Klim Ai-1 Impressions

After reading as many online reviews for different options I decided to pull the trigger on the Klim AI-1 vest back in Oct '20 from Revzilla. The vest was dead simple to setup and subscribe to the annual (or monthly if you go that way) service. After a couple of months of wearing this in both hot and cool temps I can say that I haven't notice it wearing hot or keeping me any warmer. The components and materials of the vest feel upscale and durable as one would expect at this price point. The vest fits exactly as described and feels like it fits perfectly under my Roland Sands summer jacket with plenty of room if it needs to do it's job. My Joe Rocket Old School 2.0 leather winter jacket is a bit snugger over this vest. I do feel that it provides enough room that if the vest did deploy it would be sufficient for the bags to fully inflate. Paired with the app on my iPhone I can see the battery level and confirm that it has the most up to date telemetry data from In&Motion. I typically don't get more than a few hours a week on my bike and charge the batteries about every other week or so and have never gotten close to low battery.

Now for a few negatives. I find the insertion and removal of the battery/control pack to be a bit cumbersome. I kept telling myself that it will break in and get smother or that I'll get the knack of it, neither of those have happened yet. If you don't get it lined up just right its a pain to snap in and even more of a bother to remove for charging. I've more or less got this mastered but still is far from a smooth process. At first I also just left the pack installed in the vest but noticed that if I went more than a few days without riding that it wouldn't turn on with the soft switch on the back of the control pack unless I removed it and turned it off and back on again. After a couple of cussing session trying to get it turned on, removed, powered off and on again and reinserted I just remove and turn it off with the physical power button every time I'm finished with a ride. Also the toggle switch to physically turn the unit off and on is a little recessed switch that I have to break out a pen or pocket knife to flip it on or off. Doing these before and after every ride is an inconvenience but it hasn't gotten to the point that I don't still add this to my pre/post ride rituals.

This being said I'm happy with the purchase and while I hope I never have to a do a full review I'll certainly recommend this to anyone that wants to add that little extra protection to your rides.