Reddit reviews HotHands Body & Hand Super Warmers - Long Lasting Safe Natural Odorless Air Activated Warmers - Up to 18 Hours of Heat - 40 Individual Warmers

Requesting not for myself but for a small unit of 20 Marines currently in the Middle East in an area that has no power or heat; there are no working showers or toilets. PX is not at this site, nor will one come. They are using bottled water for hygiene and also for wag bags; burn barrels are used for waste disposal.

They have requested Under Armour cushioned Cold Gear boot socks
http://www.extremeoutfitters.us/socks-2.aspx

and hand warmers

http://www.amazon.com/HotHands-Body-Super-Warmer-count/dp/B0007ZF4Q8/ref=sr_1_6?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1418243431&sr=1-6&keywords=hand+warmers

They are living in unheated tents currently and the weather has dropped below 30 degrees.

If you would like to help, please let me know, and I can share their info with you for authenticity. I don't feel comfortable posting it on Reddit for a matter of security on their behalf.

Glinda :)

A few of my own:

• Expanding on /u/mc2222's field battery idea:
  
  A great many things...including things you might not otherwise think of...can be powered by a 12V DC power source, such as a car battery.
  
  Swing by Wal-Mart, and check out the Deep Cycle "marine" batteries. They're pretty low quality for marine needs, but they're perfect for ours. Even a mere 50AH of capacity will be PLENTY for what we do. You can pick one up for $40-$80 depending on size/capacity.
  
  Next, look for or build some sort of distribution panel/box/etc. It can be as fancy or plain as you want. All you're after is some central point so you can plug in all this stuff you never knew could be powered off 12V. Personally, I use this guy but there's lots of other methods of doing this.
  
  Now...there's all the obvious things you can power with it. Most motorized mounts, for example, plug right into the car lighter outlet. You can, of course, clip that connector and put some other connector (like the banana plugs my unit takes) on if you wish. But for these items, no further mods are necessary. Dew heaters and camera coolers are other common 12V devices.
  
  Now here's where we get cute...Got a DSLR? It probably has an AC Power Adapter available for it, right? Take a close look at the specs for it...you'll see that while its INPUT is 120VAC (plugs into a wall) it's OUTPUT is plain ole DC...PROBABLY 7.2V or so (a 2 cell LiPo, for the record). Grab yourself a little adjustable step down gadget, cut the cable on the CAMERA side of the converter that's inline, and just use the handy battery adapter piece. Solder it up to the output side of your step down supply, solder up some wires on the input side, set it to 7.2 (or whatever) output, and poof...12V power for your camera. :)
  
  You'll find there's a zillion devices that "plug into the wall", but if you check their OUTPUT, it's 12V DC (or less)...and thus, you can use this method to power them in the field off your field battery. :)
  
  
• Hand Warmers : Not only good for keeping hands toasty on cold imaging nights, but useful for keeping your guide scope or camera lens warmer to help ward off dew/frost.
  
  
• HobbyPartz (among many others, but these guys are amongst the cheapest I've found) has these slick Red LED strips that can be powered by as little as 3V, or up to 12V. They use insanely low amounts of power, so even a small battery pack will power them all night.
  
  What good are they? Well...they're adhesive on the back, AND you can cut them to your desired length, and solder new lead wires onto each strip. Viola...you've got night-vision safe lighting for your laptop, your telescope, your field table..whatever! They serve both to illuminate your work area, AND mark your equipment for others' safety.
  
  

HotHands Body & Hand Super Warmers - Long Lasting Safe Natural Odorless Air Activated Warmers - Up to 18 Hours of Heat - 40 Individual Warmers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007ZF4Q8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1SB1DbWJAAYKN

Used to use these for skiing :)

http://www.amazon.com/HeatMax-Hand-Body-Warmer-Count/dp/B0007ZF4Q8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1289423265&sr=8-8

1. An 8" dob is definitely a bit much for a 7 year-old, but as long as it's for both of you, it's a good purchase. The most complicated part of owning a dob is collimating the optics (just making sure they're all aligned properly). There are plenty of tutorials on how to do this online. It will take a tiny bit of practice, but once you do it a couple of times, it's easy.
   
   
2. Get this eyepiece set. Don't bother with a barlow. The 9mm that comes with that set will replace the 9mm Plossl that comes with the telescope. It's much, much easier to look through and offers a wider field of view. That set is a good spread of focal lengths for that scope, and will compliment the 30mm nicely.
   
   
3. Does that even matter? Yes. You will be fighting condensation on the finder scope like crazy. I recommend buying a pack of those chemical handwarmers and just strapping one to the underside of the viewfinder with an elastic band, and maybe also one to the eyepiece of the view finder as well. That will keep it above ambient and keep the condensation off it.
   
   
4. Yes, several things to know:
   
   

• Obviously, never ever point the thing at the sun unless you have a visual rated solar filter that sits over the FRONT of the scope. You cannot put a solar filter at the eyepiece, it must block the light before it enters the scope.
  
  
• The biggest limiting factor to seeing lunar and planetary detail is the atmosphere. It bends and distorts light just like water in a swimming pool does when trying to view items on the bottom. Some nights are steady and planets are super crisp with tons of detail, other nights are abysmal and the planet looks like an amoeba. It takes patience and some luck to get a night of good atmospheric "seeing" as it's called.
  
  
• You also need to make sure the telescope is thermally acclimated to ambient temperatures. If the mirror is warmer than the outside air temps for whatever reason (e.g. stored in a hot un-insulated shed all day), then the heat coming off the mirror will distort light on the way to the mirror, and again bouncing off of it. If you store the scope in a cool air conditioned space, when you bring it outside in the hot humid air, the mirrors will instantly fog up and the scope will be unusable.
  
  
• It's best to view the planets when they are the highest in the sky. This is known as their transit time - when they cross the southern meridian in the sky. If you try to view them when they're low on the horizon, atmospheric seeing will be worse, and the atmosphere will act like a prism and badly scramble the light, obscuring fine details.
  
  
• The full moon is the least interesting phase to view because lighting is very flat. Best to view near 1st or 3rd quarter so you can see the moon illuminated from the side, where you will see deep shadows on craters, mountain ranges etc.
  
  
• If you buy the eyepiece set I linked to, the 9mm and the 6mm will be your planetary and lunar eyepieces. The 9mm is at the low-end range of planetary magnification and can be used when the atmosphere is very turbulent. The 6mm will be useful when the atmosphere is steady. Eventually you can get something between 3mm and 4mm for very high magnification, but it will only be useful on very rare nights unless you have particularly stable air.
  
  
• I recommend getting the book Turn Left at Orion, which is a good guide to get familiar with the night sky and using the telescope.

The hothands ended up burning me which sucked so I tried to put in a barrier(a paper towel). It was not strong enough because the heat is tight against your body. I only usually need heat the first few days of my period so I stopped using the hot hands but next month I'll try a stronger barrier for the heat. It's a less expensive solution to buying these every month for IBS and period pain. So I'm really going to try to make it work. I bought a 40 pack of hothands for $15 which is a pretty good deal considering how expensive thermacare is.

Gloves AND mittens you say? How about convertible mittens!? You can find them at winter/outdoor clothing stores.

Another thing to consider would be the insulation of the gloves. I have gloves with 40 gram "thinsulate" insulation and they work fine for me. If you get them with insulation, make sure they're "breathable" otherwise it's going to be difficult to get them dry. There is nothing more disgusting than putting on gloves that are completely wet. Ugh...

There are also those air activated hand warmer things. They might be overkill for 40F temperatures, but might be appropriate for -40F.

Glove liners could be useful as well.

Two tips that might work for your friends' problem:

• Avoid putting on your gloves outside when your hands are already cold. Try to put them on before leaving your house or car, otherwise the gloves will be uncomfortable to wear and will take a while for them to warm your hands.
  
  
• For the same reason, avoid leaving the gloves outside (e.g. leaving them in your car overnight).

I am so bummed to hear you had such a lousy experience with your PTs. It makes me wonder if they had any experience with arthritis. :/
So no pools by you...what about just soaking in a tub for a bit with some epsom salt? I know it sounds hokey (and is totally something my grandparents used to do), but it's relieved some of the ache for me, especially during the wintertime. Another thought is heating pads and those shakey heater thingies? (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007ZF4Q8?ascsubtag=[]st[p]cjcatfjvc00r2mvy6pklgx6ft[i]sYgGPh[d]D[z]m[t]w[r]google.com&tag=thestrategistsite-20) - I shove these in my pockets to help with the ache.
One more suggestion and I promise I'll stop. I dropped 50 pounds about a year before I got my diagnosis, and after my diagnosis I really focused on strengthening my glutes and hamstrings (I worked with a trainer). That has also made a different for me in terms of pain - maybe something to look into?
It's badass that you got the weight off and have KEPT it off, despite dealing with freaking hip OA (seriously, aren't bone spurs the worst? nobody tells you your freaking HIP IS GOING TO GET STUCK with OA. UGH).
Hang in there, man.

http://www.amazon.com/HeatMax-Hand-Body-Warmer-Count/dp/B0007ZF4Q8/ref=sr_1_1?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1382883003&sr=1-1