Nobody likes cold hands. And for the longest time, people have relied on well-insulated gloves to do the job. However, sometimes just maintaining the heat isn’t good enough as you want some additional heat to keep your fingers warm. This is where the heated gloves come in. In these best heated gloves reviews I’ll cover the best of the best to see which ones are worth getting. Be it for hunting, skiing, biking or anything else, these heated gloves will do the job.
Table of Contents
What to Look for
Materials
Outer
Leather – looks nicer than nylon. Generally a little more expensive.
Nylon – lighter than leather and easier to clean. Waterproof. Comes in different styles: Ripstop, taffeta and oxford. Oxford is super rugged and is around 200/210 denier. The higher the denier the heavier and stronger the material.
Palm
Cow Leather vs Goat Leather – goat leather is much less commonly used than cow leather but it offers a couple of advantages. Firstly, goat skin has more durability. The skin is suppler and softer thanks to the presence of lanolin in the leather. Goat leather also tends to be lighter than cow leather.
Insulation
Generally, the more insulation the better but do note that this will result in bulkier gloves.
Heating Element
Battery Life
Unless you’re using your glove connected to your bike, you need to consider the battery life when choosing a pair of heated gloves. It is also important to note the battery times at different heat settings as you may only need to have them on low heat which would prolong its life significantly.
Since different gloves output a different maximum heat, this could affect their battery life at the highest settings. For example, if you compare the Outdoor Research gloves to the Flambeau gloves, Flambeau has 3 hours’ worth of juice on the highest setting while Outdoor Research has 2.5. But Flambeau’s maximum heat is less warm than its competitors, so for a more comparable battery life comparison you would use Outdoor Research gloves’ medium setting which gives you 5 hours.
Heating Wire Location
The positioning of the wires is important for 2 different reasons. Firstly, if they are simply hidden beneath the shell, then you may feel them while wearing them which may get annoying. Secondly, if they’re not well woven into the glove, they may be exposed to friction and eventually get damaged.
Best Heated Battery Gloves Reviews
Outdoor Research Lucent Heated Gloves – Best Overall Heated Gloves
These gloves are basically the Rolls Royce of heated gloves – they’re some of the best-heated gloves but they do come at a cost. However, just being expensive doesn’t guarantee quality. So let’s see if they’re really worth it.
Starting with the glove itself, the build quality is fantastic with high-grade materials used all around. No expense has been spared here, with plenty of insulation and waterproof capabilities all around. From the Gore-Tex insert to the outside made from a nylon shell. The palm is made from water-resistant goatskin leather.
For insulation, you get 333 g on the back of the hand, 200 g at the palm and 133 g at the gauntlet. The gauntlet also has this nifty loop that you can use to pull the other glove on.
Now let’s talk about the heating. Each glove has its own battery that fits into a zippered pocket in the gauntlet on the back of the hand. Because of its location, it helps to alleviate its weight by distributing it on your wrist and forearm. This is important as the gloves themselves are pretty bulky, coming in at 507 grams/17.9 oz. for the pair, including the batteries.
You get 3 different heat settings: low, medium and high. Low gets you around 8 hours of battery life, medium gives you around 5 hours and high gives you around 2.5 hours. The wires themselves are woven into the inner fabric as opposed to being simply hidden beneath the shell, like some of the cheaper heated gloves are.
These gloves have also won a couple of awards including:
“Best Heated Gloves Winter 2015” — Gear Patrol
“Best in Show Winter 2014” — Gear Junkie
“Gear of the Show Winter 2014” — Gear Institute
Now onto the biggest con with these gloves – the price. Are they worth their price? The nice build quality and good battery life are pretty good, but the main reason why you would get these gloves is because of their lifetime warranty. These gloves are a long term investment. The customer service for Outdoor Research is excellent and, coupled with their lifetime warranty (dubbed “infinite warranty”), this may be the last heated gloves you’ll have to purchase in the near future.
Considering the flimsy nature of all heated gloves and their generally low lifespan, the warranty is very welcome and needed.
Are these the best-heated gloves on the market right now? Arguably, yes. But are they worth their price? That is up to you to decide.
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent build quality | Expensive |
| Waterproof | A little bulky |
| High grade materials | |
| Lifetime warranty |
Gerbing Men’s T5 Heated Hybrid Gloves – Best Heated Gloves for Bikers
With high speeds and constant wind, your hands and fingers will understandably get cold. Not only is it annoying to have cold hands, but it can also be dangerous as your hands might start to feel numb, and you won’t be able to control them as easily. This is where the Gerbings come in.
The Gerbing T5 are one of the most commonly recommended heated gloves around. Gerbing is a well-known company that manufactures various heated apparel. But enough with the introduction, let’s get into the glove itself.
The gloves run from a 12V DC power source. The power source can either be your motorcycle battery or a separate 12V battery which is sold separately.
Regarding the heat output, it does the job well enough, but don’t expect anything dramatic. It’ll keep your hands warm during winter, but if you’re suffering from Raynauds and are out in the cold on a bike, then your hands won’t stay fully warm throughout.
The glove itself is comfortable to wear and does not run small like other heated gloves. If anything, some people have reported that it runs a bit too big.
The liner is thankfully waterproof which is good but the untreated leather will get soaked in rain. Since the wires are inside the glove however, you don’t have to worry about them getting wet and shocking you or becoming damaged.
Talking about the wires, the wires are a little fragile, so when you put on these gloves it’s recommended to do it carefully to prolong the lifespan of these gloves. The wires themselves are not particularly annoying as long as you don’t keep moving your hands around.
To control heat, you need to purchase a heat controller separately as otherwise, you will only get 2 heat options: on and off.
All in all, these are solid heated gloves, especially for bikers, and should definitely be considered if you are looking to find the best heated gloves.
| Pros | Cons |
| Comfortable | Limited heat output |
| Solid choice of materials | Wires inside are fragile |
| Heat controller sold separately |
Flambeau Heated Gloves Kit
If you’re looking to purchase some good heated gloves, but don’t want to spend a lot of money, then the Flambeau Heated Gloves might be the gloves for you.
The gloves are made from waterproof oxford nylon and a cow leather palm. The fabric is also breathable, but not so much so that you lose the heat retention, obviously.
Regarding heat, you get 120 g of insulation with the glove itself, which makes it pretty warm even without any heating turned on. When you do turn on the heating, you get 2 different heat settings: low and high. On low you’ll get roughly 4 hours of juice while on the high setting you get around 3 hours.
Each glove comes with its own 3.7v battery back that fits into the zippered pocket at the back of the hand of the glove. You also get a charger as well, obviously.
When worn, these gloves feel pretty comfortable although they do tend to run a little big. And when you’re done wearing them, you can just toss them into your washing machine as they are machine washable.
The only con with these gloves is that they don’t really get all that heated up. If you want a little more heat, then these would work fine, but don’t expect anything spectacular. So if your hands were cold before, now they’ll be normal and if your hands were absolutely freezing, now they’ll just be slightly cold. However, considering its price, this is an understandable trade-off.
And that’s about it for these gloves. If you don’t mind the limited heat output and want to buy some heated gloves that don’t cost an arm (by then you won’t need gloves anyway) and a leg, then the Flambeau gloves may just be the gloves you are looking for.
| Pros | Cons |
| Very affordable | Limited heat output |
| Machine washable | |
| Waterproof |
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. The best battery heated gloves all pitted up against each other and reviewed. They’re all good choices and will keep your hands warm be it on the bike, on your way downhill or simply on your way to the local store.