Velotoze Cooling Vest with Cooling Packs

The Velotoze Cooling Vest with Cooling Packs is not your standard baselayer. It has four pouches that hold reusable ice packs to keep you cool on the indoor trainer or during a pre-race warm-up. It's soft, made from light mesh and has a full-length front zipper for easy removal. However, this cooling comes at a price, with this vest costing more – usually much more – than any of the products in our guide to the ​best cycling baselayers.

> Buy Velotoze Cooling Vest for £92.49 from tradeinn

Sometimes you're sweating away on Zwift with every fan you own blowing full in your face and chest – but even that's not enough to cool you down.

Well, it's in situations like this that the Velotoze Cooling Vest is genuinely a game-changer. Put this on for your Tuesday night Zwift Racing League exertions and you'll only need one fan to keep you cool – it really is that effective.

When you buy the Cooling Vest you also get three small ice packs and one larger one, which fit in the baselayer's rear and side pockets.

These ice packs are essentially the same as those you put in your coolbag, and they work instantly, if anything being too good at cooling you down. Oh, you're also likely to end up with a larger puddle beneath your bike than usual...

Velotoze has very sensibly used a full-length front zipper. I found this ideal for pre-race warm-ups on the rollers, as I could swiftly strip the vest off and put on the upper half of my skinsuit.

It also means you can ride on the trainer with the top fully unzipped, which combines with the ice packs in the cooling vest pockets for maximum cooling effect.

I have a few mesh baselayers that have ripped to pieces when I've washed them with other cycling kit, but I have had no issues with the Velotoze so far. I would recommend zipping it up fully before washing to protect other stuff in the wash.

The cooling vest sizes up well without the cooling packs, though it did sag a little with the ice packs added – which is the only serious issue I had.

That said, this could be due to my pathetically skinny body, and if you have a more well-balanced body shape you may well not experience the same issue.

Value

You can't avoid the fact it's £90 for a mesh baselayer with some ice packs. But the idea is sound and most of us aren't World Tour pros with access to our own cooling vests, though if you do want one, Jumbo-Visma sells a stylish-looking team cooling vest for €90.

This is the first product of its kind we've reviewed, but it is almost double the price of most mesh sleeveless baselayers. Pas Normal Studios is known for its higher-priced kit and Sam recently gave its sleeveless baselayer a very positive review, but even that cost 'only' £46. 

Another well-rated baselayer we tested recently is the Nopinz Souplesse Baselayer that George had back in the spring, and which at £29.99 is only a third of the price. 

Conclusion

There aren't really any baselayers on the market that are direct competitors to the Velotoze Cooling Vest. It's very effective at cooling you down and the ice packs don't take up much space in the freezer. It's definitely worth considering and potentially investing in if you're an avid Zwift user or want to cool down as much as possible before a time trial or similar challenge.

Verdict

Comfortable and an extremely effective cooling solution for indoor training – just a shame about the price.