Do you know what hybrid cars, rock-hard abs, motorcycle helmets and indestructible rubber dog leashes have to do with my job as a fishing magazine editor?
I sure don’t.
But I do know that regardless of how irrelevant those things are to my job and life, it sure doesn’t stop people who represent the companies that peddle those things from emailing me press releases about them.
So the other day, when an email from an outfit called Ergodyne popped up in my inbox with something about argon gas in the subject line, I was already clicking “delete.” But the instant before the message disappeared from my screen I saw it contained a picture of a cool, compact-looking vest. With cold-weather fishing on the brain lately, I couldn’t resist resurrecting the email from my deleted items.
It was worth it.
What I found was the
N-Ferno Extreme Warming Vest . Other than those Spiderman Halloween costumes with the big muscles (which are admittedly awesome), it’s the first inflatable garment I’ve heard of, and it doesn’t fill with air, but rather with argon gas.
Ergodyne claims that argon’s unique chemistry lets it retain as much heat as 14mm of conventional fiber insulation (like Thinsulate). And I know that even good old fashioned vests are great for cold-weather fishing because you keep your core warm without losing your range of motion like the kid in “
A Christmas Story.”
Argon is also safe, non-toxic and comes in 8 gram refill canisters you plug into the vest’s inflation port inside the chest pocket.
Here’s a video that shows how it works:
And considering the vest is actually made for construction workers, it should more than stand up to the abuse you can dish out on the water or ice.
Whether something like this ever catches on with fishermen is pretty iffy, especially with a price tag of over $230. Regardless, it’s pretty cool.
Ryan