Walking and Climbing

Could be waiting a while then

Arms a much lower %age of the bodies surface area than a gillet of course. Most clothing systems also have a uniform 'standard' level of warmth across torso and arms - although this is I guess perhaps affected by rucksacks.

No doubt some applications due to them being so easy to put on but well.....

lol.

arms have a much, much higher surface area to volume and are covered in arteries/veins just below the surface - look at you forearm - which let heat escape at a far greater rate than that on the torso. which is why rolling your sleeves up can cool you down very effectively.

like all things i guess, untill you try it and see what it does for your it's all academic.

Mr Sworld wrote (see)

Hmmm.... A solution in search of a problem prehaps?

Baguette cosies?

I suspect that the major effect of venting by rolling sleeves up is introducing wind chill to a large extra chunk of your body. Like side zips and things.

Not going to make such a huge difference in overall insulating terms as you're not losing the material, just moving it further up your arm.

I'd be genuinely intrigued to know what the %ages of heat loss for various body parts are, but very sure that torso is a fair bit more than your arms (it does have all your arteries in it after all!). For that matter the upper legs must be too.

Not that these are useless of course. Could for instance combine nicely with a super warm down vest etc. (There are several European ones with box wall and hefty fill weights.).

Arm warmers are something that cyclists use in the winter - so why not walkers? A friend of mine has recently acquired a pair - she finds she loses sensation in her arms/hands due to cold arms before her torso has any problems.

Denzil

good for climbing then possibly.

% of heat loss etc from differing body parts i don't think is particularly relevant for the effect of these. they're just to warm you up a bit if you're cold or for use at a stop.

wearing a gilet and it's cold i need to wear gloves. with sleeves i don't. so if i was hanging about then i assume that arm warmers will help keep my hands and arms warmer as it decreases the heat loss in my arms and hence keeps my blood warmer until it circulates round my hands. this would be far more effective than just keeping my core warmer. as the blood returning fom my arms is warmer this would also affect my core warmth.

get cold feet. wear long socks - feet immediately warmer.

So in extreme cold, you're loosing heat from anywhere / everywhere so this is really the argument to layer-up in more places. There is diminishing returns if you focus on the torso - its a quick easy place to heat for moderately cold but just then means the maximum loss is on the other parts. I also found in -20C temperatures, that its nigh impossible to get hands warm unless the arms are warm and cold hands = danger as you can't operate equipment so much.

However, I agree its a solution looking for a problem. 

I bought some Smartwhool arm warmers for cycling, because its 60F when I cycle up in the wafer thin t-shirt at the top its 50F and I want to warm the arms, also windproofs don't particularly insulate places like bare arms as its cold fabric right next to skin and conduction makes you cold. 

I would say the arms do a pretty good job to regulate the body, if you do layer the arms I predict you will find you adding/remove them far more often than say a gilet, but on the other hand (pun) you can layer arms more easily. 

If you had to prioritize your backpack weight, would these be a priority?

That's a fair point Parky - if you're trussed up in a climbing harness then the faff involved in adding or removing a full jacket, smock or gilet is quite something. Arms alone would be very quick and easy to deal with.

Have you just found the problem these were looking for...?

but how small are they rolled-up, faff to get at them from backpack? There's only so much precious space in the easy-reach places of your clothing/backpack.

I'm sold on the overlayering principal as it additive rather than replacing, but if you do own Paramo jacket, the arms slide easily, they are baggy , flappily flappily flap as you cycle , but  you can probably more easily and carrying less bulk, and cheaper, apply some under-jacket arm insulation such as the ones I bought for cycling, being stretchy wool, I can place at whatever parts of my arm I want. I wear to basically turn a t-shirt into a long-sleeve, and I choose merino wool for thickness to keep a windproof layer above well clear of the skin for maximum insulation, rather than the lycra windproof options which don't resolve conduction loss.

Through the summer, spent about 25% of my waking hours outdoors, I've poured over my memories of the last 3 winters and I reckon the theory on these sleeves is sound. I have specific situations when I could not get my hands warm when jacket with gilet and pockets and gloves, the arms just shed heat, plus it makes sense when backpacking, insulation easily applied and removed in something grab-size.

I've ordered the Torres sleeves, but it will be a few months before the temperature is low enough to see if the theory is correct.

Might be, like my Torres gilet, a keeper, or something I'll be flogging in a year.

I've also replaced all my outer clothing to black

I have found the Torres Sleeves to be a really good bit of gear. Combined with a Patagonia synthetic gilet which I've had for a while (and it's black, fortunately) I have a good insulation layer for stops -- virtually a belay jacket -- but the sleeves can then be taken off when I get moving, leaving the gilet to add a bit off warmth, but not so much I sweat buckets. It's a very versatile system, providing much more flexibility than a synthetic fill jacket on its own.

It would be nice if the sleeves incorporated a hood as well -- or there was one on the gilet -- but that's my only real criticism.

I like the sound of them, but suspect like all P stuff would be too short for my arms.

another myog project on the list

Mole, they are oversized, and I'd have thought it something you could also go a size up for length and that to be a workable option?

In my case, I own a Patagonia down gilet, which is black, and a Montane Prism, black, and it becoming mixed with options which aren't always P. For simple cold+wet situations however, they'll be next to a Torres gilet (black) and over something else P (black)

For my head, have traditional tea-cosy thinsulate (black) and a Merino Buff (green ). 

I fully accept that combined its not as warm, and its heavier, than a simple belay jacket/smock, but I've found its the small items I throw in the sack just in case get more use than the big items I hope I don't need. To be always just-warm in variable conditions is beyond a full-on belay which is all/nothing. I am interested if the insulative effects of the sleeves is the same as gilet, in which case its lighter and quicker. I did try one winter wearing warm trousers and varying the jacket I was wearing, that idea didn't work, so this might be peculiar to arms rather all limbs?

I've paid 41ukp. Compares to 17ukp I paid for some Smartwool arm-warmers (black) for cycling which I've worn for 2 years, as easily up/down items more commonly than stopping to put on/off a jacket, its added to my view its a rapid simple practical way to vary insulation which is not a function of the garment as a whole.

I'm still not fully convinced but lets give it a shot.

Anyhow off on my bike, its 86F and it takes some imagination to remember what cold is.