Widder Vest & Gloves Opinions I recently purchased a Widder System 2 vest and gloves. I haven't done any major treks with them yet, but I do have enough experience to offer opinions on the design, fit & finish. Vest: It works fine, but I had problems getting one to fit properly. I measured myself per Widder's instructions (had my wife confirm the measurements) and ordered the vest directly from Widder. When it arrived, it was so small that I could just barely zip it up. I had to pay shipping one-way to exchange it for one that was 4 inches larger. I recommend finding one at a local shop & trying it on before buying or ordering, although in my case, there were none to be found locally. A second gripe about the vest is that it has no loop sewn into it for hanging it up, and the material is very slick, making it all but impossible to hang it on a hook; it slides right off. This may sound like a nit-pick, but I'm finding it a real PITA. Also a loop would be a huge help in keeping the glove wires, which run from the left-side waist area up the back and then branch down each arm, in place. This big Y-shaped wire wants to slide down your back as soon as the tension at each arm-end is relaxed. Gloves: These gloves were not designed to fit human hands. The fingers are out of proportion to the hand; they're too long. Most every garment I wear is size XL or L, but the medium size Widder gloves came closest to fitting my hands, although the fingers are still a bit too long. The small gloves have fingers that fit mine, but the rest of the glove is too small. Luckily for me, the local BMW shop had these in stock, so I didn't have to pay shipping to exchange them. A second problem with the gloves is the way the electric connectors are mounted. They located about 2 inches inside of the glove with metal rivets that stick out. If you pull them on like normal gloves, the rivets rake along the meaty part of your thumbs. No bloodshed, but still pretty unpleasant. Once you're aware of this feature, you can pull them on without pain, but there's absolutely no excuse for this. I recommend looking elsewhere for gloves, or better yet, start with grip heaters and then graduate up to heated gloves only if you still need them. I wish I had. Finally, I find the wiring hardware to be poorly designed. Each connector has two metal screws which go through the plastic connector to secure the terminals within. These screws are not insulated, nor recessed, so the screw securing the hot terminal is itself hot! This is not a theory; I discovered this when it sparked upon contacting the frame during installation. The fix for the hot screws it simple enough: electrical tape, but that aggravates yet another problem. The connectors are symmetrical, so you can plug in your vest/gloves with the correct polarity or reverse polarity. Not a problem, says Widder, if you plug them in backwards, it just means 'off' becomes 'on' on the switch. However, if you spent $70 for the adjustable controller, then you get a knob with a positive 'on' setting and a wide range of adjustability for 'off'. Real [edited] nice. Widder suggests avoiding reverse polarity by making sure you match up the screw sides of each connector when you plug them in. That's still possible, but not so easy, if you've taped 'em up to avoid igniting things, like gas stations for instance. Conclusions: Avoid the gloves, period. The vest is OK, but the fit & design flaws in the vest and wiring hardware are, I feel, unacceptable for a premium priced product. Tim Mueller December 15, 2002