woot! again
Fri May 4 01:57:25 EDT 2018
Battery-powered heated insoles, on sale. Could make my winter commutes a lot more comfortable. Fingers and toes have always been the worst problems; this would leave just the fingers. 5-hour run time; I need 2-3 hours/day.
My bike thermometer said 100°F/37.778°C today. That sounds crazy, but the weather has been nothing but crazy the past month. So I'm not in a hurry for the delivery of heated insoles.
Monday 12:27
The insoles shipped today, and should arrive by Thursday. Not the fastest delivery, but I can't imagine using these before November or possibly October, 5 or 6 months.
It occurs to me that my feet are often cold in the house, even in the summer. But warm socks have generally been sufficient to deal with that.
Wednesday 03:24
UPS Ground shipping - lithium-ion batteries? Yes:Powered by rechargeable, built-in lithium-ion Polymer batteries
They don't ship those things on planes....
Fri May 11 03:42 EDT 2018
The insoles arrived Thursday (before I left for work), but I'm just getting a look at them now.
According to the box, there's 5 sizes available:SizeMenWomen
Small 3.5-5 4.5-6
Medium 5.5-7 6.5-8
Large 7.5-9 8.5-10
XLarge 9.5-1110.5-12
XXL11.5-1312.5-14Looking at the woot! page now, large was the only size available, but they didn't say what the corresponding shoe sizes were. I guess I'm lucky - not that I think of my feet as large.
The batteries are in the soles. (Lithium-ion polymer batteries can be quite thin. Look at your cellphone.)
There is a little rubber cover at the heel end. Under that is an on/off switch and a charging port. They take up to 4 hours to charge, and run for up to 5 hours. There are 3 temperature settings: High, (111°F/43.9°C) Medium (100°F/37.8°C), and No Heat. (I've never thought "off" counted as a setting, myself. I guess the rules are different if you allow for no heat with the insoles turned on. And shouldn't Medium be between High and Low?) There is a remote control, uniquely paired to each pair of insoles. (Bluetooth, I expect.) At No Heat the battery drain is about 2%/hr, and for Medium we can infer 20%/hr; no info about High. So No Heat gives you the convenience of conserving the battery without having to remove the insoles to get to the on/off switch. You still have to remove them to plug them in for charging.
The remote also has a battery (a CR2032, same as my bike speedometer), expected to last about 2 years.
There's also a wall charger, a drawstring travel bag, and a lanyard (for the remote).
These could make my winter bike commutes much less unpleasant.
Sunday 14:20
I charged the insoles yesterday and put a pair in my slippers. The air conditioning was on and I was cold, and my feet were very cold. I could feel the heat from the insoles, but they really just made me more aware that my feet were cold. Perhaps they put out enough heat to keep feet warm, but not to warm up cold feet?
By the time I went to bed, my feet were comfortable - but the A/C had shut off (probably because it was cooler outside). And the insoles weren't doing anything; the batteries had run out.
And maybe none of this is relevant to bicycling at 20°F/-7°C.
I'm wondering how long these will last before the batteries fail. They're essentially disposable single-purpose computers. Minimal user interface (on/off switch, LED, charging socket). They're not designed for replacing the battery, or any kind of repair. But it occurs to me - shoe insoles - they could get smelly/funky/gross long before they fail. You've got to remove them from the shoes for charging, so they're not like insoles that you forget about. And there's "stuff" in them, so they're not like regular insoles designed around providing ergonomic support; they're weird to walk on. (But I mostly won't be walking on them. I have regular shoes at the office to wear.)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/981095.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Battery-powered heated insoles, on sale. Could make my winter commutes a lot more comfortable. Fingers and toes have always been the worst problems; this would leave just the fingers. 5-hour run time; I need 2-3 hours/day.
My bike thermometer said 100°F/37.778°C today. That sounds crazy, but the weather has been nothing but crazy the past month. So I'm not in a hurry for the delivery of heated insoles.
Monday 12:27
The insoles shipped today, and should arrive by Thursday. Not the fastest delivery, but I can't imagine using these before November or possibly October, 5 or 6 months.
It occurs to me that my feet are often cold in the house, even in the summer. But warm socks have generally been sufficient to deal with that.
Wednesday 03:24
UPS Ground shipping - lithium-ion batteries? Yes:Powered by rechargeable, built-in lithium-ion Polymer batteries
They don't ship those things on planes....
Fri May 11 03:42 EDT 2018
The insoles arrived Thursday (before I left for work), but I'm just getting a look at them now.
According to the box, there's 5 sizes available:SizeMenWomen
Small 3.5-5 4.5-6
Medium 5.5-7 6.5-8
Large 7.5-9 8.5-10
XLarge 9.5-1110.5-12
XXL11.5-1312.5-14Looking at the woot! page now, large was the only size available, but they didn't say what the corresponding shoe sizes were. I guess I'm lucky - not that I think of my feet as large.
The batteries are in the soles. (Lithium-ion polymer batteries can be quite thin. Look at your cellphone.)
There is a little rubber cover at the heel end. Under that is an on/off switch and a charging port. They take up to 4 hours to charge, and run for up to 5 hours. There are 3 temperature settings: High, (111°F/43.9°C) Medium (100°F/37.8°C), and No Heat. (I've never thought "off" counted as a setting, myself. I guess the rules are different if you allow for no heat with the insoles turned on. And shouldn't Medium be between High and Low?) There is a remote control, uniquely paired to each pair of insoles. (Bluetooth, I expect.) At No Heat the battery drain is about 2%/hr, and for Medium we can infer 20%/hr; no info about High. So No Heat gives you the convenience of conserving the battery without having to remove the insoles to get to the on/off switch. You still have to remove them to plug them in for charging.
The remote also has a battery (a CR2032, same as my bike speedometer), expected to last about 2 years.
There's also a wall charger, a drawstring travel bag, and a lanyard (for the remote).
These could make my winter bike commutes much less unpleasant.
Sunday 14:20
I charged the insoles yesterday and put a pair in my slippers. The air conditioning was on and I was cold, and my feet were very cold. I could feel the heat from the insoles, but they really just made me more aware that my feet were cold. Perhaps they put out enough heat to keep feet warm, but not to warm up cold feet?
By the time I went to bed, my feet were comfortable - but the A/C had shut off (probably because it was cooler outside). And the insoles weren't doing anything; the batteries had run out.
And maybe none of this is relevant to bicycling at 20°F/-7°C.
I'm wondering how long these will last before the batteries fail. They're essentially disposable single-purpose computers. Minimal user interface (on/off switch, LED, charging socket). They're not designed for replacing the battery, or any kind of repair. But it occurs to me - shoe insoles - they could get smelly/funky/gross long before they fail. You've got to remove them from the shoes for charging, so they're not like insoles that you forget about. And there's "stuff" in them, so they're not like regular insoles designed around providing ergonomic support; they're weird to walk on. (But I mostly won't be walking on them. I have regular shoes at the office to wear.)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/981095.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]