Feedback needed on new wearable tech

[elguapo84]

Hi all,

We're interested in getting some feedback from you on how you maintain a comfortable body temperature when exposed to the elements...what types of outdoor clothing do you wear, what do you like or dislike about your current setup.

We're innovating some new wearable tech that seeks to make temperature management easier and more automated, but we first want to get some feedback from people like you to help inform our product's design.

If you have a spare moment, please take 10 minutes to complete a brief survey on this topic. Thanks! -Reid

Here's the survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5LDCP6R


P.S.: In case anyone was wondering, this is not spam...I'm a winter-enthusiast based out of Seattle, and this wearable technology is just a side project I'd love to see become a reality. I can't go into a whole lot of the details as to what the technology is at the moment as we're only in provisional stages of the patent process, but should be able to divulge more information soon.

[GeezerSteve]

Flawed poll. List of layers excludes next-to-skin semi-VB, the best cold weather temp management stuff going.

[elguapo84]

Doesn't that fall under the base layer category? Can you send some examples of products? We're not intentionally trying to exclude anything. In fact the purpose of this survey is to reveal what strategies people use to stay comfortable in the elements... So this is very helpful information! Thanks!

[GeezerSteve]

Doesn't that fall under the base layer category?

No, not per your description, i.e., all wicking layers:

Base layer (e.g., wool, polypropylene, underarmour, "long johns", etc)

When you wick away moisture, you wick away heat.

Re products, there are several next-to-skin semi-VB users here and each of us have talked about what we use, how we use it, etc. Try searching.

[rod9301]

Steve,i searched but couldn't find any reference to semi vb clothing.what do you use m

Also, trying to find vb socks and having a hard time.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using TGR Forums

[GeezerSteve]

Go here and type semi-VB

ETA: See my posts on this thread

[elguapo84]

I also had trouble searching (believe it or not, I ran a search before Steve told me to search...I just didn't know what to search for. I also went straight to google, which needless to say gave me a bunch of stuff related to Visual Basic).

Nevertheless, thanks for sharing the link, Big Steve. I've now updated my survey as such. Can you comment on whether this is accurately stated?


9. What types of clothing do you typically wear when perfoming these activities during colder times of the year? (select all that apply)

Wicking base layer (e.g., wool, polypropylene, underarmour, "long johns", etc)

Semi-permeable vapor barrier base layer (i.e., lightweight softshell that you wear next to your skin - used instead of a wicking layer)

Mid layer (e.g., fleece shirt/pants, sweatshirt/sweatpants, down jacket/vest)

Outer layer (e.g., waterproof / water resistant jacket/pants, armoured jacket/pants)

Gloves

Hat / Helmet

Electronically Heated clothing (e.g., socks, shirt, pants, gloves, jacket/vest)

[Hugh Conway]

Yes, this most definitely is spam, so eat a dick with your shitty startup.

tech needs:
-something to delete all of the marketing assholes who ask the guinea pigs here for help with their turds
- a wearable, automated, system for feces management. Yup, i want an asswiper - not a toast2266 kind of lackey you drag around - a real robot asswiper.

[elguapo84]

I work for Amazon as a User Experience researcher, not in Marketing. Volunteer ski patrol at Crystal on the weekends. This is something my dad and I are doing as a fun side project (he's also on the patrol). I'm not an active contributing member here but I've lurked over the years and purchased climbing gear off this forum.

If that is your definition of a spammer, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. As it stands I'm genuinely interested in understanding how people are managing their body temp on the hill, and what works well vs. not so well. I figured this would be a relevant audience to reach out to. We're working on this in fleeing spare moments with no budget whatsoever. Notice I'm not asking for donations or anything like that. Just information, from people who are willing and interested in providing it. So thank you very much kind sir for your warm welcome to this forum.

[Hugh Conway]

so, the what do we get out of this oh great "user experience" researcher? comeon, don't be a douche. it's spam. maybe useful spam, but it's spam, and calling it "not spam" doesn't actually make it "not spam". But then, that's all forums are for. Spamming, puffery, douchebaggery.

[elguapo84]

You get the opportunity to provide feedback that would shape the direction of our product, should it ever become a reality. It's very conceptual at the moment. Perfect time to start collecting qualitative insight on what people are using today and what they like/dislike about it. Believe it or not, some altruistic people out there enjoy providing feedback with nothing more in exchange than a thank you and the gratification of helping advance an up and coming product's development.

I'm not the one being douchey in this exchange. Look in the mirror.

[GeezerSteve]

I work for Amazon as a User Experience researcher [to collect data to be used for] Marketing.

FIFY

Believe it or not, some altruistic people out there enjoy providing feedback. . . .

Altruistic? Nah. I just would like to see people making stuff that works rather than the 20,001st company to launch the same old shit and claim that it's "innovative."

[elguapo84]

Spam implies that a machine was used to solicit the data. I'm obviously not a machine. But again you are entitled to your own definition of Spam. Per my definition, I'm not spamming anyone. And I'm certainly not being a douche

[Hugh Conway]

I'm not the one being douchey in this exchange. Look in the mirror.

Showing up to a random group of people to get them to do work for you isn't douchey?

wow, you don't think you are a spamming douche. that settles it! a tech seattleite who thinks their shit doesn't stink. must be a good project manager.

[elguapo84]

FIFY

5678

Haha... indeed sometimes UX and marketing are intertwined, though much less so on my team. We don't really collect data for the purpose of marketing. We often consume marketing data when we plan our research, but the data we collect is more intended to influence the design of our shopping experience than anything else.

Nonetheless, this project has nothing to do with Amazon. Strictly a side project with my pops.

[elguapo84]

I'll do my best to make something that works Steve

[elguapo84]

Hugh: believe me, you don't want to use the toilet after I've dropped a HughConway-sized terd... it smells pretty terrible.

[Hugh Conway]

Hugh: believe me, you don't want to use the toilet after I've dropped a HughConway-sized terd... it smells pretty terrible.

Still not being a douche, or are you owning up to being one? Kudos on the proper marketing contempt for users, that's a requirement for the outdoor industry.

[elguapo84]

Still not being a douche, or are you owning up to being one? Kudos on the proper marketing contempt for users, that's a requirement for the outdoor industry.

Owning up to being a Seattleite with smelly poops!

Wanting to involve prospective users early on in the design process of a product is hardly "contempt" from my perspective. Tell you what, once I have a working prototype, I'll send it over to you to use when you run out of toilet paper. Then everyone's happy. In the mean time, please stop shitting on my thread.

And if a moderator officially deems this as Spam, I'll take it down, problem solved. In the mean time, I'm still very interested in learning from the members of this forum who are willing to talk to me about their winter clothing systems.

[Hugh Conway]

There's pages of people doing just that, if you search

But hey, the internets full of people who'll do shit for free for vague promises, best just ask them to give you special answers to save yourself the trouble of searching. We'll get to be "involved" in the design of something new and cool!

Asshole.

Or, I'm a douche because giving something of value to you, for a "warm fuzzy feeling of involvement" is a bad trade. But clearly that's the trade that's the new internet economy, so go right ahead!

[elguapo84]

This is the one useful thing you've said. Researching others threads to identify some of these insights is a great idea. I will absolutely spend some time diving in.

But I still do want a structured data set in addition to any research of existing threads, hence the completely optional survey above.

I don't think I'm being an asshole, Hugh. I'm not some bigwig marketer or start up owner with deep pockets. I'm a person who loves to ski / climb who had an idea for some new technology that might solve one of my own pain points. But rather than start with my own use case I wanted to reach out to other outdoor enthusiasts to see what they're doing, and in particular what they don't like about their setups and what they wish their gear would do in a hypothetical, ideal world.

Anyway thanks for that last comment. Great idea diving into the forums here to see what's already been posted on this topic.

[elguapo84]

RE: economy, I don't have anything to give you at this time beyond the opportunity to influence the design of the product. If that's an unfair trade for you, then don't take the survey. Those that like the warm fuzzy feeling of providing feedback for free can continue responding.

[PNWbrit]

Those that like the warm fuzzy feeling

Will the warm fuzzy feeling also be a vapor barrier?

[elguapo84]

Well played Brit!

If this product actually solves a real user need, and we get kickstarter support to start manufacturing, no doubt I'll start sending prototypes out for beta testing. That'll mean wearing it regularly and providing feedback on a frequency. And of course we would let the user keep the prototype if they like it. Or if they don't we'd have them send it back and give them some money for their time and effort. But we are likely a year away from that at this point. This is very early phase research and design. Altruistic survey takers are appreciated... if they want to participate in a future beta program, we will definitely reach out!

[Hugh Conway]

KICKSTARTER? WELL WHY DIDNT YOU SAY SO!