I’ve been wearing Milwaukee heated gear for a few years now. On the snowiest of days I still wear an old North Face jacket that’s in dire need of replacement, and on more in-and-out days I like a lighter jacket. But from October through maybe April, if I’ll be outdoors for more than a few minutes, I will more often than not have a Milwaukee label somewhere on my sweatshirt or jacket.
I keep charged batteries at the ready, but a lot of the time I don’t even need them – Milwaukee has done a great job creating lightweight but warm outerwear.
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Today I tried on the new heated hooded sweatshirt for the first time. The battery pocket was a little noticeable-feeling, but I quickly forgot about it once I started moving about. I’ll have to load it with different size batteries to see if this is a constant annoyance. All I wore underneath the sweatshirt was a t-shirt.
I also noticed the perfect cuffs. They weren’t too loose, or too tight, they were just perfectly sized. This helps keep wind and water out (it’s raining today), and is also important when you’re working around power tools. You don’t want huge sleeves flapping in the wind where they could get caught and wrapped around a drill bit or worse.
Milwaukee says this about the latest generation of heated hoodie sweatshirts:
Drastically improving upon previous generation, the new M12™ Heated Hoodie lineup delivers key durability enhancements and an all-new cut. Reinforced front pocket edges protect from fraying and tearing, and extend life.
A fitted hood designed to be worn under a hard hat and a new integrated battery pocket increases user comfort when worn on the job.
A waffle weave thermal lining works together with M12™ heat technology to generate and keep head around the chest and back for up to 6 hours.
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The new M12™ Heated Hoodie lineup comes in colors red, black, and gray.
I’ll have to unpack last year’s heated hoodie – which I also loved very much – for comparison.
Milwaukee says that the new hoodies are drastically improved, and they very well might be, but last year’s hoodies, and the previous year’s, were darned good.
If you can find older generation hoodies at a discount, you’ll love ’em. If you want the latest and greatest, go for this year’s.
I haven’t yet unpacked the new heated jacket yet. Er… hold on a second.
OH, okay. It’s not a heated jacket, it’s an outer shell that pairs well with the sweatshirt. (I think.) Maybe that gives you get the 3-in-1 functionality shown above.
Nope. There’s no internal zipper or way to control the hoodie’s heated elements. So it’s just a non-heated outer jacket, but don’t take that “just” part the wrong way.
I was extremely surprised by the feel of the outer shell. It’s a little stiff, feeling both tough and weather resistant. It feels like what a super-premium tool bag might feel like. It was a little baggy in the chest areas, and a tiny bit loose in the sleeves. This makes sense, as it’s meant to pair with a regular hooded sweatshirt to create a warm and very durable combo. Or maybe a heated sweatshirt, if you don’t care about having access to the heating controls after you zip up.
The new GridIron outer jacket shell felt like the toughest material in my closet, except for maybe whatever my work boots are made out of.
My North Face is a 3-in-1, and I love it dearly. Last year my winter outerwear choices were a North Face lightweight Thermoball mini bubble jacket, my North Face 3-in-1 jacket, and Milwaukee heated jacket.
The new North Face 3-in-1’s that come with semi-Thermoball inner jackets aren’t as fully insulated as the standalone Thermoball jackets. I have worn my North Face 3-in-1 as separate components, but not for a while. I bought that jacket more than a decade ago, and have since picked up some very nice lightweight jackets when outdoors conditions don’t call for ultimate warmth.
I ended up wearing the Thermoball as often as I could, because of how lightweight and packable it was. Prior to my son entering daycare, I took him in and out of a lot of places, and a heavy jacket would have been more cumbersome than anything else.
With bulkiness in mind, I have never found Milwaukee’s jackets to be heavy or bulky. I suppose they lacked a certain level of durability that some users might want. I don’t think anyone will be able to complain about the GridIron material found in Milwaukee’s hooded jacket and 3-in-1 jacket.
After looking up the details for the hooded jacket, 252B, I didn’t see any mention of pairing it with a heated hoodie. There’s also only one set of zippers, with no way to pair the hooded sweatshirt to the outer jacket shell. This isn’t quite the same as what you get if you buy the 3-in-1 combo, 251B.
For the kinds of stuff I do, my choice would be for the Milwaukee M12 hooded sweatshirt, or the traditional M12 heated jacket. Actually, I’d probably also be okay with a non-heated sweatshirt and traditional heated jacket.
The 3-in-1 seems like a great choice if you’ll be outside for long stretches of time. A regular hoodie or good base layer would pair well with the new hooded jacket, for those who don’t want to mess around with battery packs. The heated jackets are an all around good choice, except for maybe workers who HAVE to be outside in the worst and harshest weather. For such users, the 3-in-1 would probably also be the best choice.
This post somewhat spiraled out of control. I’ll have more detailed posts on the new heated gear once I sort through the finer details and have worn them all a bit more.
Rather than go back and smooth out the post, I left it as-is, to serve as a reminder that not all Milwaukee jackets are heated. When I first opened up the jacket, I was confused as to why there was no M12 power port, or a place to put it.
I also escaped my main point, about how I really like Milwaukee’s heated gear. I’m going to go dig out the heated jacket sample from last year. Not that I’ll need it yet – this heated hoodie will likely keep me warm until winter officially hits.
It’s a little confusing, even for me, to sort out the differences between each year’s heated offerings. But one thing I do know is this – you can’t go wrong, whatever you choose.
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Blythe M
I still need to try one of these, look really nice. Only general advice I have for this topic is if you’re going to spend any amount of time if the cold/wind that a hood is a must. Keeping your neck, ears, and head warm will do wonders for your perceived warmth. Worked in New York for a while forming multi-story concrete buildings. This meant always windy, and also always in a fall protection harness. Jackets we’re too bulky under a harness, but a waffle weave hoodie with hood up under the hardhat- plus keeping moving- was enough 90% of the time
Stuart
I’ve been wearing a neck gaiter for a few years, and beanie hat.
I guess under a hard hat a hood makes much better sense.
But the gaiter has been great.
Koko The Talking Ape
I’d second the recommendation for a neck gaiter or “buff.” They can be worn in several different ways, including as a hat, and they aren’t unwieldy, as hoods can sometimes be. Of course, it isn’t rainproof.
There are also full head masks, but they are expensive and easy to get out of alignment, in my experience.
Bremon
I have no experience with the jackets but I have several heated hoodies, and this year’s do look to be an improvement. I generally wear them under a carhartt jacket and they work great.
Charles
Where’s the link?
Stuart
Sorry, https://www.milwaukeetool.com/heated-gear
Dacan
When I unpacked my first heated hoodie I was impressed at the clothing quality, heating is great, but its a high quality piece of clothing. Even $75 Under Armour or Nike sweatshirts are not this quality. I now have 2 hoodies and 2 jackets on the coat rack and the wife is getting a heated ladies jacket for xmas this year. Gave my nephew a heated camo jacket for his birthday, hoodie this year for xmas and another friend a heated hoodie earlier. Everyone I introduce to the gear love them.
Adam
I have last years jacket, and saw this years model on display a couple weeks ago. From what I briefly remember, is that the pocket is roomier in the back, so you could actually use a M18 battery if you wanted; and the outer material did seem ‘tougher.’ I have no idea if it is the same material Stuart mentioned on the shell.
The hoodies & jackets are on display at Home Depot already.
Adam
Out of all the tools/acc, I did wish they included the new 3.0ah compact battery with this, at least it makes the most sense to me. I never really noticed a 1.5/2ah packs, but did with the 3/4ah’s when driving, or the wrong chair.
50% extra runtime in the same space, would have got me to buy another jacket
Andy
My first experience with Milwaukee heated gear was with their heated vest. It’s great for layering in the fall, winter, and spring. The heat it gives off is a much needed moral boost when it gets to -30C and added windchill bring the temperature even lower.
However, while the outer materials of the vest were durable, the inner fleece lining has been coming off due to abrasion from shirts and belts. And this was from 2-3 months of wear and washing. The 3 in 1 jacket seems to use the same material for the inner liner, which does hold great confidence for me in terms of durability.
Despite that, I still snagged a Milwaukee Realtree Jacket kit at Home Depot over the Spring for about $120 CAD, which is a steal in my opinion. Hopefully, it’s more durable than the vest.
Chip
FYI I have the 2013 heated hoodies, and flew from Fla to PA wearing it, (made sure to tell tsa before I made it to security) and had no problems then… Your experience may vary.
And yes had the 1.5 battery, checking @ gate said it was OK, but best to check.
Oleg Kuperman
I love Milwaukee, I love their heated gear and own both the brand new jacket and a hoodie, this year’s models. I love their base layers and the gloves they make! Never tried or saw the non heated jacket but I’m pretty sure that given the quality of all the other garments it’s just as well thought out and robust quality-wise.
Having said that, I have to mention that not including the USB chargers with the hoodie and the vest is a dick move, seriously, I returned the vest because of that move alone! Why not include a USB charger and, instead, spend money, manufacturing a battery holder without a battery gauge or a USB port?! And we’re talking about a vest, garment with no sleeves, something that costs way cheaper to design and manufacture than a jacket, a heated garment that costs only $30 less than the jacket despite much lower procurement cost, how can they be so cheap??? I have like 8 batteries and USB chargers from the previous purchases, an extra charger isn’t the problem here, I just came to expect a lot more from Milwaukee, that’s all. Same goes for the hoodie and its ridiculously-placed battery holding pocket – $150 for the kit and no USB charger? They didn’t even use nylon on the hoodie, it’s a regular $30 cold weather hoodie with a heating element built in, where did they go so broke with it not to be able to include a stupid USB charger?
The reason I’m pissed is not because I will miss out on the important phone calls, no, it’s the BATTERY GAUGE! THEY TOOK AWAY THE BATTERY GAUGE in their attempt for us to buy the (now) optional accessorie… Which will now backfire, because we, consumers, aren’t stupid, we can just buy the hoodie alone and then buy the good battery holder by itself with the USB and battery-gauge from ebay for $10. Nobody carries 3 batteries with them, they’re too heavy. I think Milwaukee made a huge mistake with this penny pinching, as much as I love the company all i can do is shrug in disappointment.
Oleg Kuperman
Forgot to add that the 3 in 1 is a misfit of a jacket, I had it last year (gave it away) because the inner jacket was too cold to wear by itself, even with the heating element on, it was NOT waterproof and, even though Milwaukee often has some tough dude covered in dust and dirt on a picture attached to the jacket for us to see and believe just how tough it is, well, the biggest challenge I had is trying to get the dirt off the outer shell once I got it on. Not even dirt – dust, dust is the 3-in1’s biggest enemy.
Also, the good felt enormous, the material that the inner jacket is made out of would collect anything that wasn’t 100% smooth, basically, I liked it because it would really not rip even under the toughest of tests of the construction site but it was uncomfortable, cumbersome, maintenance-intensive in terms of trying to get it clean (or even semi-clean) and the stupid nylon melted after spending 40 minutes inside the dryer, put on “medium”. I’ve done most of these things with the regular heated jacket that I just got this year and not a single issue! Maybe the gridiron 9000 or whatever it’s called is not all that Milwaukee thought it would be or maybe it’s just me, who knows. I’m sticking with the jacket, hoodie and a non-heated base layer plus the demo gloves for the foreseeable future.
KL
Took a look at the 252B, I can’t really get behind the giant elastic band at the bottom
David C Johnson
I bought this new 3 in 1 and it’s stupid warm. The material is very sturdy-feeling. It is worth noting this is 2 pieces of clothing, a rugged heated coat and a hard outer shell. My only wish is that they zipped together to form 1 “piece.” I honestly think $250 for a sturdy construction-grade winter coat is well worth it, especially since it’s heated. I did buy the compact 3.0 ah battery separately for this. I have been meaning to run a couple tests to see how long the battery lasts on the different heat settings.
Im 5’10”, 145 lbs and the medium fits perfectly.
David C Johnson
ps…it also has an unadvertised slot for a headphone cable from one of the inner pockets to near the neck line, which is great for drowning out the retard apprentices.
Man_With_Plan
I have a question on the new milwaukee heated jacket is their some type of port for charging your phone and using your jacket at the same time. (but the thing is I want the phone to be in an exterior pocket as USB cord is nicely tucked away somewhere in the jacket.
Man_With_Plan
I mean it seems with all the pockets they would have some port for charging your phone and using the heat at the same time.
Jason
I just want to know what he difference is between the gridiron works she’ll and the regular hooded jacket? Pictures of the work shell jacket show it having red zipper on the inside and the logos being in different spots, actually the jacket all together looks entirely different then the hooded jacket. But I can’t seem to find the gridiron work shell for sale by itself. I like it better then the hooded jacket. Is it only an item that can be bought with the heated axis jacket??? This question is bothering me immensely because I cannot get an answer.
Stuart
The one with the red zipper is a layering system with separate inner liner and outer jacket. As far as I am aware, that Gridiron work shell from this product is not available separately.