeed around the toes?

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"MarkG" wrote in message
newsp.um760fpsmp8wx7@vistalaptop...
On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:39:16 -0000, Let Mikey Ski It!
wrote:

On 2009-01-03 11:13:58 -0700, MarkG said:

Hi, anyone use the Hotronic M4 bootheating system? Thinking of setting
a set, as I always suffer from cold feet (it's a tall thing..). These
seem to be suitable for a custom footbed apprently..
Do they work? Worth the money?

You might want to also look at Thermic heaters, which work great, and
have the advantage of having a remote control. Plus, they are lithium
batteries and weigh nearly nothing. I got mine at Surefoot.

Mike...


I did look at the Therm-ic ones, but they seem to be heading to a more
integratred footsole, which means I have to throw my custom footbeds in
the bin, and also they are considerably more expensive, for what is
essentially the same item. I only get away 1 week a year for skiing, so
any solution has to offer value for money, as the use it's going to get is
minimal.

Thanks for the replies, I think the Hotronic M4 will suit my needs down to
a tee.

The only thing that slightly confuses me, as my custom footbed was heat
moulded, won't the heatpad in the M4 soften the moulding of the footbeed
around the toes?

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/


I got a couple of quick questions for you: 1. are you wearing cotton socks?
if so stop use ski dedicated socks that do not have cotton in them; 2. are
you wearing thick socks? if so stop use thin socks as the new design ski
boots are well insulated; 3. are you tightening the boots too much? how to
tell leg above boots swells or feet gets tingly when you take the boots off,
if so stop you are cutting off or reducing blood circulation to the feet;
and finally the most important question, when you finish skiing is your boot
interior or socks wet or your boot gets stinky? if so your feet are
perspiring/sweating apply anti-persperant to your feet! You'll be surprised
how effective this works, wet feet are cold feet when skiing.

Hope this helps and also saves you some money in the process.

JQ
Dancing on the edge

MarkG said:

I did look at the Therm-ic ones, but they seem to be heading to a more
integratred footsole, which means I have to throw my custom footbeds in
the bin, and also they are considerably more expensive, for what is
essentially the same item. I only get away 1 week a year for skiing,
so any solution has to offer value for money, as the use it's going to
get is minimal.

Shoot, for one week a year, I wouldn't get heaters. Use the 6-hour
heater chemical packs that fit on your toes and stick to your socks.
$1-2 a day for week, so under $25. Such an investment in Hotronics
would not be worth it - they need to be used more than once a year.

I have Thermics with customer footbeds (and had Hotronics before that).

Mike...

--
Breckenridge Ski Photography: http://BreckenridgeSkiPhotos.com
Breckenridge photo ski blog: http://Powderday.us
Carpe powder-diem!

JQ wrote:
"MarkG" wrote in message
newsp.um760fpsmp8wx7@vistalaptop...
On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:39:16 -0000, Let Mikey Ski It!
wrote:

On 2009-01-03 11:13:58 -0700, MarkG said:

Hi, anyone use the Hotronic M4 bootheating system? Thinking of setting
a set, as I always suffer from cold feet (it's a tall thing..). These
seem to be suitable for a custom footbed apprently..
Do they work? Worth the money?
You might want to also look at Thermic heaters, which work great, and
have the advantage of having a remote control. Plus, they are lithium
batteries and weigh nearly nothing. I got mine at Surefoot.



I got a couple of quick questions for you: 1. are you wearing cotton socks?
if so stop use ski dedicated socks that do not have cotton in them; 2. are
you wearing thick socks? if so stop use thin socks as the new design ski
boots are well insulated; 3. are you tightening the boots too much? how to
tell leg above boots swells or feet gets tingly when you take the boots off,
if so stop you are cutting off or reducing blood circulation to the feet;
and finally the most important question, when you finish skiing is your boot
interior or socks wet or your boot gets stinky? if so your feet are
perspiring/sweating apply anti-persperant to your feet! You'll be surprised
how effective this works, wet feet are cold feet when skiing.

Hope this helps and also saves you some money in the process.

JQ has good advice. To it, I'd add what is arguably the most important
advice:

Wear enough layers to keep your core temperature up. When your body is
having trouble keeping the proper core temp it "starves" the
extremities and your hands and feet get cold. Adding layers to your
mid-section will help with the cold hands/feet thing. So will adding
insulation to your head - I wear two hats on cold days.

There's an old cliche: "If your feet are cold, put on a hat" . It's
very true.

//Walt

On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:59:45 -0000, Let Mikey Ski It! wrote:

MarkG said:

I did look at the Therm-ic ones, but they seem to be heading to a more
integratred footsole, which means I have to throw my custom footbeds in
the bin, and also they are considerably more expensive, for what is
essentially the same item. I only get away 1 week a year for skiing,
so any solution has to offer value for money, as the use it's going to
get is minimal.

Shoot, for one week a year, I wouldn't get heaters. Use the 6-hour
heater chemical packs that fit on your toes and stick to your socks.
$1-2 a day for week, so under $25. Such an investment in Hotronics would
not be worth it - they need to be used more than once a year.

I have Thermics with customer footbeds (and had Hotronics before that).

Mike...


got a link for the chemical packs? All the ones I have seen are bulky and don' fit too well in my boots.

As for the other suggestions, I have decent ski socks, and the boots are no over tightened (I think). th cold feet thing is a tall thing (I am 6f8in tall, and cold feet is a tall thing, along way from the heart down there, I get cold feet even when I am not skiing, but it's 100x worse when skiing...

thanks for all the replies, really helpful advice. I like the anti-persperent one, makes perfect sense, but never heard of it before.

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MarkG wrote:
I like the
anti-persperent one, makes perfect sense, but never heard of it before.


It's been around for longer than I've been skiing, but I've never tried
it myself.

Another common suggestion is cayenne pepper on the toes - it's supposed
to promote blood flow. Again, never tried it myself.

//Walt

MarkG said:

got a link for the chemical packs? All the ones I have seen are bulky
and don' fit too well in my boots.

Su

http://www.rei.com/product/405012

They stick to your socks under your toes and work fine in ski boots.
They are not as bulky as the hand warmers. If it is really cold, you
can put a second one on top of your toes (BTDT).

Mike...

--
Breckenridge Ski Photography: http://BreckenridgeSkiPhotos.com
Breckenridge photo ski blog: http://Powderday.us
Carpe powder-diem!