I just got an order of Hotsnapz handwarmers in the mail yesterday and gave them a test run last night.

Very cool little things, they use a sodium acetate solution and give off heat with a reaction (watch video), then they can be reused after you boil them.

The ones we tested put off good heat for about 30 minutes, and were still warm at the 40 minute mark. Not as hot as chemical handwarmers, but certainly enough to take a chill off if kept in a pocket. I will be testing them in the field once waterfowl starts back up here, but two or three of them should be more than enough for a morning sit.

What I really like about them is that you can take them out hiking or camping and recharge them in the field while you are cooking your food, so when night time rolls around they are ready to be tossed into the foot box of your sleeping bag or put in your pockets.

I used the promo code "take10" at check out, a 6 pack of the green ones came to about $4.50 each shipped.

Lol, If it gets too bad, I'm taking my heated gloves and vest and pulling the battery out of my motorcycle. I hate the cold!

They provide instant heat when packaging a hypothermic subject for litter travel.  I use the iron based ones as well but they take 10-15 minutes to start up.

When you boil them be sure not to walk away from the stove.  They make a hellofa mess (and stink up kitchen) when the water boils off and the bags break open.

"When you boil them be sure not to walk away from the stove. They make a hellofa mess (and stink up kitchen) when the water boils off and the bags break open."

This, don't ask me how I know...

Don't recall if they were the same brand, but I bought the same kind of thing a long while back; in the mid-90's iirc. They were probably 4x6 inches & worked the same way, with a metal flex-disc inside that started the same kind of crystal-looking reaction that spread thru the unit. Then you boiled them to reset. They also could be reset in a microwave, which I thought was odd with the little metal snapper thing inside them.

They worked great initially but gradually deteriorated, not holding their heat as long as when new. New ones may be better..?

I talked to someone that claimed to have used them over fifty times.  I would think that the plastic would break to fail.

ETA:

Perhaps the metal snapy thing fails?

The hot hands I put in my boots work "all damn day". 30 minutes is unacceptable considering similar competing products.

The hook is the fact that they are reusable and still pretty cheap.

Hot hands are great if you need them all day, but these will do just fine for an hour or two of duck hunting on a cold morning.

The only downside is it takes a considerable amount of thermal energy to reset these.  I was on a trip to a traditionally cold area and brought along a bunch of these with hopes of using hot water in a thermos to recharge them.  It got 90% of the way there but never could really fully reset without a constant source of heat (and hence fuel).

Turns out it was quite warm and I didn't need them anyways, but I was slightly disappointed.  I guess it is back to plan B and that is thermos + hot water to get 90% of the way, and then full rolling boil over a fuel source to finish them off.  They are interesting concept, that's for sure... way lighter than tossing a stone in the fire and carrying that with you.

It does seem to take a good amount of energy to reset them, even after the 10 minute boil on the stove I had one crystallize again.

I have a fire going most of the night when I camp in the winter though (we just do short trips when it gets cold), so it wouldn't be terribly difficult to put one at a time in a sock and simmer it in a pot over the fire after supper.

The reason that I have them is that the heat is instant.

If you are warming someone  (in the field) then it needs to happen now, not in Ten minutes the iron based ones take up.  You start up both types.  The snap disc provides heat until the iron/rust ones kick in.

If its for warming my own hands I use the disposable ones.

I bought a couple back in the early 90's from a gunshow. for some reason they didn't work as advertised.

I still have one of those.  I prefer the disposable HotHands.  They're smaller, last longer and I don't have to remember to boil them.



 

I saw some of these at the horse show here locally this weekend. The larger ones would be a godsend if you could take two into your sleeping bag on a really cold night and use them one at a time. In a bad enough situation it could mean the difference between hypothermia and being comfortable. As awesome as the large one felt this weekend in a 68 degree room, it would be amazing when it's 20 degrees in a sleeping bag and your clothes are wet.

Not a perfect solution, but a pretty handy one when the time comes.