Hot items to keep winter chill from giving you cold shoulder

These new products will bring warmth to cold-weather jaunts.

Heat at hand

Exhale X-Treme Comfort Gloves: These have an air chamber on the back that looks like a hole in the glove, but it is actually a self-heating system. When you blow rapidly several times into the hole while wiggling your fingers, the gloves trap your breath, keeping your fingertips warm longer. The gloves, which are lined in fleece, come in several fabrics, from microfiber to leather, and as mittens. A flap over the hole keeps the area covered with a magnetic closure.

Exhale X-Treme Comfort Gloves are $45 from 180s; (877) 725-4386, www.180s.com.

*

Toasty top

Micro-Ozone Zip T: Polartec Windpro, a newer generation of fleece, is thinner and more lightweight than regular fleece but as efficient at keeping the cold and wind out. Mountain Hardwear has fashioned Windpro into a stylish zip pullover shirt that works well as a mid-layer garment in colder weather or as outerwear on cool days. Available in several bright or muted colors for men and women.

Micro-Ozone Zip T is $85 from Mountain Hardwear; (800) 953-8375, www.mountainhardwear.com.

*

Saving face

Psolar.EX face mask: Face masks keep the cold out and ward off wind, but they usually fog up your glasses or goggles if you breathe through your mouth. Not so with the Psolar.EX heat exchange face mask. Built into the mouth area is a breathing capsule with 120 wafer-thin plastic coated “fins” (like those on a radiator) that heat your inhaled breath. It is made of soft, flexible thermal fleece and available as a face and neck mask or as a full-head balaclava.

Psolar.EX face mask is $35; Psolar.BX balaclava, $40, from Psolar; (888) 776-5279, www.psolar.com.

*

Toasty tot

Cozy Rosie stroller blanket: Keeping baby warm in the stroller on cold-weather walks is easier with the new Cozy Rosie stroller blanket. The soft fleece cover-up attaches with Velcro fasteners to any size stroller, including jogging and double strollers. Unlike most baby blankets, it won’t fall off or get tangled in the stroller wheels. It’s thin, is machine washable and comes in leopard or zoo patterns or in solid red or blue.

Fleece stroller blanket is $56 in print patterns, $50 in solid colors, from Cozy Rosie; (877) 744-6367, www.cozyrosie.com.

*

Hot spot

Hotties Hot Water Bottle: Bucky’s plush buckwheat-seed-filled neck and body wraps provide ergonomic support as well as heat when microwaved briefly. The company’s newest microwavable body soother is a hot water bottle-shaped pillow in a classy cotton/polyester sateen flower-pattern fabric. Microwave the “hot water bottle” for a few minutes (heating up the buckwheat seed filling) to get cold toes or hands toasty or relax sore muscles. In summer, freeze the pillow for a few hours and use it to cool off.

Hotties Hot Water Bottle is $29.95 from Bucky; (800) 692-8259, www.bucky.com.

Gear & Gadgets appears once a month. Judi Dash can be reached through e-mail at [email protected].