Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD
I’ve nearly passed out two different times when my hands got so cold my brain shunted all my blood to my inner organs. I suppose this was to keep them working while I froze to death. One time was when I was duck hunting, once I was ice fishing and both times I was equipped with a hand-warmer that was supposed to keep that from happening.
One of these handwarmers produced heat by burning cigarette lighter fluid – it ran out of fuel. The other warmer had charcoal “stick” inside that was ignited, placed in a flameproof metal box the size of a cell phone. The fire went out.
I didn’t die, and I never relied on handwarmers again to keep my hands warm. Both of these events occurred decades ago, so when I heard of a company called THAW that was producing rechargeable electric hand warmers, I thought, “Perhaps it’s time I revisit handwarmers, now that hi-tech technology has replaced stone age methods to provide a bit of finger-warmth on cold days of fishing.”
What can I say? Charge it up, stick it in your pocket and turn it on when you get to the boat on a frosty morning, have your ice-holes drilled or whenever it’s needed. (If the low heat setting works for you, turn it on and forget it most of the day – it will last 7 hours (they say) and produce 113 degrees (Fahrenheit) of heat. I seldom turn it to the medium or high setting (high is 140 degrees), but I do turn it on and off since there’s no fuel or fuel sticks to ignite. The cell phone sized handwarmer goes from cold to warm in less than a minute. That’s the 5K version. The 10K version produces the same heat but lasts nearly twice as long or provides surplus power to use its other features.
The handwarmer is a multi-tasker since it has a small, but bright, LED flashlight and a port to plug in a power cord to recharge a cell phone or other electronic device needing a boost. I’ve tried the light – it’s bright, similar to the one on my cell phone. I’ve never had to jump-start my phone, but I assume it would work.
Check out the handwarmers and other THAW products at http://www.thaw.acgbrands.com. Purchase them there, at retailers or at Amazon and other online sellers.
FISHING TOYS 