Heated gloves- Exo vs Gerbing vs what?

[northwind]

It's that time of year again, and I'm thinking I might finally cave in and get heated gloves... I have rubbish circulation, and even though heated grips and the excellent Spada WP Force 2 gloves keep me from actually losing digits, it'd be nice to be warm instead of merely not frostbitten...

So, heated gloves. There's liners available but mostly they're fairly expensive, it seems, so I'm inclined to go directly for the simplicity of heated gloves. And looking around, that seems like it comes down to Gerbing, Exo and Klan. And the Klan ones look rubbish, frankly... Though they're cheaper. Gerbing's Signature and Classics both look the business, as do the Exo2 Stormshield gloves. They're all much the same pricewise.

So, any recommendations? Neither comes with a heat controller, which doesn't seem ideal, I'd have thought that's more or less a neccesity... But maybe not, I've removed the one for my grips entirely as they're always on full, or off.

[600+]

looks like exo2 have more protection than the Gerbing

[northwind]

They do look more solid, don't they. They're also made just down the road :D

[21QUEST]

They do look more solid, don't they. They're also made just down the road :D

If you do get the exo2, it'll be interesting to know how bulky or no they are. The Gerbing does appear quite bulky in the pics.


Ben

[Stig]

Gerbing do heated inner gloves. Would this not be a better choice :?: You'd be able to wear any gloves you want then.

[21QUEST]

Si, not sure if that was for Northy but not sure if the inners would even be thin enough for me to get on with them.

Regular Wooly inner gloves just too bulky for me and hence only using Silk ones.

Hopefully this would be another mild winter though......pair of gortex gloves with Silk inner gloves was enough for last year :)


Ben

[northwind]

The gerbing inners look ace, but they're pretty pricey and it adds another layer of fannying about to getting geared up. That's one minute less in bed in the morning :)

What do you use yourself Bigape? I seem to remember you have Raynauds? I'm not quite at that extent, I've just got classic diabetic rubbish circulation, but I figure what works for you should work for me...

[Stig]

The gerbing inners look ace, but they're pretty pricey and it adds another layer of fannying about to getting geared up. That's one minute less in bed in the morning :)

What do you use yourself Bigape? I seem to remember you have Raynauds? I'm not quite at that extent, I've just got classic diabetic rubbish circulation, but I figure what works for you should work for me...

Heated grips combined with Oxford Muffs. I wear summer gloves with inner gloves with the fingers cut off. This is to stop the grips from burning my palms. It was just about good enough. I found wearing any thicker gloves and I lost the benefit of the heated grips.

Using heated grips alone don't work for me. Neither does just using the Muffs. But using both combined, works a treat.

[hovis]

piccys & prices neended

[21QUEST]

http://www.exo2.co.uk

www.gerbings.co.uk


Ben

[northwind]

About £120 each. Which is bloody expensive, but I'm still tempted. Thinking about it my winter gloves were £35 and my heated grips were £30, and they don't work half as well as heated gloves do (well, so I hear) so looking at it that way they're not so expensive. But still...

[rictus01]

I've a pair of the old style Klan gloves (all leather), which are about 10 years old now, more than good enough in even the coldest of weather, although my brother did get a pair of the newer (textile) ones and wasn't that impressed with them :smt102.

But for true old man comfort you want to try heated socks:D

Cheers Mark.

[northwind]

Oi, I'm not that old.

Oh. Yes, I am :rolleyes:

The Klan ones look more like ski gloves than bike gear to me, or like the tat you see at bike shows for a fiver. I know that's no real indication of quality but they don't inspire confidence... The Exo2 ones look like you gould use them to catch bullets.

[rictus01]

to be honest (and I know I'm not up there in the wilds) I normally only use them for a couple of weeks when the really cold snap comes in, to warm most of the time.

Know what you mean about the newer Klan one though, they did seem less substantual than my old ones, don't know if you can still get the Leather ones ?

Here's my old ones, full leather and kevlar lined properly waterproof to.

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/3615/dsc00298nh2.th.jpg (http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00298nh2.jpg)

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6307/dsc00301zy4.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00301zy4.jpg)

[Stu]

£120 :shock:
Is your circulation so poor that a heated vest (much cheaper and I would have thought more effective at keeping you warm) would not be a better option?

[Stig]

£120 :shock:
Is your circulation so poor that a heated vest (much cheaper and I would have thought more effective at keeping you warm) would not be a better option?

That wouldn't resolve anything. Poor circulation means that blood does not get pumped round the body fast enough. In turn it means that the blood at the extremities is there longer than most before it passes on back into the body. For people (me) with very bad circulation, the blood flows so slow that it starts to freeze and thus stops blood flow to the fingers completely. It wouldn't matter if I was wearing an electric blanket that was practically boiling me, my fingers would still get frost bite.

I believe what you are thinking about is when the core of the body gets cold and as a result all the blood flow to the extremities is ceased so as to preserve the heat to the torso to protect the vital organs. A nice warm blanket would help in this instances but not with just cold fingers and toes.

[northwind]

Plus, good heated vests aren't much cheaper. It's a fair question, but my winter jacket's up to the task of keeping my body warm for a couple of hours (and instantly cooking me in my own juices as soon as I get inside), it's just the hands that kill me.

[Ter]

Heated grips combined with Oxford Muffs. I wear summer gloves with inner gloves with the fingers cut off. This is to stop the grips from burning my palms. It was just about good enough. I found wearing any thicker gloves and I lost the benefit of the heated grips.

Using heated grips alone don't work for me. Neither does just using the Muffs. But using both combined, works a treat.

Did this last winter, absolutely great combo!! And the best part about them is that the keep you hands dry too!! Nearly ready to strap them back on the bike!!

8)

[jambo]

I've had some real problems with the oxford bar muffs. I'm happy to use them but at any speed they try to fold back and put the brake and clutch levers in. Smoe sort of framework to keep them clear would solve it I'm sure...

Maybe it's a ZX6R and Bandit 600N thing....

[northwind]

Whereas I'm a tart, so I'd rather have cold hands :smt025

Actually though, I'm not that much of a tart... What always bothered me about muffs is that it seems like theycould be more awkward to get my hands back to the bars, ie, after popping the mirrors in and out while filtering, or adjusting my visor, stuff like that. But I've never actually tried them, am I barking up the wrong tree? I probably do the mirrors thing 20 times a day, half of my commute is deadlocked dual carriageway.

[Stig]

I've had some real problems with the oxford bar muffs. I'm happy to use them but at any speed they try to fold back and put the brake and clutch levers in. Smoe sort of framework to keep them clear would solve it I'm sure...

Maybe it's a ZX6R and Bandit 600N thing....

I use the bar ends. I make a little hole in the muff and bolt the bar end back on through the muff. This makes them pretty much non moving. So long as you stitch the hole that you have made, they don't tear.

[Ceri JC]

I use the bar ends. I make a little hole in the muff and bolt the bar end back on through the muff. This makes them pretty much non moving. So long as you stitch the hole that you have made, they don't tear.

That sounds a good idea. On faired bikes (which don't need them) you could use the provided mirror hole eyelets (come on the oxford mits) to seal this hole off neatly.

I am considering getting muffs for this winter (wrote my old pair off just at the end of last winter), but am a bit stumped by how to get them around my bar-mounted GPS. I'm sure I'll work something out. :)