With the start of autumnal riding conditions, and having seen the light with a new heated vest, I decided to investigate options for heated gloves. If you ride year round you'll know that even with heated grips, in low temperatures whilst you'll be ok for a few hours with the mercury dipping down to 4 or 5 degrees before the chill sets in, if, like me, you frequently spend 6 hours or more on the roads, then heated clothing has been something of a transformative discovery for me. Looking at the reasons why extremities tend to suffer before anywhere else is simply down to the cooling of your core body temperature, where to keep the body temperature stable, blood supply is directed away from the hands and feet to maintain core body temperature to try and stave off hypothermic conditions.
Despite wrapping up well, I have chanced becoming hypothermic due to commuting long distances in years past, in sub zero conditions. The outcome could have been severe, but luckily for me I suffered no more than frost bitten hands in several cases but looking back on that, it was a painful experience that I was never keen on repeating. Clothing has improved over the years but despite the use of Thinsulate in padded gloves, I have never been that keen on bulky winter gloves, which may stave off the cold for longer than 3 season gloves but once cold, there's nothing for it but to pull over somewhere for a coffee and warm up. I remember one particularly bitter 6 hour shift last winter which almost convinced me that I ought really to use the car once out in temperatures much lower than 3 to 4 degrees. It was fine for the first 2 to 3 hours, with a few breaks, but once the cold set in, hated grips (in my case) didn't stave off the inevitable simply due to core temperatures dropping too far, and this also affects concentration making it potentially hazardous. Whilst the heated vest now keeps me toasty warm, and having ridden hours overnight on 6 to 8 degrees, it was the legs and hands starting to feel the cold after several hours, so I thought it daft not to ensure I was comfortable and could maintain full concentration so decided to investigae heated gloves options.
My day to day gloves for the past 6 or 7 years have been my trusty Held Air 'N Dry twin compartment goretex gloves. The have been excellent 3 season gloves but never enough on their own once the cold weather arrives unless riding one of my bikes with hand guards and decent heated grips, and even then, once wet is factored in, whilst the hands stay dry, the evaporation of water from the outer layer promotes increased wind chill, resulting in numb fingers. Looking around, I saw that choice these days mainly revolves around three main types of glove: Wired gloves like Keis or Gerber, decent battery gloves (5, 7.4 or 12v varieties) or Chinese, non descript "ski-ing/motorbike" gloves which on inspection are not all they claim to be (who knew?
). They're often poor quality, have little to no real protection and on the leather ones, it's usually inferior sheep's leather and there's no way I'd trust anything from China for the safety of my digits in an off. You also take a gamble on whether they'd last a season, never mind years.
For me, I don't like the idea of being tethered to the bike, more cables to contend with when hopping on and off the bike or adding unnecessary additional load to the bike's battery (although this isn't a lot in the case of gloves) so it had to be battery for me. Looking at availability, some of the more premium brands were quite expensive in the £300 to £400 range but then I saw RST's Paragon 6 which seemed to tick a lot of boxes. First and foremost, they have decent protection and are a textile/leather mix, using decent quality leather with good palm and hard knuckle protection sewn in with double stitching to vulnerable areas. They were advertised as insulated and waterproof too using their Sinaqua breathable membrane. These run on 5v batteries which are fitted into small zipped enclosures on the inner gauntlet area and have a large, glove friendly (to operate) microswitch for operation n the backs of the hands.
Reading some online reviews, they seemed to be generally well thought of so I decided to give a pair a go. I normally take a UK 11 size which is marked as an RST XL. The fit is quite snug compared to the Held size 11, and a little more snug than my RST summer gloves in the same size, but not overly tight. Finger length is quite long and for me, this left abut half an inch in the finger tips but a size smaller would have been too tight, so my guess is if you are an 11 but have shorter than average fingers, these may not be for you.
Batteries were charged when I checked them, out of the box, so once fitted, I set them to the high heating setting and within 30 seconds or so I started to feel the warmth across the back of the hands, and after about a minute or so, it had progressed to the back of the fingers and was surprisingly warm. Some of the reviews stated that they don't actually get that warm, but the pair I have do, so perhaps they may have had issues with their pairs, as the hot setting was indeed hot! My initial trials showed that on high, you can expect no more than a few hours due to the battery size but as they seem warmer even without heating than my 3 season gloves I guess the idea is to keep your core warm and only switch them on if out for prolonged periods after an hour or two and then, if used on the medium setting, you should get 3 or 4 hours of heat and perhaps 6 to 7 hours on low. I found the low setting was fine in recent conditions but it's not been much below double figures so the jury's out, but I will say that even without the heated grips, it made a positive difference to riding comfort with my hands nice and warm.
I would imagine with heated grips set to low, and the gloves on medium, you'd have no bother in freezing conditions keeping the digits happy.
Fit is definitely not targeted at tucking these under the jacket sleeves, as I do with my long-ish Held gloves, With the battery packs adding to bulk, you'll almost certainly want these pulled over the cuffs and the toggle closures pulled firmly to keep the rain out if riding in the wet. I'm not bothered by this as I find it a faff dealing with all the zips, velcro and strapping on the jacket and Held gloves when having to repeatedly remove and put my gloves back on when on duty runs with frequent stops. The over the cuff system is handier.
Quality wise, we'll see how they last but for the money (around £199 at many outlets), they look pleasingly well made. RS clothing seems to have come on leaps and bounds in recent years and these gloves are a good example of some of the better made stuff they make, Palms have sufficient padding (unlike some Chinese gloves) and these are clearly made as bike specific with protection to match. I compared them with some Gerbers and quite honestly, for a lot less, you're getting something which compares very well.
There's a few handy features too like the visor wipe blades on the forefinger of both hands, the toggle drawcords on the wrist fastenings and without any signs of finger pads specific to touch screens, they work fine with my satnav.
I'll update this review once I've tested them in much colder or wetter conditions but safe to say I am really quite impressed with the overall fit, heating and protection that these gloves offer and for the money, there seems little to better them presently.
Despite wrapping up well, I have chanced becoming hypothermic due to commuting long distances in years past, in sub zero conditions. The outcome could have been severe, but luckily for me I suffered no more than frost bitten hands in several cases but looking back on that, it was a painful experience that I was never keen on repeating. Clothing has improved over the years but despite the use of Thinsulate in padded gloves, I have never been that keen on bulky winter gloves, which may stave off the cold for longer than 3 season gloves but once cold, there's nothing for it but to pull over somewhere for a coffee and warm up. I remember one particularly bitter 6 hour shift last winter which almost convinced me that I ought really to use the car once out in temperatures much lower than 3 to 4 degrees. It was fine for the first 2 to 3 hours, with a few breaks, but once the cold set in, hated grips (in my case) didn't stave off the inevitable simply due to core temperatures dropping too far, and this also affects concentration making it potentially hazardous. Whilst the heated vest now keeps me toasty warm, and having ridden hours overnight on 6 to 8 degrees, it was the legs and hands starting to feel the cold after several hours, so I thought it daft not to ensure I was comfortable and could maintain full concentration so decided to investigae heated gloves options.
My day to day gloves for the past 6 or 7 years have been my trusty Held Air 'N Dry twin compartment goretex gloves. The have been excellent 3 season gloves but never enough on their own once the cold weather arrives unless riding one of my bikes with hand guards and decent heated grips, and even then, once wet is factored in, whilst the hands stay dry, the evaporation of water from the outer layer promotes increased wind chill, resulting in numb fingers. Looking around, I saw that choice these days mainly revolves around three main types of glove: Wired gloves like Keis or Gerber, decent battery gloves (5, 7.4 or 12v varieties) or Chinese, non descript "ski-ing/motorbike" gloves which on inspection are not all they claim to be (who knew?
). They're often poor quality, have little to no real protection and on the leather ones, it's usually inferior sheep's leather and there's no way I'd trust anything from China for the safety of my digits in an off. You also take a gamble on whether they'd last a season, never mind years.For me, I don't like the idea of being tethered to the bike, more cables to contend with when hopping on and off the bike or adding unnecessary additional load to the bike's battery (although this isn't a lot in the case of gloves) so it had to be battery for me. Looking at availability, some of the more premium brands were quite expensive in the £300 to £400 range but then I saw RST's Paragon 6 which seemed to tick a lot of boxes. First and foremost, they have decent protection and are a textile/leather mix, using decent quality leather with good palm and hard knuckle protection sewn in with double stitching to vulnerable areas. They were advertised as insulated and waterproof too using their Sinaqua breathable membrane. These run on 5v batteries which are fitted into small zipped enclosures on the inner gauntlet area and have a large, glove friendly (to operate) microswitch for operation n the backs of the hands.
Reading some online reviews, they seemed to be generally well thought of so I decided to give a pair a go. I normally take a UK 11 size which is marked as an RST XL. The fit is quite snug compared to the Held size 11, and a little more snug than my RST summer gloves in the same size, but not overly tight. Finger length is quite long and for me, this left abut half an inch in the finger tips but a size smaller would have been too tight, so my guess is if you are an 11 but have shorter than average fingers, these may not be for you.
Batteries were charged when I checked them, out of the box, so once fitted, I set them to the high heating setting and within 30 seconds or so I started to feel the warmth across the back of the hands, and after about a minute or so, it had progressed to the back of the fingers and was surprisingly warm. Some of the reviews stated that they don't actually get that warm, but the pair I have do, so perhaps they may have had issues with their pairs, as the hot setting was indeed hot! My initial trials showed that on high, you can expect no more than a few hours due to the battery size but as they seem warmer even without heating than my 3 season gloves I guess the idea is to keep your core warm and only switch them on if out for prolonged periods after an hour or two and then, if used on the medium setting, you should get 3 or 4 hours of heat and perhaps 6 to 7 hours on low. I found the low setting was fine in recent conditions but it's not been much below double figures so the jury's out, but I will say that even without the heated grips, it made a positive difference to riding comfort with my hands nice and warm.
I would imagine with heated grips set to low, and the gloves on medium, you'd have no bother in freezing conditions keeping the digits happy.
Fit is definitely not targeted at tucking these under the jacket sleeves, as I do with my long-ish Held gloves, With the battery packs adding to bulk, you'll almost certainly want these pulled over the cuffs and the toggle closures pulled firmly to keep the rain out if riding in the wet. I'm not bothered by this as I find it a faff dealing with all the zips, velcro and strapping on the jacket and Held gloves when having to repeatedly remove and put my gloves back on when on duty runs with frequent stops. The over the cuff system is handier.
Quality wise, we'll see how they last but for the money (around £199 at many outlets), they look pleasingly well made. RS clothing seems to have come on leaps and bounds in recent years and these gloves are a good example of some of the better made stuff they make, Palms have sufficient padding (unlike some Chinese gloves) and these are clearly made as bike specific with protection to match. I compared them with some Gerbers and quite honestly, for a lot less, you're getting something which compares very well.
There's a few handy features too like the visor wipe blades on the forefinger of both hands, the toggle drawcords on the wrist fastenings and without any signs of finger pads specific to touch screens, they work fine with my satnav.
I'll update this review once I've tested them in much colder or wetter conditions but safe to say I am really quite impressed with the overall fit, heating and protection that these gloves offer and for the money, there seems little to better them presently.
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Not had any of their gloves though.
