Tester and test conditions
I can't remember the first time my toes were white, cold and stiff when I pulled them out of my ski boots in the evening. It started on some glacier (probably on some training course where you do more standing than skiing...) and has been with me ever since. The cold toe problem. At some point, the front part of the sole of the foot can no longer be felt, it doesn't hurt, but half of my power-transmitting sole is no longer really active. I notice that the turns become rougher and the fun factor decreases. For example, at the beginning of this season in Saas Fee at -20°C and wind chill. I'm in a great skiing mood, but my feet don't want to join in. Annoying.
That's when I discovered the Heat Socks and was immediately curious to try them out. I use them for freeriding and freetouring, although I rarely have persistently cold feet on tour.
The only ski boot used in the test is a Lange XT Freetour boot with SIDAS Winter sole and Intuition liner.
Test report
At the beginning of the test period, it is unfortunately terribly warm (New Year's Eve, rain) and the socks' heating function remains switched off. Nevertheless, they are still comfortable to wear. The small batteries are so light that you don't feel them when skiing, they don't pinch and don't get in the way under your ski trousers.
If you switch them on manually, you have 3 heating levels. They are set using a button on the battery, which can also be operated by briefly pressing it through the ski trousers. The "standard version" using the manual button proves to be practical when it is so cold that you really need the socks and the mobile phone battery (for using the app) runs out as soon as you take your mobile phone out of your pocket.
Control via the app is contactless and does not require searching for the button on the lower leg. Once you have connected the batteries to the "Lenz Heat App" via Bluetooth (available in all popular app stores), you can switch them on at the start of the day at the touch of a button and then control them very conveniently via the app. Here you have the option of setting 9 different heating levels. You can also differentiate between right and left. For example, if you have a larger cold spot on your right big toe, you can heat the right sock more than the left. Intermittent heating can also be set via the app function. Programmes of 20 minutes heating and 20 minutes pause are the maximum possible, and there are also quick heating intervals of one minute. My test shows: saves electricity, but not so much that it's really worth it. You can also switch off the LEDs on the Li-ion batteries. This may not matter to us as freeriders, but if you also want to use the socks for hunting (?!), you can make sure you don't scare off any game.
To switch the socks off completely, I spend a long time looking for a button or instructions. They cannot be switched to OFF mode manually. If the LED flashes at level II, they are on standby. If the batteries are no longer connected to the socks via push buttons, they automatically switch to OFF mode after 12 hours.
