Ororo Heated Classic Vest
Puffer Vest
Rating
| Rating: | 8.5 / 10 |
| Value for Money | 1.7 / 2 |
| Comfort | 1.7 / 2 |
| Weight | 1.6 / 2 |
| Durability | 1.6 / 2 |
| Warmth | 1.9 / 2 |
Ororo Heated Classic Vest Review
When Gill and I were first approached about testing Ororo heated clothing I’ll be honest I had some preconceived ideas about the outcome but in all honesty these vests surprised us.
In my case I try to get my clothing as light as possible and that goes for anytime of the year including during the colder seasons so why then choose a vest rather than a full puffer jacket? I will always choose a jacket on a long distance hike but on shorter day hikes and from a casual perspective, I will typically wear a vest in all but the coolest conditions. That is because it is my core that I try to keep warm without overheating my arms unless I know it is going to be really cold. In addition if I’m doing a multi week hike I will usually be carrying a large power bank such as the Belkin BoostCharge 26K and I will use every spare bit of capacity to run my phone, GPS watch, Satellite communicator, camera, and headlamp so I’m unlikely to want to add another power drain such as a heated vest battery. Having said that I see the benefit of a garment such as this one on shorter hikes lasting a day or two particularly when it’s on the cooler side.
Battery aside lets look at this vest by itself – we found this vest keeps you toasty and warm. This vest is a synthetic filled garment with a water resistant shell so will keep you warm even if the battery goes flat through extended use or you decide to opt to use it as a standalone battery free garment and even then. The battery pack itself is relatively compact and has a capacity 4800 mAh and will run this vest on three different power settings with the following durations:
- High – 3 hours (55 degrees CelCius)
- Medium – 6 hours (45 degrees Celcius)
- Low – 10 hours (38 degrees Celcius)
When I first wore this vest I had it on the high setting which is the default start point and it generated a fair amount of heat within a matter of minutes. So unless it is freezing cold I’m inclined to use the high setting to generate the initial heat in very cool conditions and then drop the setting down to low to maintain the heat for an extended period. The ‘on’ button is the Ororo chest logo (see image below) – you just press and hold the button for a few seconds (three seconds) and the logo turns red to indicate that its on high heat. By pressing the button again you can adjust the temperature to one of the lower settings. This is a similar heating system to underfloor tile heating and in the image below it shows where the heat is generated. It’s not obvious from the image but if you put your hands in the jacket pockets they will be very warm!
The battery has its own little internal pocket on the left side of the jacket that you zip up and stow away quite neatly. The downside of this battery system is that to use the heating system you need to use the proprietary Ororo battery and while you can charge the battery from a larger power bank, it takes around four hours to fully charge so its probably just as easy to purchase a spare battery which will cost you AUD $109 RRP although it was on sale at a much cheaper price at the time of this review.
The vest comes standard with a battery and a charging cable that can be charged by either a USB or USB-C option. While you don’t get the charging adapter as standard, I have so many of these at home you probably won’t need to purchase a new one but keep this in mind. One other negative of a battery assisted garment is that this is a price of technology and while it comes with limited warranties on the vest and the battery, the last thing you want is a battery fail on-trail when you are relying on the heating component however rare this may be.
The vest weights in at 593 grams for a women’s small size which is what Gill tested out, and my XL men’s jacket is 711 grams including the battery. This pushes the vest into the heavier end weight wise but if you decide to use as a standalone without the battery, you will save yourself 185 grams which for the standalone warmth that it generates if average for this type of garment.
Style wise it’s a good looking vest with the men’s being all black including the zip and the women model being black with a red zip. We ordered what we thought would be the correct size jackets based on what we usually wear and found the sizing to be exactly as we expected.
Care wise these garments can be washed in a washing machine using cold water and the supplier says to dry on a line or lay flat and not to put into a dryer – probably obvious but worth reinforcing! I usually wash my down or synthetic jackets in the washing machine and dry in the dryer on a low heat but drying on the line is only a minor inconvenience.
Ororo makes a range of vests in differing fill weights and colours, so there are plenty of options to choose from to suit your cosmetic needs. In addition, Ororo makes other clothing and accessories to complete the ensemble again depending on your needs.
So are we going to use this vest on our hiking adventures? In my case I will limit this to day hikes when I need to take the chill off but where I really see this getting a workout is for casual use, particularly when I’m standing around not creating body heat with exercise.
Ororo Heated Classic Vest showing the four heating zones
Ororo Heated Classic Vest – in storage pack
Ororo Heated Classic Vest – Ororo battery vest connection point
Ororo Heated Classic Vest showing charge points
Tim with his Ororo Heated Classic Vest front view
Tim with his Ororo Heated Classic Vest – side view
Tim with his Ororo Heated Classic Vest – rear view
Gill wearing her Ororo Heated Classic Vest – note the red zip on the women’s vest
Ororo Heated Vest on off button and logo
Vest with red logo showing the heat level on high
Battery in its storage pcoekt on my Ororo Heated Vest
Battery pocket zipped up – Ororo Heated Vest
We Like
- Comfortable to wear
- A toasty warm jacket even without the the battery unit
- The heater function warms up very fast
- Three warming options
- Your hands are even heated when you put them in the pockets
- Easy to use
- Pricing is reasonable
We Don't Like
- A bit on the heavier side as far as puffer vests go when used with the battery
- Proprietary battery only
Buy One
You can purchase the Men’s Ororo Heated Classic Vest – Black online from Ororo Australia or from Amazon Australia
You can purchase the Women’s Ororo Heated Classic Vest – Black online from Ororo Australia or from Amazon Australia
Disclosure: We may earn a small commission, at no additional expense to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Please note that our affiliations do not influence, in any way, the independence of our reviews. If we don’t like a product, you’ll hear about it from us!
Best Uses
- A good jacket with or without the batteries and one that I can see getting good use on those occasions where I will be standing still in the colder weather
Investment
AUD $249.99 RRP (look for the sales!)
Other Versions
- Ororo produces a large range of heating clothing and associated accessories to keep you toasty and warm
Disclaimer
This review was done with product provided by the Australian supplier for testing
Last updated
8 September 2025