Cool Wings - product review

[ny biker]

People have mentioned in several different threads that they like Cool Wings, and others have mentioned that they're curious about whether it really works as advertised. So I figured I'd start a thread to pull it all together.

I bought some Cool Wings recently and so far have tried them once, for a ride lasting almost 3 hours here in northern Virginia. Temps were in the high 80s when I started out, but it cooled down a bit by the end. It was about 5:15 pm when I started so the sun was not at its highest.

Overall, I liked them. When riding in the shade or when the breeze picked up, my arms definitely felt cooler than my bare legs. When riding in direct sun, my arms didn't feel cooler, but they didn't feel too hot either - I never felt like I'd be more comfortable if I took them off.

After the ride was over, I was pretty sweaty, but when I took the Cool Wings off my arms were completely dry. So they really do wick well - better than the sleeveless cycling jersey I was wearing. Also I had run my forearms under a water fountain about 5 miles from the end of the ride, which had a super cooling effect, and the sleeves were dry again before I got home.

I still need to try them out during an early afternoon ride on a hot day, to see if they're still comfortable when the sun is super hot.

One good thing is that this jacket folds up really small, so if I did want to take it off during a ride, it would easily fit into a bike bag or pocket.

I did have a minor issue with the fit. I got a medium which fit fine in the arms (my bicep measured approx. 11 inches). However because of the way it's cut, there was a small gap in the front between the jacket and my jersey. My shoulders and back are kinda broad, so that might be the reason for this - I'd be curious to know if anyone else has this issue. Regardless, it's not a deal breaker for me.

I notice that DeSoto also makes arm coolers and leg coolers in the same fabric. Has anyone tried them?

Cool Wings

http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodDE_CW7.html

Arm Cooler Sleeves

http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodDE_AC5.html

Leg Coolers

http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodDE_LC9.html

[OakLeaf]

Haven't tried the arm coolers yet, but I've got a pair on order, supposed to arrive on Thursday. It's been hot here so I'll let you know! Thanks for the review.

[Pedal Wench]

I swear by the arm-coolers, as does my BF who lives in Florida

[ny biker]

How do the arm coolers fit? Are they very snug on the upper arms?

[Biciclista]

i bought the arm coolers, they told me i needed a small, so i trusted their judgement and they fit fine. Honestly, it hasn't been really hot since i got them, but i did wear them in the sunshine two rides worth and i didn't use any sunscreen nor did i get any itch or burn. so they seemed nice and cool and they fit fine.

I'm sure there will be at least 1 hot day in the next few months. :rolleyes:

[Pedal Wench]

How do the arm coolers fit? Are they very snug on the upper arms?

Not really - they just go on without binding and stay up fine. I have smalls, and I have kinda normal arms - not muscular, but not real thin.:confused:

[witeowl]

i bought the arm coolers, they told me i needed a small, so i trusted their judgement and they fit fine.

So, just to confirm: You followed the directions that your upper arm would be 1-2 inches bigger than the listed dimension? I'm soooo wary. I mean, I'm an XL (or more) in everything, so I'm absolutely shocked to be told by their chart to get a medium. I mean... seriously?!?

[ny biker]

I often have issues with sleeves being tight on my upper arms when the shirt fits me otherwise, both with short-sleeved cycling jerseys and regular shirts. In fact I think all of my short sleeved cycling jerseys are size large.

I followed the instructions - measured 11 inches, based on the chart either a small or medium would fit, so I went with the medium figuring small might technically fit but would be more likely to be uncomfortable. And the medium fits me fine. It's snug but not skin tight. Not constricting in any way.

[Thorn]

So, just to confirm: You followed the directions that your upper arm would be 1-2 inches bigger than the listed dimension? I'm soooo wary. I mean, I'm an XL (or more) in everything, so I'm absolutely shocked to be told by their chart to get a medium. I mean... seriously?!?

Yep. I wear XL in jerseys and a small in arm warmer/cooler thingies. The first time I bought arm warmers I was sure I'd have to send them back. Nope. I followed the instructions and the fit was fine.

[Biciclista]

So, just to confirm: You followed the directions that your upper arm would be 1-2 inches bigger than the listed dimension? I'm soooo wary. I mean, I'm an XL (or more) in everything, so I'm absolutely shocked to be told by their chart to get a medium. I mean... seriously?!?

yes, absolutely. I measured my arm while talking to the rep on the phone.
I even argued. :D She said, no, I was a small.

[witeowl]

Got it, thanks.

Um... except for the costing me money thing. Wait, scratch that. It's an investment so I can keep biking more comfortably into the hot August days.

So... thanks. :)

[Kiwi Stoker]

Just wanted to chime in here as I have used these armwarmers for several years, just so people have some comparision.

http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodDF_SSKW.html

These are made from a medium weight knit in white, so they are not light. I ordered the small/medium and even though I have small wrists I find it a bit tight on the cuffs. The top is a roll top and is very comfortable.

I wouldn't say there's a cooling effect at all but your arms are OK warm and it does help keep the sun off (I haven't been burnt through them). As it is a knit you may have to put sunscreen underneath just to make sure. They roll up as per standard armwarmers.

They work but of course I wonder if the arm coolers would be better being a lighter fabric???

[tctrek]

I have Cool Wings and have used them twice on hot afternoon rides. I had the same issue as OP with a little gap in the front between the jacket and the sleeveless jersey, but it didn't make any difference when I was riding.

On Sunday, it was mega-hot here and I wore them for three hours. I poured water on them a few times :). They dry super fast. I didn't get sunburned like I usually do and like the OP, my arms stayed dry. My legs on the other hand were covered in sweat and salt and despite sunblock I got a little too much sun.

I've worn them with a racer back top as well as a sleeveless jersey -worked equally well with both.

Overall, I am going to wear them all the time if it's hot. I think they are worth the investment.

[ny biker]

I have Cool Wings and have used them twice on hot afternoon rides. I had the same issue as OP with a little gap in the front between the jacket and the sleeveless jersey, but it didn't make any difference when I was riding.

Yeah, for me that little gap was a style thing, not a functional issue. Every time I stopped I checked to make sure it had not ridden up in back, and it was okay each time.

[KathiCville]

I bought the Cool Wings from TE about three weeks ago in anticipation of the local MS150 ride, where I knew I'd be out in the sun pretty much all day long.

I ordered a Small, but quickly returned it for a Medium. (Thank you, TE, for your usual super-fast shipping.) I wear XS or S in most cycling clothes, but decided I'd rather size up and wear something a little less constricting.

That being said, I LOVE them! I definitely stayed cooler wearing the Cool Wings, and because I was wearing a roomier size, I barely noticed the added layer. Great addition to my cycling duds!

[Tri Girl]

I have mixed feelings about my cool wings.
The first time I wore them, my jersey (not new by any means) somehow bled onto the cool wings and stained them in a couple places on my back (have NO idea how/why that happened). I didn't wash the cool wings first, so maybe the newness of the fabric had something to do with it??? :confused: Who knows. Now they're mostly white with pink spots. :D
I still have to wear sunscreen underneath them. The first few times I wore them I didn't and still burned (I burn fairly easily, tho). I think when it's very warm outside (80-90's) they are cool and quite nice to wear. When it's blazing hot (100's) they are too hot for me. Even with pouring water on the arms to keep them cool, they are too hot for me when the temp gets near 100. I prefer to be sleeveless then.
Overall, I really like them. Don't wear them as much as I'd like because I don't have lots of sleeveless jerseys and don't like them paired with my short sleeve jerseys. :)

[OakLeaf]

Well, my arm coolers came today and they're too small. :(

I flexed my bicep as big as I could, measured the biggest part, subtracted an inch, ordered a small.

Which I'm a small or a medium in most athletic tops.

They're too snug all the way up. At least they fit uniformly. I hate things that are made for women without muscles - tops that you have to buy enormous if you want your biceps or delts to fit in, sleeves that fit the biceps but bind the forearms. They're made for someone with arms the shape of mine, for sure, but I definitely need a medium.

Oh well. I'll report back next week. :p

[Biciclista]

oh sorry oakleaf!!

what a bummer!

and Trigirl, that is BIZARRE! (i don't burn easily and i live in the rainforest)

[Biciclista]

today was a hot day- low 80s from noon on, (it's 83 now)
I wore my arm coolers today;

I was out in the sun from 11am until 5pm with those things on. The first hour was cycling, 1 hour of sitting around, and 3 hours of walking up and down hills on a street scramble. (Ah the hills of Seattle!)

I decided that by 5 that the sun would be cool enough to take them off - so I did. To my surprise, the sun felt so much hotter on my skin that I put them back on. They do really work!
I didn't have to put sunscreen on all day and I am not burnt. Of course it's only SPF 30 so if you're sensitive, you might still need sunscreen.

[witeowl]

I didn't have to put sunscreen on all day and I am not burnt. Of course it's only SPF 30 so if you're sensitive, you might still need sunscreen.

Doesn't the product description even say to wear sunscreen? If you have a thin jersey, you should wear it underneath, as well. Remember that a bad sunburn is not the worst thing you can get from too much sun exposure. ;)

[evangundy]

So, just to confirm: You followed the directions that your upper arm would be 1-2 inches bigger than the listed dimension? I'm soooo wary. I mean, I'm an XL (or more) in everything, so I'm absolutely shocked to be told by their chart to get a medium. I mean... seriously?!?

The cool wings and arm coolers and leg coolers are unisex sizes - that's why you take a medium instead of an XL :-)

Edna

[Biciclista]

not everyone in every climate needs sunscreen. A little sun is good for you. I might have actually absorbed a little vitamin D yesterday!
I wonder about how many problems (osteoporosis, for one) that we have because we don't get enough sun.

[Reesha]

If I invest in these, I'll probably just get the arm coolers instead of the wings. I rarely go out in tank tops and sleeveless jerseys!

[Biciclista]

yeah, i don't own a sleeveless anything (oh, except vests) :D

I was surprised at how comfortable they were. I forgot they were on, and they never slipped (and i have skinny arms)

[witeowl]

not everyone in every climate needs sunscreen. A little sun is good for you. I might have actually absorbed a little vitamin D yesterday!
I wonder about how many problems (osteoporosis, for one) that we have because we don't get enough sun.

True on all counts; I stand corrected(ish). When people ask what I do for vitamin D since I don't drink milk (which doesn't have vitamin D naturally, it should be noted) or take vitamins, I always point to the sky. :) I suspect that the lack of vitamin D is actually coming from a life spent too much indoors or behind glass, rather than too many slatherings of sunscreen. I still wear sunscreen 90% of the time, even on cloudy days.

(Oh, but you don't absorb vitamin D; your body is able to generate its own vitamin D with sunlight.) ;)

[OakLeaf]

I got the Medium arm coolers over a week ago, but it's been so chilly I hadn't had an opportunity to wear them. It's starting to warm up again, and I finally put them on on last night's ride, even though it was only about 79 degrees, just because I was dying to try them.

Then I wore them again on today's noonday run, right around 80 degrees and bright sunshine.

Functionally, they definitely keep my arms cool. I'm guessing the weave creates air flow, because they feel cool as soon as I put them on, even in the house. And although they were soaked with sweat by the end of my cool-down, they definitely seemed to soak through less quickly than anything else I was wearing - and I'm not sure, but I think as long as I was moving more quickly, they didn't soak through.

I'm not sure how much they actually do to keep my whole body cooler though, just because of the small amount of real estate they cover. It's hard to compare heart rates because we really haven't had much warm weather lately. Has anybody tried the base layer?

Fit-wise, the arm coolers fit a little oddly, but adequately. The fabric is not very stretchy. The odd part is that the gripper at the top is larger than the sleeve part. So they're snug around my biceps, snug around my forearms, but the gripper part flops around loose. :confused: Maybe I just need to re-develop my triceps? It wasn't an issue at all on the bike; and after I pulled them far enough up on my arms that my biceps secured them, it wasn't an issue running either; it's just kind of a strange fit. They didn't fall down. I'm still a little concerned that the grippers might chafe on a long run, but they were fine on my short run today.

[bmccasland]

To me an 80 degree ride would be a COOL ride, or a right-comfortable-ride. What I want to know is will they do me much good in a 95 degree ride with high humidity? I can see the logic of keeping the blaring sun off your skin, but I really don't want to be the experimental guinne pig for high temp high humidity.

I've been thinking the opposite direction, and wondering about the mesh jerseys that are in the Terry catalogue.

[Blueberry]

To me an 80 degree ride would be a COOL ride, or a right-comfortable-ride. What I want to know is will they do me much good in a 95 degree ride with high humidity? I can see the logic of keeping the blaring sun off your skin, but I really don't want to be the experimental guinne pig for high temp high humidity.

They did for me. The MS ride last year was about a 105 degree heat index (actual temp about 95). I don't know that I was cooler than others, but I certainly wasn't hotter. I rode the next day without them (since they could have walked on their own - they do tend to stink), and think I was hotter.

CA

[OakLeaf]

Yes, 80 degrees really wasn't the temperature I had in mind when I ordered these, it's just as warm as it's been lately. Not really being acclimated to the heat, it felt pretty warm. And as I said, I was sick of having the things sitting unused in my cycling pack! :o

[witeowl]

OK, I got mine, and I'm a bit disappointed. First, I listened to those who said that their cooler was too small, so I went ahead and listened to my gut and ordered a large (my measurements said a medium). They fit well.

93 degrees today, so it seemed a good time to try them. I put them on and instantly felt hotter; kind of stifling. I figured that maybe they'd work better when on the move. The stifling feeling stuck with me, even when coasting downhill. In fact, I was noticing that I could feel the breeze through my jersey better than through the coolers! Finally, I took them off and felt instantly cooler. Not a lot cooler, but enough. It was wonderful to feel the wind on my arms again.

Here's my hypothesis: I live in the desert. Any sweat on me is nearly instantly evaporated (well, until I really start sweating, of course), so my body can keep itself pretty cool despite the heat. (The benefit behind the old cliche of, "Yes, but it's a dry heat.) So, the way I figure it is this: In the low humidity, my body is better able to cool itself down. In higher humidity areas, the humidity is a detriment, and the arm coolers help overcome that problem. But here in the desert, they don't help at all. That's my hypothesis, anyway.

In any case, I'm stuck figuring out what to do with these things. TE doesn't give refunds for "useless in my region", so I wonder if De Soto would be willing to give a refund. I could hold on to them for any future trips to higher humidity areas... Oh well, live and learn.

Glad they work for the many of you who love them!

[uforgot]

Witeowl - I live in high humidity and thought I was nuts. I had the same experience as you. I felt so much better when I took them off. I have had them for quite a while, way before this thread even started. Not sure what the difference is, but the things were just miserable on me, and I tried them several times in different situations, I even tried them when I mowed the grass on the riding lawnmower.:confused:

They do fit nicely and don't slide down though.

[OakLeaf]

I will say that once they become waterlogged, either by sweat or by rain, they're no longer effective. From that, I'm pretty much convinced that they work by increasing airflow.

I'm still bemused by the way that the gripper is bigger than the sleeve part, though. Maybe I just got a defective pair. :confused:

[witeowl]

@uforgot: Well, it blows my hypothesis out of the water, but I guess it's worth something that I'm not the only person they don't work for. I wonder why we're different? :confused: Shame it took $30.00 to find out. I wonder how they'd do as lightweight arm warmers???

@OakLeaf: Saturation definitely wasn't a problem. Since there's virtually no humidity here, it takes a lot before I'm dripping sweat, and I can't recall ever sweating so much that my arms were damp here in the desert. (In higher humidity areas like San Diego, yes, but not here in the desert.) About the gripper: I'd suspect a defective pair. The top part for me is just a natural finish to the shape, which does slowly increase from the wrist up. It's not significantly bigger.

[OakLeaf]

@OakLeaf: Saturation definitely wasn't a problem. Since there's virtually no humidity here, it takes a lot before I'm dripping sweat, and I can't recall ever sweating so much that my arms were damp here in the desert.

That's what I mean, though - if humidity is so low that your sweat is already evaporating as fast as you can sweat, then increasing air flow won't increase evaporation, or cooling.


ETA - just out of curiosity, because mine are wearable, but if they're defective I think I'll exchange them: survey for anyone with the arm coolers - how much bigger is your bicep than your upper arm where the grippers are supposed to ride? As well as I can measure myself (in approximate riding position, with some tension in the bicep but not a lot), it should only be 6-7 mm.

[witeowl]

That's what I mean, though - if humidity is so low that your sweat is already evaporating as fast as you can sweat, then increasing air flow won't increase evaporation, or cooling.

Right, that's exactly what I was trying to say with my "doesn't work in the desert" hypothesis. But then uforgot shattered that. :p

[Biciclista]

except it is also reflecting the sun OFF of your skin which contributes to your feelings of comfort.

[Fredwina]

I also have the Arm Coolers live in the desert!:cool:
I'm going with the air flow theory. when I'm moving, they are noticeably cooler. Standing around, I want to peel them off right away!
Have the leg coolers, but haven't tried them, since my recumbent wants to give me a permanent chainring 'tat

[supercutie]

I just bought the De Soto Cool Wings - it was either Cool Wings or the Canari Cool Max Long sleeve jersey - but I decided the wings would give me more options, in the event I wanted to lose the extra layer I could just stuff it in a pocket. Plus the Bolero styling looked a lot more comfortable than the arm tube styling of Arm Coolers.
I'm in southern AZ where the temps are a 'chilly' 80 over night and 100-107 daytime, plus it's Monsoon Season so we have humidity ( 20-35%). When I got the Cool Wings I modeled them for my husband, we were standing outside at the time (106 in the shade), and as soon as I put them on they cooled my arm. (even my husband, who had to try them too, noticed a difference) I wore them this past Sunday on a 36 mile ride that took us 3 hours to complete, hole in tire = changing tube and repairing tire. They WORKED! The only time I thought they might not be 'all that' was while climbing a challenging hill in open desert. But once I was over the strenuous bit I was fine and figured I'd be feeling the heat no mater what I wore.
As for size... I decided on a medium. I have tiny wrists and the well developed upper arms of a 47 yr old woman who is also living with the reality of saggage.
I wore the Wings over a sleeveless jersey and had no issues with gaping at all. I did have a bit of skin showing at the glove line but that is only because I can't stand anything around that part of my wrists. All in all, a hit. Now I'm thinking about that Canari jersey again... any input on that?