Random Thought Thread

bluemax_1 said:
So… I’m fan (i.e. sucker) for technological innovations.

In today’s edition of, “Wow… I didn’t know something like this existed…”

I’ve known about Peltier coolers, and thought they were pretty cool (pun intended 😁), but never gave much thought to it. Then Prime Day bit me in the ass.

I posted a while back about getting a neck fan (looks like an oversized horseshoe you wear around your neck, and has small fans that blow air on your neck and face). Well, anyone in hot AND humid environments, knows that blowing hot humid air on yourself doesn’t help as much, since evaporative cooling doesn’t work as well when the air already has a ton of moisture.

Discovered during Amazon’s Prime week, that there are neck ‘A/C’ devices (not cheap), that supposedly actively cool, using Peltier coolers. Decided to order one to check it out (between the Prime Sale dropping the price to the lowest it ever gets, from checking the CamelCamelCamel Amazon price tracker website), and Amazon’s simple Returns, if the item sucked.

Ordered the Ranvoo Aice Lite Plus, and got to test it out. 93f. 46%RH.

Garage was even hotter from baking in the sun.

Used the Seek Nano 300 to take a photo. This was immediately after taking it off my neck, after using it for 30-40 minutes in the heat (so those are the temps the cooling plates were able to maintain, while absorbing the heat conducted directly from skin contact with my neck).

OK, this thing is really cool (literally). Cooling the neck (especially near the carotid arteries and jugular veins), in effect can help keep the head and body cool, as you’re removing heat from all the blood flowing to and from the head.

Reviews say that the device can be used in charge-through mode (i.e. using an external powerbank connected to the USB-C charging port), for even longer runtimes (maximum runtimes on maximum cooling mode are variously quoted by reviewers as somewhere between 1-3 hours on the internal 6,000mAh battery).

I ordered a 40,000mAh small (pocket sized) powerbank, to try the combo.

As the photo shows, in the non-climate controlled garage that had heat soaked everything in it to 95.2f, the cooling plates maintained a nice, cool 70.5f while in contact with my neck, and you can see the heat exchange of the Peltier Coolers, transferring the heat to the outside of the device.

The other photo shows the device within a few minutes of being turned on, in a hot environment, and shows the heat vent, as the Peltier coolers transfer heat from the cooling plates, to vent it away from the device/wearer.
View attachment 2926690View attachment 2926691
Click to expand...
Update on this thing.

Ran about 2 hours on Maximum cooling on the internal battery.

Bought a ‘claimed’ 40,000mAh portable battery pack ($29.99 during Prime week). Been running it with that. So far it looks like this pack should be able to run it for ~9 hours (a little over 4 hours, and the small battery pack shows 56%). That theoretically means it could run for 10-11 hours (in pass-through mode, the internal battery stays fully charged, so ~9 + 2 hours).

Deliberately used it in 93f 50% humidity in direct sunlight. Cooling plates were ~77f on the thermal, so they can stay ~20f lower than skin temp, even with the heat conduction through direct contact).

In contrast, a cooling towel soaked in cold tap water stays cooler than ambient/skin temps for about 5-10 minutes before it warms up to skin temp. At that point, it depends on evaporative cooling for any appreciable difference/relief (with reduced effectiveness the higher the humidity).

This thing feels like a towel that continues to stay cool, the whole time.

*** I have to say, though, the HIIT physical training has been the single biggest factor for me, wrt heat tolerance.

Despite the fact that I’ve been consistently training and exercising for decades; pushing ever harder with the HIIT (detailed in the workout thread), has resulted in the biggest noticeable improvements in 6-7 months I’ve seen, in a very long time.

Where just last summer, walking from the a/c indoors, to 80+f outdoors made me feel like I was melting, this year after progressively ramping up the HIIT since January, stepping outside in 90+f felt OK. I actually had to check the outdoor thermometer to confirm that it WAS in the 90s, because it didn’t feel that bad to me, where I felt miserable walking outside into 90+f last summer.

One of the things about aging, is the decline in metabolic adaptation. When we’re younger, the body can adapt to physical stress much more rapidly (fight or flight), but this wanes as we get older. I didn’t realize until doing HIIT, just how much of a difference it makes vs strength training plus regular steady-state moderate exertion cardio.

Pushing the High Intensity intervals harder and harder, to an HR in the 170s, and the repeated cycling between the High Intensity-Moderate Intensity intervals, and then progressively pushing harder and harder, for longer and longer durations, has paid huge dividends. It’s pretty amazing.
 
bluemax_1 said:
Update on this thing.

Ran about 2 hours on Maximum cooling on the internal battery.

Bought a ‘claimed’ 40,000mAh portable battery pack ($29.99 during Prime week). Been running it with that. So far it looks like this pack should be able to run it for ~9 hours (a little over 4 hours, and the small battery pack shows 56%). That theoretically means it could run for 10-11 hours (in pass-through mode, the internal battery stays fully charged, so ~9 + 2 hours).

Deliberately used it in 93f 50% humidity in direct sunlight. Cooling plates were ~77f on the thermal, so they can stay ~20f lower than skin temp, even with the heat conduction through direct contact).

In contrast, a cooling towel soaked in cold tap water stays cooler than ambient/skin temps for about 5-10 minutes before it warms up to skin temp. At that point, it depends on evaporative cooling for any appreciable difference/relief (with reduced effectiveness the higher the humidity).

This thing feels like a towel that continues to stay cool, the whole time.

*** I have to say, though, the HIIT physical training has been the single biggest factor for me, wrt heat tolerance.

Despite the fact that I’ve been consistently training and exercising for decades; pushing ever harder with the HIIT (detailed in the workout thread), has resulted in the biggest noticeable improvements in 6-7 months I’ve seen, in a very long time.

Where just last summer, walking from the a/c indoors, to 80+f outdoors made me feel like I was melting, this year after progressively ramping up the HIIT since January, stepping outside in 90+f felt OK. I actually had to check the outdoor thermometer to confirm that it WAS in the 90s, because it didn’t feel that bad to me, where I felt miserable walking outside into 90+f last summer.

One of the things about aging, is the decline in metabolic adaptation. When we’re younger, the body can adapt to physical stress much more rapidly (fight or flight), but this wanes as we get older. I didn’t realize until doing HIIT, just how much of a difference it makes vs strength training plus regular steady-state moderate exertion cardio.

Pushing the High Intensity intervals harder and harder, to an HR in the 170s, and the repeated cycling between the High Intensity-Moderate Intensity intervals, and then progressively pushing harder and harder, for longer and longer durations, has paid huge dividends. It’s pretty amazing.
Click to expand...
Reminds me of this.


news.stanford.edu

Stanford researchers' cooling glove 'better than steroids'

The temperature-regulation research of Stanford biologists H. Craig Heller and Dennis Grahn has led to a device that rapidly cools body temperature, greatly improves exercise recovery, and could help explain why muscles get tired.
news.stanford.edu news.stanford.edu
 
SwarthyGnome said:
Reminds me of this.


news.stanford.edu

Stanford researchers' cooling glove 'better than steroids'

The temperature-regulation research of Stanford biologists H. Craig Heller and Dennis Grahn has led to a device that rapidly cools body temperature, greatly improves exercise recovery, and could help explain why muscles get tired.
news.stanford.edu news.stanford.edu
Click to expand...
Hmmm… hadn’t thought of using it during workouts.

I recall seeing a segment in a documentary about the palm coolers being used by some NFL teams.

I also still have the phase change cold packs I made last year, for the cooling vest. I think I’ll try this out with tomorrow’s lifting session. That bit about the Vietnamese guy going from 180 pull-ups to 616 pull-ups in 6 weeks is inspiring.
 
Richard338 said:
Yep. It didn't seem too crazy until I put it beside the 10mm. Getting ammo on Thursday. The trigger is smooth as you'd expect from Performance Center and pretty light on SA...
Click to expand...

They’re not that bad as far as heavy recoil goes. The 460 / 454 has that covered.

Granted the short barrel will add a bit to yours.
 
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