Heater Body Suit
 

I watch Jim Shockey and his Yukon guides on TV and they swear by this thing called the Heater Body Suit. Does anyone own won, and, if so, does it work as well as it claims to? Thanks to anyone providing help
BigBuck95 :cool15:

Nope. Too expensive and not necessary for me.

It's nothing but a sleeping bag with sleeves, and not much better than one of those silly Snuggie pieces of crap they sell on tv. Go find some Arctic Shield gear, it's lightweight and warm as toast. I work outdoors a lot, and AS bibs have me sweating sometimes. I have to take off my coat occasionally even when temps are in the teens.

They are just a sleeping bag with legs and suspenders. If I were to hunt in negative temperatures, I would just buy a minus 20 sleeping bag and wrap my legs and torso in it.

Will

None of the people who have responded have one. I have one. They are awesome! Wouldn't go hunting without it and totally worth the money IMHO if you hunt where it's cold. They will last forever & you'll be glad you got one every time you zip in and enjoy being warm! And one secret benefit - you'll shoot better because you won't have a ton of bulky clothes on when you go to take the shot!

I have had one for 4/5 years now and have used it very little. I found it easy to wear and get out of for the shot. However, I have not found it to be the cure-all for being cold. Then again I get cold very easily. Forgot that my son-in-law has one and he swears by it as being warm.
Jim

it rarely gets that cold down here to justify buying one. the coldest i can remember hunting in is around 8 or 12. of course, that was with little wind. i can't speak from having used it, but the biggest turn off for me (just by looking at it) would have to be that the fact it looks hard to get out of quickly. some times, you only have seconds to make that decision to take an animal.

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i use kids camo sleeping bag for 15 dollars at wal-mart.i use clip on suspenders to hold them up above my shoulders or under my arms .you want kids bag because its right length,regular bag is too long.
send me a pm if you dont understand how i use mine.........

heater body suit
 

we have video on you tube on heater suit. just do google of HEATER BODY SUIT VRS WARMBAG.
now, HBS is great. its not perfect, what is?
its quality and built in usa and VERY warm.its comfortable, you dont need to wear heavy jacket.

THATS GREAT IN ITSELF, NO MORE HEAVY FEELING.your hands stay warm and your feet.

now here are not perfect things.you let heat out a little when you pull zipper down. not a big problem but brrrrrrrrr,if its cold out.
it is bulky and you have to practice getting in it in a climbing treestand.
thats it.
its worth it as all clothes and boots we wear cost more than that and you will still not be as COMFORTABLE in wind/rain etc as being inside a HBS.

you all know i would not rec something that is not nice. HBS is, its not perfect but a very nice to have.i am getting older and cant take cold like i used too.tried everything.this thing is real nice in a tree or sitting on stump.
but i went with WARMBAG but your topic was HBS......

I have one and love it!!!! Its works great and is well built. Easy to carry, it keeps you warm no matter how cold it is.

Hatchet Jack

take your HBS suit to amish.have them cut holes in side for your arms to come out.go to the fabric shop in wal-mart and buy MAGNETS .sew the magnets into openings.

this way you will not need zipper to open the sides to get your arms out.
DO THIS AND YOU WILL HAVE BEST SUIT AND WARMEST .........


sproul has spoken...........:groupwave:

You will be able to shoot a lot better using the HBS as is. Have you tried shooting with a huge jacket sticking out from your chest? It's not easy, and I don't know why you would want to open up the sides to wind and whatnot just to be able to take your arms out a different way.

I've shot multiple deer with my HBS on, and have never been picked off opening up the front to grab my bow. Seems that this is a popular thread for people who don't own a HBS to comment on how it could be better, why it's so expensive, etc... If you want to spend a few hours driving around, cutting holes in this, sewing that, and whatnot to finally end up with a workable, yet inferior product, it's fine. I am more than happy to pay for quality shipped to my door, and the HBS delivers. Period.

respectfully, but WHO WANTS TO LET OUT ALL YOUR HOT AIR LIKE THE HEATER BODY SUIT does when you open it.at 15 degrees with wind blowing,i might be out of suit holding my bow/gun waiting for shot on a buck 15 MINUTES.

THATS NOT FOR ME...brrrrrrrrrrr,we TESTED both the HBS/WB...go onto to you tube and enter HEATER BODY SUIT VRS WARMBAG ..watch video. that is SOME of our testing..................
soooooooooooooo,sproul is no rookie on what is with these suits and 46 yrs hunting bucks,a lot on a plywood board in a tree,haha.
i talked to tom schneider many times on this.he is owner of HBS ,i also talk to owner of WARMBAG ,his name is joe light.
both very nice people,the best.

both suits have their good/bad.i just listed the BAD on the HBS.remember the purpose of HBS is so you can dress lightly.the HBS is warmest suit out there,NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT..........

TAKE CARE ,SPROUL

IF it ain't broke, why fix it. I have no problem shooting. I did have my taylor sew five inside pockets to fit large hand warmers. You will not get cold in this thing, even if you unzip and zip back up. Between the hand warmers and body heat your warm in no time. Not a bad idea though sproulman!

Hatchet Jack

sproul has now invented a new heater suit.its called WBHBS INFERNO suit.warmbag top on the heater body suit bottom.
:groupwave:

Love my Heater Body Suit.
Once the temps drop below 30, I break out the HBS.
One of the better investments I've made.


John

yes, they are nice. i use the WARMBAG at 50 degrees hunting archery here in fall in pa. with very little clothes on.same could be used on HBS too.it rains a lot in archery.i never have right rain gear when it rains.
so WARMBAG is great for me when i know it may rain,i just leave the zipper open on front before it rains to stay cool and wear just camo pants/shirt.rain starts i close it or sit out of it..

this saves me buying raingear for early archery which is always clamy inside on you.

the WARMBAG i can stay dry without tight clamy feeling in rain.

i just ordered one as i boweered the one i am using now.

it was 250 without shipping...........take care sproul

HBS is being used a lot in my area.some are using it for duck hunting, they lay right on ground and shoot up at ducks in snow.
HBS is built heavier than the WB.it is more expensive about 60 dollars but is built better.

i like WB but both are nice.i coyote hunt in nasty weather in winter and this helps sitting on ground.both owners are nice people and both give good warranty............

HBS is made in USA,WB is made in VIETNAM.......

I bought the HBS, hasn't arrived yet but i look forward to testing it. If i don't stay warm im sending it back as per their guarantee. I don't think I will get cold though :)

Sewing the small pockets for hand warmers was a great idea! I also found that the therma care body warmers worked even better then hand warmers. They stay hot for 8 hours! find the wallgreens brands and its cheaper :) i only use these when its below zero...

hbs
 

i dont believe you will be cold.i dont own the HBS but i never heard of anyone getting cold.
i have WARMBAG and its warm too.

I have had a HBS for about 10 years, only use it when it gets cold 15 or colder. Works real well at keeping me warm. Very easy to get out of and shoot, bow or gun. I like it better than getting all bundled up, much easier to shoot. Never had a problem warming up again after opening seems to warm right back up.

Why Not?
 

I do not have dogs in this fight but, I am curious. You can buy a good sleeping bag for way less than $250. A couple of bucks for waterproofing if not already so.

Why not use that and save money? You may have to do a couple of mods but, they did so on the HBS with the heater pockets, etc.

for years i used a WAL-MART JUNIOR SLEEPING BAG.
i put suspenders on it and it worked fine.
cost me 16 dollars and is CAMO too.
only problem it was not wind proof.not bad tho as you said.
water proof it was not also but usually you only use bag in cold, so no rain.

you are right.
i have WARMBAG .i like holes out the side.i like idea i can walk into woods and out wearing the warmbag.it is windproof and water proof.
other than that,YOU ARE RIGHT.
16 dollars vrs 350 for HBS .but HBS can go to below zero, so can sleeping bags too but they will cost over 100 to do so.

but i have a WARMBAG and like it.

Even at $100 plus, still a bargain! I can do the sewing stuff myself. No cost there. All I need is a can of spray waterproofing and a few days to air out the smell. Maybe some cover scent for those picky deer.

^^ You're missing the point for wanting a warmbag. A warmbag will allow you to sit hours on end up in a tree stand in sub zero temp, waiting for a deer, doing no physical work. You're sweating because you're moving, doing physical work on the ground. Two different scenarios...

Well it finally got cold enough for me to adequately try out my HBS. I will say trying to put it on in the tree stand takes a little getting used to. Trick is put your right foot in first, this is the non zippered leg, then the left go’s in very easily as the zipper runs to the bottom of that leg. After that I pull it up, throw the suspenders on, and make sure you don’t miss the bottom snap button (keeps the suits zipper from going down to far when you come out to shoot).

Today I went out this morning and the temp was around 29F with a slight NW breeze at 730am. Around 1030a the wind suddenly picked up to 15mph with gusts to 20 mph according to the local airport ½ mile from me. I waited until I was as cold as I could stand to be before I put the suit on. After a few minutes in the suit I started to feel like I was warming back up. I really liked that the suit was breaking the wind and keeping the warmth inside. I was able to stay out from 730a-1230p with not many issues. My feet got wet as I walked in, shouldn’t have walked through the marsh like did and wont next time so my feet were a bit on the cool side but that was my only discomfort. I know that if I hadn’t worn the suit my feet would have been numb within 2 hours of the hunt and would have sent me to the truck. Had my feet stayed dry I think I would have been better off and ill be sure to not make this novice mistake again. (also need better boots)

Around 830a 4 doe’s appeared about 80 yards up wind, figuring a buck was following I quietly and easily unzipped, stood up, and grabbed the bow. The suit naturally fell off my shoulders and I was ready. The deer came to with in 5 yds of my stand, one standing right at the ladder. They stayed for 30 min looking at me and wind checking. Since they were so close I couldn’t make a flinch. This time out of the suit was the coldest I had ever been the whole hunt! Finally the doe’s moved and I was relieved to crawl back in. To my amazement I eventually stopped shivering and warmed back up. Having deer that close and then being able to warm back up was a great feeling. It was then obvious to me that the suit keeps more heat in then it lets out which is the key.

As I sat for the rest of the hunt I was pretty content operating the zipper to bleat, grunt, and use the range finder.

My watch said 1230p when I decided to head out and I really didn’t feel like I had to leave due to being cold. I was more hungry then anything, I remember dreading crawling out of the suit to roll it up and that allowed me to delay my departure a few extra minutes. In the past when I got cold I couldn’t wait to get out of the timber.

I’m sure a sleeping bag of either high or low quality would defiantly help but I would say a lot of body heat would escape out of the top of the bag, (convection) plus not having the wind proofing would have been an issue for me to day. At this point I don’t see how I could leave home with out the HBS.

Always where a safety harness when wearing this!

I am glad it works for you but I can't believe that 29 is considered cold. I thought you were going to say it was in the teens or lower. I hunt below freezing and even into the teens and can stay warm enough without the HBS. The best investment I ever made was in a pair of insulated bibs and a new hunting coat. I have an Arctic Shield coat from Bass Pro, a Field & Stream inuslated bib plus I wear long johns and a fleece under the coat. With that and a good hat I stay much warmer than I ever use to in cold weather.

You mentioned your feet got wet, are your boots not waterproof? Also, what kind of socks were you wearing? Wool socks keep their warmth even when wet but I would say it is best not to get your feet wet anyway.

29 was mainly cold because of the stiff blowing right into my face and I didn’t wear many clothes in to the timber as I wanted to test the HBS. I figure a few less layers at 29F with 20 mph wind would come close to the 0F with the same wind. Either way that wind was definitely pulling the heat away a lot quicker.

I don’t think 29F is very extreme but it was the coldest day we have had so far. Very mild for Iowa this time of year. Been a hot summer and a mild fall.

My boots are supposed to be water proof as they have gore-tex but they do seep when I walk through standing water. I had on just a liner sock. My feet sweat all the time and when I wear wool they sweat even more. Having cold feet was my main reason of buying the HBS as I have literally tried everything to deal with cold feet. Rubber boots, liner and wool socks, liners only, wools only, cotton, plastic bags in my boots then put on dry socks once I got to my stand, sprayed my feet with unscented antiperspirant… nothing works as my feet constantly sweat. I came to realize that keeping my core body temp up was the only way.

Ive hunted in -30 before and that will be the real test. Hope I get my deer before that though LOL.

used mine over the weekend, 8 deg plus windchill on saturday and sat for 5 hours in morning no problem, definitely better than being all bundled up.