Product Review: The Heat Locker

Clockwise: The box, The unit laid out, final assembly sans cover, assembly after 45 minutes.
Clockwise: The box, The unit laid out, final assembly sans cover, assembly after 45 minutes.

A couple months ago, Pleasant Ridge Outdoors sent us The Heat Locker. The Heat Locker is a product designed to quickly and effectively dry your sports equipment without worrying about damaging your equipment in a dryer. Originally designed for hunters, the The Heat Locker can be used for drying hockey equipment, ski equipment, and just about anything else that is susceptible to get wet and sweaty. Able to support 200 pounds of equipment,

The Heat Locker retails at $129.95 with free shipping. It is available at the Pleasant Ridge Outdoors website.

Construction/Assembly

The unit comes boxed in a series of aluminum tubes of different lengths that help form the frame. The frame measures 7′ tall, 3′ wide, and 2′ deep. This provides 42 cu/ft of storage and drying space when in operation. They are joined together by a series of  plastic elbows that are held together by screws. The unit comes with an Allen-Hex key, so you don’t have to provide your own if you don’t have one. I liked that no tools of your own is necessary. You can assemble it by yourself, but the process will go by much faster with two people. Working by myself it took me almost two hours to assemble the unit.

Usage

The hot air the heating unit generates enters from the bottom of the unit and is exhausted via the vent at the top. It’s important to keep the mesh vent at the top free of clothing or equipment so the hot air can properly exit The Heat Locker.   The unit provides 1500w and 110°F of heating power. You won’t need to worry about damaging the heat mold in your skates of helmet because the operating temperature is much lower than skate baking ovens at your local hockey shop.

You can use any plastic or wire hanger in your house to hang the equipment as there are plenty of holes to spread the equipment apart. Once you hang everything up and give it space to dry, just set the timer on the heating unit and watch it go to work. The polyester cover is designed to expand within the frame of the unit when in operation. If you want to add a fresh scent to it, you can do so at by attaching an air freshener at the bottom and by the time the drying is complete a fresh, clean scent will coat your equipment. Hockey moms nationwide will rejoice!

Pros

The heating unit is very quiet. I was able to “Set it and forget it”  while the unit was in my basement and didn’t hear a peep from it. It emitted about as much sound than a hair dryer.

No extra tools are necessary to assemble the unit.

The timer on the unit us very accurate. The timer goes up to three hours, and for most of the time I set my equipment to dry for two hours. This is perfect for someone who plays multiple nights a week, or for someone who may have multiple games over the course of a weekend.

The 42 cu/ft of storage space is plenty of space for hockey equipment or anything else you need to dry that won’t fit in a conventional dryer.

The cover unit is available in many colors. The unit I reviewed was in camouflage.

Can be used for many other things besides hockey equipment.

Cons

It took me longer than anticipated to assemble it by myself. I was working at an average pace and it took me nearly two hours.

The shelf space at the top isn’t adjustable. I was unable to store my helmet on the shelf and had to hang it upside down on a hanger. If it was adjustable I would have loved to lower it to fit my helmet on the shelf.

Doesn’t hold every piece of equipment a goalie uses. There wasn’t enough space to hold my goalie pads.

 Closing Thoughts

After using the product for over two months, it is one of the best products I have used. It’s allowed me to effectively keep the various types of equipment I have organized and dry. Unlike anything I have seen, it allows me to quickly and effectively store and dry the equipment I use. I currently skate twice a week, and this allows me to exchange equipment when I am between games.

Photos with my goalie equipment inside.
Photos with my goalie equipment inside.

3 Comments

  1. Would you be willing to do a comparison using our bag with a review?
    I’m willing to send you one of our DryLocker Bags.
    with our bag, you dry your equipment right in the bag, no unpacking and repacking of your equipment, no chance of forgetting, any pieces of equipment at home.
    Since our bags use no additional heat, just room temperature, and NO ODOUR from the bag is released into the room, you can dry your equipment anywhere in your home, and never know its there. Mothers, wives, girl friends love our bag, no mess, no smell.
    Our test show that added heat dries out and causes plastics, and felt on equipment to become brittle, and break down over time.
    Only assembly need with our bag is to unstall the filters when your recieve the bag.
    Our bags are youth friendly, and safe, equipment doesn’t have to be placed in any order, and and no fear of a youth having to deal with additional heat.
    We also have a, Hunting, lacsosse, and an All Sports utility bags being released this Spring 2013
    Please take a look at our website http://www.drylocker.ca and let me know if your interested,

    Drylocker Inc
    drylockerinc@yahoo.com
    519-839-4464
    “Being an Athlete, just got a whole lot better, for Everyone”

  2. I would be interested in seeing a comparison between the heat locker and the dry locker bag. If I can get away with never unloading my bag that would be nice. Do you plan to do a review of that product?

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