MiClimate: The First REAL Personal Wearable Air Conditioner

Although many companies have tried to tackle the personal cooling space, very few have even come close. MiClimate might just be a viable solution.

Background

Out of all the years I’ve been covering thermal comfort, the #1 thing people look for are ways to keep themselves cool in hot weather, or hot climates.

I suppose that’s because it’s much harder to find legitimate ways to keep yourself cool, than it is to keep yourself warm.

There are all sorts of products that claim to offer cooling relief, but in my experience, they are more gimmicky than anything else.

Mind you, I’m not saying there aren’t existing legitimate ways to keep yourself cooler, because there likely are. 

I’m just saying that there are only a finite number of ways to actually cool down your body temperature.

How To Stay Cool

To stay cool, or rather to find ways to cool yourself down, it essentially depends on your starting point.

First, if you’re wearing clothes that don’t breathe well, you can start by buying new clothes that do. For example, switching from cotton to linen, or from polyester to seersucker. 

If you make that one change alone, you would likely feel cooler than you did before.

Let’s say you currently wear a traditional value-brand undershirts and underwear.

If you switch to cooler lightweight undershirts and premium underwear with more advanced and lightweight fabrics, they will most certainly keep you cooler than heavier, more traditional types of undershirts & underwear.

Cooling Products

I’ve written about cooling products many times.

While I’ve been very hopeful, out of all the products I’ve tried, there have only been a couple of cooling products that have truly helped my body feel cooler.

One of those products is the Cold Shoulder Calorie Burning Vest, which I can most simply describe as an ice-pack vest.

I’ll be writing about my personal experience with the Cold Shoulder PRO Calorie Burning Vest in the coming weeks, but if you have any questions about it, please post your question below in the comments section.

Ice, or ice packs are definitely one legitimate category of cooling, however, they are generally a bit too heavy & bulky to be practical for everyday use. 

Plus, ice melts fast and ice-packs loose their cool pretty quickly in warm weather. So, the cooling effect is normally short lived.

Another cooling product that has served me well in some hot situations, is a thermoelectric peltier-powered Cooling Cap.

You can read about that product, as well as the three other main cooling categories in my Top 4 Cooling Apparel Categories article.

Peltier (thermoelectric) technology has promise, but very few people have figured out how to crack the code as it pertains to using peltier technology for personal and effective cooling.

There have been a ton of people on YouTube who have made DIY peltier air conditioners (youtube), but I haven’t seen any that I would consider as both personal and truly portable.

Well, it would appear that one clever individual, looking for a way to help people stay cooler in hot weather, has come up with a wearable peliter-powered air conditioner.

Introducing MiClimate.

What Is MiClimate Wearable Air Conditioner?

From the company’s website:

MiClimate is a battery powered wearable, based on a technology licensed from the US Navy, designed for individuals who sweat excessively. 

Ambient air is cooled or heated and ducted to torso. 

Air flows over skin and removes sweat to assist the thermoregulatory system of body.

MiClimate Explainer Video

 

MiClimate Details

• Website (link)
• Pre-sale Price: $299 (40% off the planned retail price of $500)
• Release Date: Website states December 2018 availability
• Thermal Capability: Cooling & Heating
• Cooling: Output air is ~8 degrees cooler than ambient air intake
• Heating: Output air is ~25 degrees warmer than ambient air intake
• Battery life: Up to 4 hours of use (buy a spare battery for longer continuous use)
• Total Weight: Less than 2 pounds
• Color: Black/Grey

MiClimate Photos

I see that MiClimate launched an Indiegogo campaign (link) about 2 years ago.

While they still have not shipped products to their backers, the Campaign owner, Pankaj Sinha, has been keeping their contributors updated on regular basis.

One contributor seems to have had the opportunity to try a prototype unit:

Brent Doyen

Tested this past week. Works great!

Perfect for the long distance motorcycle rider. Fit was great didn’t notice that it was there as far as weight and location.

Looking forward to having one of these to extend my riding time in late summer.

If this turns out to be a legitimate product, it could very well be the first real wearable air conditioner ever made.

I’ve reached out to the company with some questions, so I’ll update this article if/when I hear back from them.