Where we Test
For us, it’s important that all of our tests happen in the same conditions you’re likely to experience the products – out in the field. When it comes to winter gloves, we have divided this up over the course of a winter for each of the gloves we’ve covered.
We believe you will only start to see the true performance of each glove and the details that make it what it is by heading outdoors to test them. Every single one of the gloves we’ve tested has been through similar testing, and in circumstances that suit it’s feature set.
This article covers the main considerations we make when testing, so you can get a further understanding of our testing process. This should also make it easier for you to decide which areas are most important to you based on the kind of winter exploration you do.
This article is part of our series on the best winter hiking gloves, view all other articles below:
Testing Metrics
When it comes to gloves for hiking, there are quite a lot of things to consider when making recommendations and testing the products we’ve recommended to you. Whether a glove is suitable for what you need it for or not comes down to several important factors.
The areas below are some of the key things we consider in our testing. This breakdown allows us to decide which of the gloves we test make it into our main roundup.
This will also give you an idea of which areas are important to look at when considering gloves for hiking. You can also find out more about this in our winter hiking glove buying advice article, which goes into more detail here.
Type and Style
Not every glove is made equal, this can be down to a number of factors. Sometimes it can simply be down to price and build quality, but other times it can be down to intended usage.
Of course, for hiking in winter, there are a whole different set of temperature ranges to consider. Someone who is going to be in sub zero temperatures skiing is going to want a glove that is likely much thicker. Someone in a much milder climate will not.
When testing, we always test each glove based on what it’s intended for. For example, we would never compare the performance of a light shoulder temperature glove with a full on ski mitt, as each one offers a completely different user experience.
In this regard, when testing, we only compare gloves against similar gloves within that category. Likewise, we also take price into consideration in this category too, as this makes a huge difference.
Price
There are a whole range of gloves on the market with wildly varying prices. You can normally expect that you’ll pay a premium from brands at the more designer/high end.
Likewise, there are lots of gloves on the market for a lower price point that perhaps don’t quite have the same feature set or guaranteed temperature range. These are key considerations for us and play a big part in our tests.
Similar to type and style of glove, we like to compare gloves mostly against competitors in the same area. It would be hard to compare a $10 glove against a glove that that comes in more at the $160 mark.
We also look at the value for money of every product we test, and we do this by comparing the average price point against other gloves in this category. We also analyse the glove’s durability for its cost and how this compares to others that sit alongside it.
Warmth
Warmth is one of the most important considerations when it comes to testing winter gloves, especially ones that will be used hiking. Like so many areas, we find it very important to only consider gloves that are in the same category as each other – we do this by grouping products together.
When out in the field, and looking at a specific glove set, we try to stress test the gloves to their limit based on the intended temperature usage. Within that, we try to get a clear understanding of how they handle general warmth, wind resistance and waterproofing.
We also look at whether a glove becomes ‘too warm’ or not for the intended purpose and how well the materials used wick moisture inside. In order to keep each glove warm and not saturated with water.
Water Resistance
Not every glove out there is waterproof. Some are simply not intended to be (like glove liners for example), and some offer some degree of water resistance which isn’t the same as waterproofing.
We group gloves together here based on the level of waterproofing or not, and also take into consideration things like price, warmth and intended usage when making our recommendations here. In order to get a full understanding of how waterproof a glove is or not, we simply put them into scenarios outdoors to test this.
For our testing, we’ve tested out in a whole range of scenarios. This includes prolonged light rain (to see if this can lead to saturation), heavy rain and snow.
Wind Resistance
Wind resistance is really important when it comes to your winter gloves as you’re more likely to experience wind in a winter storm. How wind resistant your gloves are will also determine how warm they feel, which is of course one of the key reasons for wearing gloves in the first place!
We were lucky enough to be able to test all of the gloves in our line up in some pretty intense winds, going upwards of 60mph at times. However, like with so many of our tests, we still compared these in categories, as some gloves (usually hard shell) are naturally more wind proof than others.
Comfort and Fit
We love comfortable gear at This Expansive Adventure, so this is always one of our most important considerations. This can be the difference between enjoying a hike or not, and sometimes even having to turn back.
Where gloves are concerned, we take into consideration various other areas ratings to decide on a comfort rating. These include the wind resistance, waterproofing and warmth.
As well as this, we take into consideration how the inside of each glove feels on the skin. We also look at how dextrous the gloves feel, and if any lack of dexterity is worth the trade-off for other factors (as you will usually find that dexterity is a trade-off for extreme warmth).
The fit is very important for gloves, and we try and test as many areas as possible here and ask a number of key questions. Are there any tight areas? How do they feel to put on? Do they stay in place?
Materials
Depending on the category of glove, the materials used will differ quite considerably. Most waterproof gloves will use some form of waterproof membrane and hardshell fabric. This can be Gore-Tex or similar. Sometimes leather, or leather elements.
Lighter gloves will possibly use polyester, wool or elastane in their construction. We always test how each material feels, both against the skin and in terms of the durability it offers.
We also look at how each material interacts with each other for the glove’s individual performance. For example, how much does the waterproofing offered cause problems with breathability, and do they still wick moisture?
Appearance
Appearance may not seem like an important consideration to some hikers when choosing gloves, but to others, it can be really important. One of the main areas we think about when comparing the appearance of the gloves we recommend is if they have the ability to be worn day to day as well.
This is something we really value considering with most products we test that could be general purpose as well. As this can mean you might only need to buy one item for day to day and hiking use, which of course reduces the impact of buying multiple products.
With this in mind, we look at things like how bulky a glove is, how understated it feels, if it goes with most clothing and if it has any prominent logos that could be seen as garish. Some of these areas are of course personal preference, so we decide this very much as a team.
Durability
Durability is important with any hiking product, but some products are likely to be more durable than others. Many people assume that cheaper products are naturally less durable than much more expensive products. Through our years of testing, we have found that this isn’t always the case.
When looking at the durability of hiking gloves, we carefully inspect every detail of each glove to see if there are any areas that could cause weak points or could break stitching. We also take into consideration which materials have been used where.
We also stress test each glove in conditions that compliment it, and also push it further to get a feel for how well they will last when put to work outdoors. This allows us to get a true understanding of how long they’re likely to last, depending on usage.
Sustainability
We believe that sustainability can be divided into a couple of areas when testing how to rate this with hiking gloves. Firstly, we look to see if the glove in question has any actual sustainability credentials itself. Is it made of any recycled materials or responsibly sourced products? Is the manufacturer particularly sustainable in their process?
After this, we look at how long the product is likely to last from our durability tests, and if the comfort, fit and finish is likely to mean you’ll need to buy more than one pair of gloves for all your winter needs. These areas combined allow us to make our judgements on whether a glove meets our sustainability standards.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a number of key areas that we take into consideration when deciding how to rate the different gloves we’ve included in our overall round up of the best hiking gloves for winter. We believe that all of the areas we’ve covered above work together to create our final ratings and whether it makes the cut or not.
We always aim to be as transparent with you as possible when it comes to our testing process, which is always done out in the field. Your trust is everything to us, and we know that whatever your needs, our guide will help you find the right gloves for you.