Foreword on Handwarmers
Did you know that this is not a coincidence? In fact, when the weather becomes not as comfortable as it was before, our body, a smart creature that it is, reconfigures its “settings” and narrows down the blood vessels located in our hands (fingers especially) and feet so that the biggest amount of blood and thus, the warmth, would be situated near to our vital organs. This creates protection for them from unsuitable outer conditions.
To be able to protect your extremities from the cold, you might consider buying hand warmers. However, they should also have a good quality, so that they would not get discharged within a few minutes, could be reusable, and have decent heat retention.
If not sure what characteristics need to be considered when choosing a hand warmer, you could read this article, as we will describe them here as well as provide you with examples of great 5 stars hand warmers that you could obtain.
Best Hand Warmer Options for Survivalists
They are divided into different categories, as we thought that it would be easier for you to look through them and pick the most appropriate one this way.
1. The Best Rechargeable Hand Warmers
What is more, there are three different levels of heat for keeping your body warm, ranging from 95 to 131 degrees: the light indicator will tell which one is currently running. That way, you can adjust the natural heat of your rechargeable hand warmer for different weather conditions.
The design of such a hand/foot warmer allows the device to lie comfortably in your hands and fit easily into a pocket, a quality that has been proved by more than 3000 people that gave this hand warmer a solid 4.6-star rating.
However, there is a disadvantage present for this hand warmer (as for any others as well): dependence on the weather conditions. OCCOPA hand warmer will not provide you with consistent everyday warmth when the outer heat decreases as well.
Luckily, for this device, it only means that having a fully charged hand warmer will most probably last longer in cold weather conditions, but it still will warm you up as long as it can!
The highest heat output of this device is equal to 115 degrees, and it also has multiple temperature regimes for you to choose from. The manufacturer states that a lithium-ion battery placed in this hand warmer will provide everyday warmth to you or your closed ones for up to 500 recharges, which is perfect for frequent outdoor sporting events!
Similar to the first option that we have already described, these hand/toe warmers could also help you to charge your phone.
An additional important feature of The Outdoors Way toe warmers is that they have a one-year refund guarantee, which is a characteristic that is especially crucial for electric hand warmers that could simply stop working out in the cold.
2. The Best Disposable Hand Warmers
Disposable hand warmers like Hot Hands are perfect for those people that do not plan to spend a lot of their free time out in the cold, but still will need some additional warmers for a few of the winter days, just in case.
HotHands hand warmer is capable of providing you with up to 10 hours of protection to keep your cold hands warm, and its natural long-lasting heat is quite consistent during these hours as well.
Here are the main characteristics of these warmers:
- The average temperature is equal to 112 degrees, with the maximum one being equal to 118;
- Such a disposable warmer produces heat for 5 or 10 hours straight;
- The weight of one package is equal to 1.6 oz.
Grabber hand warmer is another great finding of ours among disposable devices and this will suit those of you that need higher temperatures to be able to stay warm: in comparison with HotHands hand warmer, Grabber will have its average temperature around 135 degrees, with the maximum one being equal to 180 degrees. You could buy this hand warmer for around 19 dollars per package.
However, Grabber will not be as consistent in its heat output as most other disposable warmers, which is why it would be most suitable for situations when you would need fast access to quite high temperatures: after approximately 2 to 3 hours of use, the heat decreases quite rapidly, even below the average heat stated by the manufacturer.
All in all, a disposable hand warmer is usually the best option for almost anyone, as it is usually quite consistent in its heat exposure, works decently for a long period of time, and does not break down in temperatures below the average ones. But do not forget, they can be used only once.
3. The Best Chemical-based Hand Warmer
These warmers are based on a chemical reaction that you could enable with the help of buttons placed on the devices. When the heat output will decrease severely, you only need to put your heat packs into boiling water for about 1o minutes for them to recharge.
What is also great about this hand warmer is that it does not harm the environment by using additional electricity or fuel. In addition, HotSnapZ comes in various sizes, with the one that is capable of fitting into your pocket capable of protecting you from cold weather for about an hour.
The biggest downside that this pocket hand warmer has is connected with its time of working: HotSnap Z will not provide you with enough protection from the cold winter days for more than 2 hours in a row. What is more, this timing is described only for the biggest hand warmer of this company, which definitely is not capable of fitting into your pockets. The smallest HotSnapZ warmer will only work for about 30 minutes.
However, this might not even be a problem as it all depends on the utilization that you plan to apply directly to your warmers. For instance, these working hours will be enough for some quick outdoor activities with your family or for a short stroll with one of your friends.
In addition, if you are looking for multipurpose warmers, it would be better to check out electric ones, as HotSnapZ is only applicable for heating up your hands.
4. The Best Hand Warmer out of all
- Works for more than 12 hours in a row;
- Lightweight and is capable of fitting into your pocket;
- Perfect for usage in the coldest days of winter, as it will not break down or turn off;
- Can be bought for a price of only 22 dollars.
Zippo is a fuel-based hand warmer that has an average rating value of 5 stars, and while it might need an additional time period for you to get adjusted to using such warmers, the result that you will receive in the end is definitely worth it!
Any catalytic hand warmer will take a bit longer to become hot enough to warm you up, and this one is not an exception: before even starting the heating process, you will need to fill the fuel funnel, take off the catalytic burner, refill the tank, change the burner, and use a lighter as the last step.
In addition, such a safe natural heat is not capable of being stopped whenever you feel warm enough, so you will need to be conscious about the amount of fuel that you need at the moment to create hot temperatures for you on a particular winter (or not) occasion.
However, despite all of these downsides, they will not mean a thing to you after your first try at this hands/feet warmer during the winter, as you will be able to warm up with 110 degrees of hot temperatures no matter the season and no matter the longitude of the time for which the warmer will be used.
What is more, the hot temperature of this safe natural device will be consistent during the entire time of its usage, so you will have to be worried about the need to put on an extra pair of gloves to keep your fingers warm once your warmer decided that it does not want to work properly any longer.
All in all, you will not regret that you have chosen to store exactly this hand warmer, as it is not a single-use item and it will serve you well and for a longer period of time!
Best Hand Warmers Buyers Choice
But do not worry, we got you covered. In this part of our article, you will be able to learn about the types of hand warmers, as well as about important characteristics that you should take into account when shopping for them by yourself. Furthermore, the next part of our article will provide you with a few examples of great 5 stars hand warmers that are available at the moment, so that you might not even need to spend your time searching for the best hand warmers.
Who knows, you might even forget about gloves and use a hand warmer instead of it after reading our article!
Pros and Cons of Different Hand Warmers
Nothing perfect exists on this planet, and hand warmers are not an exception, which is why we created the list of different kinds of hand warmers together with their strong and weak sides so that you could decide for yourself which one is the most suitable for you.
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Catalytic
This hand warmer heats your hands with the help of liquid fuel and needs a flame to start its working process.
And due to this fact, you will never experience the need to recharge your hand warmer, as it simply relies on the fuel to keep your hands warm. What is more, using fuel for heating up the hand warmer is a good practice for very cold weather, as it still will be as efficient as it was before.
The one downside that catalytic hand warmers have is their filthiness: it will be quite hard to fill in the liquid to your hand warmer, which means that you most probably will make your hands dirty. Using gloves might not be an option as well, especially if we are talking about your usual gloves and not the ones that you wear in a garden.
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Electric
As you could have guessed from the title, these hand warmers are based on electricity, which is usually provided by lithium-ion batteries.
This feature will make the exploitation process easier, as you will keep your hands warm and clean at the same time, which is not usually the case for catalytic hand warmers. Furthermore, you could use an electric hand warmer not only to keep your hands warm but also to charge your phone. If lucky, you could even receive a built-in flashlight from the manufacturer of your hand warmer.
However, it will be much more difficult for you to charge them, as it will take a lot of time: you could even kill your battery out in very cold weather. In addition, such a hand warmer is not known for constant heat output, no matter whether you have found a 5-stars one or not.
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Other Specs
There are also other types of reusable hand warmers that you could buy, but they will most probably provide you with a lower warmth time period.
Here is a list of such hand warmers:
- There are hand warmers like HotSnapZ that create heat with the help of a chemical reaction: all that you would need to do is to charge them and place them inside boiling water for about 10 minutes. Small-sized hand warmer of this type will only provide you with warmth for about half an hour, with bigger ones having warmer heats;
- You could also find some air-activated heat packs in our current market: they contain cellulose, iron powder, activated carbon, and other chemicals in order to produce oxidation of iron when it is faced with air, which would, in turn, start to produce heat for you. To enable the device, you will need to remove the warmer from an outer package and shake it properly. When the heat decreases, you might need to expose the warmer to air and shake it in your hands once again, which might not be convenient for long-period usage. What is more, air-activated safe warmers could not be used many times;
- Another possibility is to purchase a disposable 5 stars hand warmer. Such a hand warmer will most probably be the most reliable one, as it is not as expensive as the other devices are and it does not complicate its utilization processes. You will need to wait a bit longer for such hand warmers to heat up, but it will be worth it, as they will provide you with a consistent temperature during their working time.
However, as you could have guessed, such a hand warmer can be used only once: for longer periods you will either need to buy more of such disposable hand warmers or opt for one of the other devices available for you to re-use.
Please note that the period of time during which any type of a warmer will serve you as a 5 stars device highly depends on the conditions that you store it in: you should keep your devices out of direct sunlight and in a place that is dry enough.
Heat Capacity
We hope that everyone understands that heat capacity is the main feature of any hand warmer that you should consider when choosing a particular product, definitely not a possibility of choosing a particular warmer among several styles designed for one model. However, this characteristic is dependent on many others, such as working time, price, and even the type of a hand warmer.
Among electric 5 stars hand warmers, those with a lithium-ion battery will give you the maximum temperature out of all other devices presented on the market.
However, please remember that an electric hand warmer will not work decently in cold weather conditions, which means that whatever is the highest temperature written on your hand warmer of yours, it was estimated for average weather conditions, which means that there will be maximum temperatures drop in other cases.
Due to that, if you are living somewhere in Siberia, disposable or catalytic hand warmers will be the best choices for your conditions.
Yes, their maximum heat capability will be a bit lower than that of a 5 stars electric hand warmer, but you will be able to rely on your device in any environmental conditions that might be surrounding you.
Frequently Asked Questions — FAQ
What are Electric Hand Warmers?
Electric hand warmers use batteries to heat up your devices so that they could return that warmth back to your hands. The best of these electric warmers will use lithium-ion batteries, as they have proven themselves to be the most reliable.
However, electric warmers are not exactly the best choice for cold temperatures lower than the average ones, as they will most probably stop bringing your consistent heat and will turn off in the end.
Are Hand Warmers Safe to Use?
Yes, all of the warmers described by us in this article are safe to use, as they have no direct contact with your skin because of the high-quality materials used to cover the mechanism that is providing you with warmth. If you are using a disposable warmer, you could throw it out together with the regular garbage.
However, children might have extremely sensitive skin when they are too small, which is why it might not be the best idea to let them remove the warmer from the package without any gloves on, even if it is a TSA approved one; other than that, the ingredients will not harm you.
Which Hand Warmer Is Best for Me?
Depends on the longitude of the period for which you would need one, as well as on the temperatures in which a hand warmer will be used.
For instance, electric warmers do not act properly in quite cold weather conditions, while catalytic ones will. Both of these choices are made for a longer period of use. However, if you need something like a one-time thing, disposable warmers would be the best option.
Which Hand Warmer Lasts the Longest?
The longest working period of time is definitely reserved by the catalytic warmers, i.e those that use fuel to produce heat for you. However, they also have the hardest mechanism of work, which might be quite messy and long for some of you to implement. The Zippo warmer has a lighter fluid, a 5 stars rating, and can work for periods of time longer than that 12 hours.
Where to buy Hand and Foot Warmers?
It is quite easy to find warmers in any stores aside from survival-based ones, as they are the items that could be used by people in their usual life as well. For example, you could find some decent warmers on Amazon, as well as most other offline stores, such as Walmart or Target.
You might have some problems finding an appropriate hand warmer during survival conditions, which is why it is always better to shop for such things in advance.
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