Heated gloves?

[PGH1NC]

Wondering if anyone has any experience/advice regarding heated gloves. Am interested in heated gloves for general day walks/hiking, not winter thru hikes or arctic conditions, sawing wood or motorcycling. Mainly keeping fingers warm until things warm up during a hike. Is there any such thing as a heated treking pole grip? I have used those iron carbon packets but they are slow to warm and just heat the palms, not fingers.
Cold weather and Christmas are coming soon.
Thanks

[Hatchet_1697]

I bought my cousin these, he said they really helped for hiking. He has Raynauds and puts a regular glove over them when it’s really cold.

www.wristies.com/Heated_Wristies_p/20a.htm

V/r, H




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[Slo-go'en]

My hiking friend uses a chemical handwarmer in her mittens. But she doesn't use poles for the most part. But if you put it over the top of your hand, it would probably work. Having a mitten with an actual pocket for a handwarmer would be ideal, there is likely such a mitten available. And of course, mittens are on the whole warmer then gloves. When it gets down into the 20's or colder, I put on mittens and add shells if it's windy.

[Time Zone]

In my experience, mittens keep fingers warmer than gloves. Haven't seen any non-motorcycle solution for heating fingers.

[Slo-go'en]

I bought my cousin these, he said they really helped for hiking. He has Raynauds and puts a regular glove over them when it’s really cold.

www.wristies.com/Heated_Wristies_p/20a.htm (http://www.wristies.com/Heated_Wristies_p/20a.htm)

V/r, H




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I should have checked this product out, it looks like a good way to go.

[Deadeye]

Having a mitten with an actual pocket for a handwarmer would be ideal, there is likely such a mitten available.

LL Bean has (or had) a pair of down mittens with a handwarmer pocket - I didn't find it nearly as warm as just having the warmer inside with my hand. Great concept, not so great in execution.

[Time Zone]

LL Bean has (or had) a pair of down mittens with a handwarmer pocket - I didn't find it nearly as warm as just having the warmer inside with my hand. Great concept, not so great in execution.

Sounds like the pocket insulated your hand from the handwarmer! :D

Not always bad - sometimes those handwarmers can be a little too hot directly on the skin.

[nsherry61]

FWIW if one compares the price, reliability, and working time of chemical hand warmers vs. electric heated gloves, the chemical hand warmers win on all fronts by a significant margin.

[peakbagger]

If you just need short term handwarmer, the reusable kind that you recharge by putting in hot water are really good, they do not last as long as the chemical ones but a lot less trash.

[Deadeye]

Sounds like the pocket insulated your hand from the handwarmer! :D
.

I think that's exactly what happens, and it's a two-way street - the hand warms the handwarmer enough to get the chemical reaction "excited". Without some feedback, the handwarmer itself can't generate enough of a reaction. Seems to work that way with handwarmers in your pants (that didn't sound right, but...), if you put two in your pocket, they'll really get cranking.

[Time Zone]

If you just need short term handwarmer, the reusable kind that you recharge by putting in hot water are really good, they do not last as long as the chemical ones but a lot less trash.


I love an old-fashioned hot water bottle at my feet at home during winter. They stay warm all night, with sufficient blanketage. That said, they take darn near a half gallon and I don't know that I've seen a "travel size" for the trail. IDK about you all but 2 qt pots aren't that common for backpacking, and I'm not sure how well they work at 50% capacity.
As a friend of mine says with tongue firmly planted in cheek, I think we're in agreeance.

[Time Zone]

- the hand warms the handwarmer enough to get the chemical reaction "excited". Without some feedback, the handwarmer itself can't generate enough of a reaction.

I thought they were air activated, no?

[PGH1NC]

I thought they were air activated, no?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have been using those hand warmers. And I understand the chemistry, the iron reacts with oxygen using the activated carbon as a catalyst/reaction site. That's why they need to be fluffed or agitated occasionally. It's just fast rusting, one can see the red iron oxide that forms. They work fine at a football game or walking on smooth flat surfaces where one can place it in a glove or mitten and keep fingers close to the sometimes, fairly intense heat perhaps in a pocket. And they seem to work OK if I keep it in a glove and pull my fingers into the palm area of the glove . . .

But holding on to poles on slippery winter surfaces and trails requires gripping the pole grips. I have even tried wrapping the still flexible handwarmer packets around the grips with little success. That's why I introduced the topic of heated gloves. There are many such items available and thought some on this forum might have some experience with them.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.

[eblanche]

Might want to take a look at these from Outdoor Research: https://www.outdoorresearch.com/us/heated-gloves
I'm sure other outdoor/hiking companies also make something like this.
Edit: Yep,
https://www.seirus.com/cold-weather/hands/heated-gloves and Black Diamond last year had their Solano glove/mitt.


I personally would just use the simple small chemical hand warmers everyone else is recommending but I don't suffer from raynaud's.

[JNI64]

Wondering if anyone has any experience/advice regarding heated gloves. Am interested in heated gloves for general day walks/hiking, not winter thru hikes or arctic conditions, sawing wood or motorcycling. Mainly keeping fingers warm until things warm up during a hike. Is there any such thing as a heated treking pole grip? I have used those iron carbon packets but they are slow to warm and just heat the palms, not fingers.
Cold weather and Christmas are coming soon.
Thanks

Or perhaps you're on to something with that heated pole grip idea?
Just think a drop in battery at the top of the grip, a simple heat coil ?

[Deadeye]

I'd use a heated pole for sure if they make one. The one thing I didn't get on my snow blower was heated handles - regretting that!

[JNI64]

You could install a USB port as well and charge with your phone.
Maybe we'll see ya on shark tank one of these days PGH1NC...

[CalebJ]

For what it's worth, I was stunned by how much improvement I got by adding a set of surgical gloves as a vapor barrier against the skin. It totally eliminates any loss from air across the skin and guarantees that you won't get sweat into the insulating layers around your hands. Add a thin pair of functional glove liners for dexterity over that, then heavier mittens/gloves as needed on the outside. Kept me toasty warm on the presidential traverse in March.

[Tuxhiker]

The heated pole idea is good. It would reduce bulk in your gloves.

[Dogwood]

My hiking friend uses a chemical handwarmer in her mittens. But she doesn't use poles for the most part. But if you put it over the top of your hand, it would probably work. Having a mitten with an actual pocket for a handwarmer would be ideal, there is likely such a mitten available. And of course, mittens are on the whole warmer then gloves. When it gets down into the 20's or colder, I put on mittens and add shells if it's windy.


LL Bean has (or had) a pair of down mittens with a handwarmer pocket - I didn't find it nearly as warm as just having the warmer inside with my hand. Great concept, not so great in execution.

I have a pr of OR gloves with a zipper pocket on the top of the glove for holding a chemical heat packet, key, etc. I'm not recalling the model though.

This is why I prefer a rain jacket or shell with hand pockets in cold weather. It adds another layer of warmth while allowing for a thinner glove. I also liked Swami's glove article in how he layers in cold weather.
https://www.thehikinglife.com/2015/12/how-to-keep-your-hands-warm-while-hiking-in-cold-weather/
I've found a Windstopper shell glove or mitt with wool inner insulating layer liner to be warmth effective when not anticipating wet weather. When it's wet I go to a WP breathable mitt such as the MLD eVent mitts or OR seam sealed Pertex Shield DS Versaliner shells with separate wool insulating layer.

[nsherry61]

. . . I have been using those hand warmers. . . They work fine at a football game or walking on smooth flat surfaces. . . But holding on to poles on slippery winter surfaces and trails requires gripping the pole grips. . . Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.

I think what you are running into is that, aside from non-critical situations (i.e. where a failed electric gloves won't lead to catastrophic outcomes) and situations where the length of use is short, electric gloves just don't work or even come close to doing so. So, everyone is trying to help out with other options instead of answering your question. The original question is really a non-starter for most of us that choose to practice outdoor activities that last longer and need more reliability than any electric glove can, or likely will, provide in the near future if ever. AND, there are very effective alternatives that work well even for people with Raynaud's Syndrome.

FWIW: I have climbed quite a bit with a friend with Raynaud's Syndrome in temperatures down to -8 degrees F and 40 mph winds (I'll let you figure out the wind-chill). In the end, the best solutions for managing hands in all-day long cold hiking and climbing scenarios is a layering system that can include chemical warmers and surgical gloves as needed. It takes some fiddling to figure out what works and how to make it work best for each person in each scenario.

As noted above, surgical gloves next to skin help significantly in extreme conditions.
Thin liner gloves next to skin work well in most conditions with hand warmers placed at the front of the wrist and the back of the hand as needed.
Handwarmers can be held in place, over the liner glove, with the stretchy cut-off top of an old dress sock with a thumb hole.
Finally, put on your outer insulating glove (or mitten in colder conditions). And yeah, good expedition-warmth mittens and/or gloves are expensive, maybe as expensive as any of the better electric gloves without the risk of running out of batteries after a couple hours.

And, if you haven't already figured it out, the trick to effectively activating the chemical hand-warmers is to open them up a good 30 to 60 minutes before you put them into your gloves or shoes as they consume a fair bit of O2 to activate well, and if they are put into gloves or shoes too soon, they never get particularly warm.

Finally, if you just want your hands warm for a few ski runs or a ball game, go electric if you want.

[Tennessee Viking]

Go to Harbor Freight and get the winter mechanic gloves.