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Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

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ChickenD!ken
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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby ChickenD!ken » Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:46 pm

edt wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:50 pm
ChickenD!ken wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:26 pm
Nice. Completely agree with you, JeromeL that glove choice is tougher and matters more than your feet. Can’t really use 6mm on your hands anyways. I use ION’s 3/2 claw gloves and don’t feel fatigue either (presumably the pre-curve does a lot here?) but could do with more protection from the wind. Mittens do sound like the consensus choice. Anyone try open palm mittens with heavy windchill protection? I know ION does a pair but I’ve not tried them. Wondering how good they would hold up in January when the air temperature really plummets..
open palm mittens are more for kayakers, as they are hand on paddle all the time. Kiters tend to take their hands off the control bar a lot, for doing grabs, transitions, crashes, adjusting the trim. I know people who have used them, but they aren't as good for kiters as the dakine mitts.
Yeah, I try to stay out of the drink as much as possible during the winter. Just to get the most out of my sessions. But an open mitten is pretty useless once you’ve been under or dropped your hand in the water because you forgot it wasn’t July after all. Hehe.

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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby Slappysan » Mon Nov 20, 2017 9:27 pm

edt wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:05 pm
The dakine cold water mitt are very nice because the palm is not thick material it's thin, which means you don't wear out your forearms by gripping the bar.
I found the dakine mitts to be pretty much useless. They flush with water every time you fall causing your hands to freeze, worse still is you can't blow on your hands to warm them up like you could with open palm mitts. On top of that having all 4 fingers stuck together sucks and you can't even rig or derig in them at all.

For true cold weather gloves the NP Surf 3 finger mitts are my go to. They don't flush on minor wipeouts which is the key to staying warm. And there is enough precurve to make the arm pump manageable.

I go out in -2 degC air and 7 degC water with them, but only manage 1-1:30 sessions in those temps.

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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby jeromeL » Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:07 am

ChickenD!ken wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:41 pm
jeromeL wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:47 pm
ChickenD!ken wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:26 pm
Nice. Completely agree with you, JeromeL that glove choice is tougher and matters more than your feet. Can’t really use 6mm on your hands anyways. I use ION’s 3/2 claw gloves and don’t feel fatigue either (presumably the pre-curve does a lot here?) but could do with more protection from the wind. Mittens do sound like the consensus choice. Anyone try open palm mittens with heavy windchill protection? I know ION does a pair but I’ve not tried them. Wondering how good they would hold up in January when the air temperature really plummets..
Just bought same glove you don't feel like the smooth skin on glove is slippery on the bar, maybe depends on bar? I have a best GP bar...
My only experiences with Best has been used gear (redline bar) that got me going a few years ago. So can’t say I’m knowledgable on Best bars of today. I wasn’t kiting in winter months then either. Too expensive to cover that much time on the water. You really need at least 5/4 with all the add-ons between Oct/Nov to Apr/May here.

The grip on the ION claw gloves is fine for me except for the lack of windchill. I don’t suffer the forearm fatigue, thankfully, but my fingers get pretty stiff these days I have to say. Or maybe November is just a bitch this year, I don’t know. I use a Sensor 2S now which is very light, EVA grip and the least friction I’ve gotten from any bar I’ve used. Mittens feel like they will be annoying with the lack of fine motor function, but it sounds like I need to give it a try. You said you tried all options, do you think there’s a considerable gain from using mittens over 3-fingers?
Everyone is different, I'm pretty good with cold hands, I'll rather be slightly cold in my 2 or 3mm than use 5mm, as long as I retain feeling I'm good. Last winter I was able to stay away from mittens except for one session and avoided freezing conditions. (Went of vacation last 2 weeks of jan) and skipped kiting in feb.

2 years ago I did a -5C / 25F session with 3 fingers glove and didn't keep my index warm, I lost total feeling and felt some burn so I went back in. So I replaced 3 finger with full mittens.

So yes if you are planning on doing some extreme cold session then go full mittens, if you just want some comfort and don't plan on going too extreme then 3 finger is probabaly way to go to keep a bit more dexterity to set your lines and such...

Anyway here is my cold session 2 years ago, it's fun to do once to test bottom end of gear but won't don't plan on doing it much, anyway usually where I'm at you can do it once in jan but after a few days water gets too cold and ice up, last year wasn't too bad, some people kited through the whole winter with full mittens.

https://youtu.be/uEQdy6KeVIQ

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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby nothing2seehere » Tue Nov 21, 2017 10:57 am

My best option I found (although not the coldest weather in the world here in the UK) was thin neoprene gloves with latex gloves over the top with elastic bands to seal. The neoprene does the warmth and the latex stops the wind chill and the rubber bands keep the water in the gloves so you don't get too much change over of the water.

Used this option when learning and spending a lot of time body dragging - where you are spending a lot of time with your hands in the water. Its a pain to get set up, but the dexterity is good (enough to pack down at the end of a session without removing gloves). I use 1.5mm neoprene cycling gloves as they are cheap (and - it turns out - terrible for cycling in). Scaled up with 2-3mm gloves should get you further down the mercury scale.

Disclaimer: the local water temperature rarely drops below 7-8c and I have used this setup only down to 6c ambient temperature and still felt toasty so can't say whether it scales the extra couple of degrees.

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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby Bille » Tue Nov 21, 2017 7:25 pm

Lots of battery operated heated gloves about ; grab a pair, and
tell us how it goes !! :D
Only ones that work under water ; are made for Dry-suits, for scuba-divers . :(



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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby ichabod » Wed Nov 22, 2017 11:28 am

As mentioned, open palm mitts are by far the best option if you can get away with them. No arm pump and you can pop your hands out when rigging etc. Also on borderline days, you have the option of keeping them folded back off your hands completely and just putting them on later in the session if you get too cold. I go out happily in mine down to about 5 degrees then have full gloves for those very rare colder sessions.

ChickenD!ken
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Re: Mittens vs. 3 Finger Gloves vs. 5 Finger Gloves

Postby ChickenD!ken » Wed Nov 22, 2017 2:35 pm

jeromeL wrote:
Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:07 am
Everyone is different, I'm pretty good with cold hands, I'll rather be slightly cold in my 2 or 3mm than use 5mm, as long as I retain feeling I'm good. Last winter I was able to stay away from mittens except for one session and avoided freezing conditions. (Went of vacation last 2 weeks of jan) and skipped kiting in feb.

2 years ago I did a -5C / 25F session with 3 fingers glove and didn't keep my index warm, I lost total feeling and felt some burn so I went back in. So I replaced 3 finger with full mittens.

So yes if you are planning on doing some extreme cold session then go full mittens, if you just want some comfort and don't plan on going too extreme then 3 finger is probabaly way to go to keep a bit more dexterity to set your lines and such...

Anyway here is my cold session 2 years ago, it's fun to do once to test bottom end of gear but won't don't plan on doing it much, anyway usually where I'm at you can do it once in jan but after a few days water gets too cold and ice up, last year wasn't too bad, some people kited through the whole winter with full mittens.
Cool. Thanks for the tips. I used to live in NYC 12 years ago so I know what you mean. Winter temps are A little more severe here in Denmark but it’s the wind that kills you here more than the temps. Nice video, by the way. Beautiful smooth day on the water that must have been.


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