Gear-Report: Extreme Mist Personal Cooling System Review – Portable Mist System
"..I am a bit surprised that Extreme Mist is the first to bring this cool idea to market.."
Cool idea from Extreme Mist
Yeah. I’m getting the bad pun out of the way early.
In case you missed it, the pun is because misting systems are designed to cool you off via evaporation. You might recall from science class that when liquid transitions from liquid to a gaseous state it absorbs a bit of ambient heat. We can use this to our advantage by spraying a super fine mist of water that is primed for evaporation on our clothing and exposed skin. As the water evaporates it literally sucks the heat from your skin, cooling you. This is why you often see fans spraying mist on the players on the sidelines of NFL games when it is hot or find misting stations in theme parks to help keep guests cool while they wait in lines.
Somehow, it seems no one ever thought to make a truly portable misting system to help people stay cool while on the move… like running or hiking.
Extreme Mist sent their Personal Cooling System backpack, shower head and Quad Nozzle kit for review. I’m excited because this combination gives a wide range of options for use. For this video, I’ll show you the basic PCS backpack with a single misting nozzle. As it warms up and I have a good place to install it I’ll follow up with another video showing the showerhead and Quad Nozzle kit in use. I can’t wait to be the envy of all the adult leaders at Scout camp this summer with my own personal cooling mist wherever I go.
Extreme Mist Personal Cooling System Review Video
First Impressions of the PCS
In initial testing, I found that the entire system works exactly as described. It appears to be very well thought out.
Charge the battery pack, fill the water bladder and you are ready to either drink from the water bladder or cool yourself off with a cool mist from the misting nozzle.
Let’s look at the various components of the PCS system.
Portable misting system pump
The heart of the system is the battery-powered portable water pump with wireless remote control. The self-priming pump runs fairly quietly and is powered by a 6600 mAh USB rechargeable battery. It accepts a fast charge at 5V and 3A, and also has a standard USB out port that supplies 5V at 2A. I am a bit concerned that the pump assembly is not waterproof. But so far that has not been an issue. The blue tubing for the misting system seems durable enough and is connected with quick connect fittings. The only fitting that I’ve seen leak a few drops during use is at the misting nozzle. The drip stopped when I turned the fitting a bit. I’ll be interested to see how durable the fittings prove to be over time.
PCS water bladder
The 2L water bladder lives in an insulated sleeve in case you prefer to fill it with chilled water.
Extreme Mist Backpack
The backpack looks like a standard hydration pack at first glance. Look closer and you’ll see is really set up for runners with wide, breathable mesh shoulder straps that hook together such that they almost look like a vest. That gives room for a few pockets for different electrolyte drinks, your phone, ID, etc. The chest strap has a safety whistle built-in and the drinking tube has a magnetic bit to fasten it to the vest so it won’t bounce around while running. The little pouches to hold the wireless remote for the pump are a bit snug and tricky to use. On the back, there are two big compartments. One has the water bladder in it, but still has room for a jacket. The other has the pump assembly and room for some other small items.
Extreme Mist PCS directions
Using the Personal Cooling System was pretty easy.
Step 1 Charge
This is a battery-powered system. So, you start by charging the USB battery pack. I plugged it into one of the MicroUSB charging cables I keep by my cameras. The 5v, 2Amp charger worked fairly quickly to top off the battery so that I was starting with a full charge. I later realized that Extreme Mist had stashed a faster charger in one of the pockets of the backpack.
Step 2 Fill
Was to fill the water bladder with fresh water. This is where I ran into my only issue so far in testing. Opening the bladder was simple. Unzip the main compartment of the backpack, there is a black sleeve inside. Unzip the top of the black sleeve to reveal the water bladder. There are 2 levers that hold the halves of the bladder mouth closed. Rotate those levers 90 degrees to release the clamps and open the bladder mouth.
Easy.
After filling the bladder I had trouble getting the two hard plastic halves fully seated against each other and promptly proceeded to break the little tabs that hold the mouth of the bladder closed. I’m not sure what to say here. I’ve got another bladder with a similar closure system and have used it for a few years without incident. I must have done something wrong, but I’ll go on record right now as suggesting that Extreme Mist looks for a different type of water bladder closure. This one is too unforgiving and brittle.
So… this test was a flop before it even got started, right?
Nope. Even with only one of the 4 tabs still in place and holding the bladder shut it still seals and has not leaked.
But you’ve been warned. PLEASE make sure you have the 2 black plastic halves of the bladder perfectly aligned before you try to rotate the levers into the locked position.
Step 3 Unsheath the remote and fire up the pump!
It was as simple as it sounds. The wireless remote control was clipped to little loop on the front of the backpack and tucked in a little pouch. Just slide the remote out of the sleeve and slide the protective cover back to expose the 4 buttons:
– Start
– Stop
– Faster
– Slower
When you first start the pump it will be at the medium speed. It may take a few seconds for a dry pump to prime and start squirting water out of the misting tube. Priming the pump is easier if you loosen one of the spray nozzles so that pressure can’t build up in the tube. Once the water starts flowing out the loosened fitting you know the pump is primed and you can tighten it. At that point, you should have a fine mist of water spraying out of the nozzle.
Step 4 Turn off the pump
When you are done with the mist you simply press the Stop button on the remote and the pump will quickly stop running. It may take another couple of seconds for the pressure to bleed off of the misting hose.
As much as I prefer Summer over Winter, I have to admit that sometimes it is nice to be able to cool off on a hot day.
Extreme Mist Complete Quad Kit
The Quad kit adds 4x spray nozzles and 16 feet of additional water line to the PCS kit.
This allows the backpack kit to be extended to cool a larger area, like under an umbrella, pop-up shelter or sun shade.
We tested the quad kit in the blazing heat of August in sunny Florida and found it to be reliable and effective.
The battery charge held up for multiple refills of the water bladder.
Extreme Mist PCS Overall
The Extreme Mist Personal Cooling System is a rather ingenious and flexible bit of gear that can help you cool off while on the go.
Please check back later to see how the Quad Nozzle system works to cool a fixed location. I expect that we will use this on the dock at the lake and maybe even in the Battlewagon 2.0 this summer.
