Daniel Julian Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 Got an early Christmas present today: the new Milwaukee heated jacket, model 201B-20M. This is the black jacket, size medium, with ability to heat chest/back and/or pockets. I was concerned about getting a medium, but I used their size chart and it's spot on. It is snug, but you definitely do NOT want it loose or you won't feel the heat nearly as much. I'm 6'2", 185 lbs and it's pretty much a perfect fit. I also got the 3.0 ah battery, but haven't had much chance yet to test runtime. Milwaukee is currently offering a rebate for a 3.0 battery on the jacket and 2.0 battery with hoodies. I read somewhere that it will not charge the phone AND heat the jacket at the same time, but I had the chest/back heat ON, pocket heat ON, and plugged in my phone and it was charging; this was all done on the smallest 1.5ah battery. I haven't opened my 3.0 ah battery yet, because I am waiting on the rebate battery to be sent from Milwaukee and then I will probably return my other to Home Depot; i don't really need it (I didn't realize they sent actual product for the rebate, I thought I had to buy the battery and would just be reimbursed the $$... oh well). I only have 3 complaints at the moment: 1) I don't care for the placement of the battery pack. It seems fine when sitting around the house, but in my truck (Nissan Frontier), the seat hugs on each side and pushes the battery in to my back. If I shift/twist the jacket around to the side a bit, it's not too bad, but still a little annoying. The older jackets had the battery on the side, but I think that would also be annoying because your arm would bump it all the time. I may look for an extension cable so I can put the battery in one of the other pockets. 2) the front left outside chest pocket is BARELY big enough to hold my iPhone 6 (in slim lifeproof case). There is NO wiggle room, so running a charging cable to that pocket is pointless; if the phone is charging, I can't zip it closed and 1/3 of the phone sticks out. The front right inside chest pocket is a tad bigger and works, but isn't as accessible without unzipping the coat and the charging cable has to stretch across the back. Not sure this will be a big deal, because if it needs to be charged, I'd probably just stash it in the inside pocket until its charged, then unplug and put it in another more accessible pocket. 3) there are no grommets in the front hand pockets to allow charging cables or headphones to be run to them. The jacket is very warm even without heat turned on and is very well made. It's a little stiff, but should "break in". Even with these complaints, I'm happy with it! My in-laws in Wisconsin made fun of me for having this is TX, but Jan and Feb get cold and our wind is awful and I work outside doing landscape, so this will be very nice during those 2 months. Bring on the cold temps! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnarlyCarl Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 Nice! I'm the same height, but weigh a little more than you and got the large of the model they had last year. The battery bugged me enough that I went this route: .. It provides more heat longer!! I know what you mean about being closer to your body, so I usually wear a "shell" jacket over top and it gets hot!! I gotta get the IR camera out and get some more pics .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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