What Makes Makita's Heated Vest So Expensive? And Is It Worth It?

At first glance, it can be tough to see the ways Makita's heated vest is useful — and the same can be said about several of their tools. However, a heated vest can be very nice to have, with the obvious example being staying warm while outside. Makita's vest comes in at $360 from Acme Tools, so it's quite expensive. There are many other heated vests on the market that come in at a much lower price. For example, Milwaukee, a reliable brand itself, sells a heated vest for $179 at Home Depot — almost half the price of Makita's. You get eight hours of battery life with Milwaukee's, which isn't bad either. However, Makita completely outclasses Milwaukee's vest.

Instead of the eight hours of run time, you'll get up to 35 hours with Makita's, albeit on the low heat setting. That alone seems to be where the price difference comes into play, but Makita's vest does bring more features to the table. Four heat zones are meant to ensure proper distribution throughout the vest. If you pick this up, you'll also have three different heat settings to work with but keep in mind you won't be getting the 35 hours of runtime on the highest setting. When it's time to wash the vest, you can just toss it in the washing machine like any other piece of clothing — just make sure you remove the battery.

It's tough to say whether or not this vest is worth picking up. If you can find a better price for Makita's vest, it's a much easier pill to swallow. If you're a size X-Large or higher, you can get the price slashed down to around $166 on Amazon, for example. Getting 35 hours of battery life is nice on paper, but it's unlikely you'll find yourself in a situation where you'll need to get that much heat out of a single charge. If that does sound like something you can take advantage of, then maybe Makita's vest is good for you.

Most people would probably be able to get by just fine with a cheaper option unless they get the Makita vest for a similar price. ORORO offers one for $149.99 on Amazon, which seems fine for many people, based on the 4.6/5 rating. On the other hand, Makita's has a 4.2/5 rating on Amazon. Things to note are the fact the battery is sold separately, and you might feel a bit heavy with the battery plugged into the vest. If you have to shell out over $300 for the vest, you might feel like you need to use it quite a lot to get your money's worth.