Winter commuting gloves – heated ones?

I’ve seen various threads in the past on winter gloves but some of them are a bit outdated now.

Ive got thermal DHB gloves but they’re proved totally inadequate over a couple of recent commutes. They are fairly bulky, but even with isbobaa merino gloves liners my fingers went numb this morning.

Someone suggested looking at heated gloves – has anyone here tried any / got any thoughts? Worried they may heat the main bit of your hands but not the fingers – and it’s just the fingers that are the issue….

Other than heated glove options has anyone found anything that’s decent when temps are below 0 in the UK?

Im on road bike di2 shifters so I can get away with fairly bulky gloves but ideally not full ski glove bulkiness.

I asked this recently, the obvious STW answer of Pogies came back for my folding bike. A few people had tried battery heated gloves with no real wow factor reported.

Thanks – the pogie type things for road bike curly bars look like it might be difficult to get your hands off the bars in the event of a wobble / crash.

Plus they are super ugly and don’t let you take different hand positions by the looks of it. I tend to move between the hoods / drops / flats etc.

I’ve used Sealskinz heated gloves but not found them to be all that good given the price. They do work a bit but the battery is quite bulky and doesn’t last that long on full power – about 1hr 30 ish.. I also tried some Snow Goose ones from Jeff’s yacht fund and they were really good quality and a fraction of the cost. They use the same battery so potentially the same electronics inside. They do warm up the finger sections. I have switched to using Rapha Deep Winter gloves which kept my hands toasty warm today on a 1hr road ride at -3 degrees.

What about heated grips and wind proof gloves? Then you wouldn’t have bulky gloves

Didn’t Joe Barnes have a YT video about how he made his?

Or pogies

Joe Barnes’ heated grips always looked like they’d work well and should be much easier to fit using bar tape.

I just picked up some unigear heated gloves off amazon for 45 quid.

I haven’t tried them in anger yet, but indoor the hottest setting is too warm, and the middle and low settings are noticeable. The quality of the glove itself seems very good.

Ill be giving them a proper test snowboarding over the next few days.

@oceanskipper – those deep winter gloves sound like a solid recommendation. Will have a look at those – albeit they’re a bit spendy. Why are you using those rather than the Snow Goose heated ones?

Hadn’t considered heated grips…..will have a  look at that and how practice would be on a road bike. Probably wouldn’t help where I spend most time on the hoods though.

I’ve got the Rapha DW gloves (but from a couple of years ago and not £150!) and they’re okay, but still need liners, especially if you’re into a wind in sub zero temperatures.  With decent silk liners, they’re no better than my Galibier ones and are currently 5* the price.  Silk liner gloves and remembering to flex your wrists (and ankles) during the first 10 mins whilst you get upto temperature makes a huge difference IME. I was out on Saturday (-6), Monday (-4) and this morning (-2) and all were fine with the Galibier and silk liners and I do get Reynaud’s.

Thanks – I’m preferring the price of the galibier ones! They’re currently out of stock in most sizes – but there is a glove that’s meant to be even warmer than that one – extreme winter glove. For £40 I may give that one a go.

edit – sod it – ordered them to see what they’re like.

I get Reynaud fingers and sometimes use a set of Savior gloves (earlier version, but similar to these)

I usually wear them with liners and a waterproof outer shell (like the Decathlon half-lobster) and use them on medium or low just to take the chill off. They don’t have enough battery life for continuous use on a long ride, but used strategically they can help keep the circulation going in my fingers at critical points. Otherwise I use a variety of different gloves I have collected over the years. Currently trying some nice rubber coated and insulated work gloves from Screwfix which were only £6 for a pair!

Watch the Aliexpress link above, because the page opens with the gloves-only option and you need to select the second image to see the version supplied with batteries.

Report back on the Galibier extreme winter gloves please. I have the deep winter ones which are fairly good but I still get Reynauds through them especially on days where I do the school run and have to ride/walk at kids pace for 10-20 mins.

How big are your outer gloves? I wear merino liners and sealskinz (with leather palms) a size larger than normal to keep my hands warm. I suffer from mild reynaulds, so the first thirty minutes of any cold ride means frozen, stinging, numb fingers.

@joebristol The Rapha are just so comfortable and warm – I have their merino liners to go inside them but -3 isn’t cold enough to use them! They fit well but are easily removable and they have space for the liners. The Velcro doesn’t snag on my jersey/jacket either unlike the Sealskinz (in fact both my pairs of Sealskinz have this issue in that the closure tab is too small and doesn’t cover the Velcro hooks – it’s very annoying).

It’s Snow Deer actually not Snow Goose (that’s the vodka!!) and they’ve doubled in price since I bought some so they may be popular. They’re certainly very well made. Outdoor Research make the ultimate heated gloves but they’re waaaay too expensive for occasional winter cycling use…

I’ve recently got a set of these Ultimate Add-ons clip on heated grips for my motorbike (while they were on sale a tenner cheaper) and they work on bicycles too if you’re looking for alternatives to Joe Barnes science.

They work really well, plug into any usb power pack (mine is plugged into my motorbike usb socket) and come with handlebar mounts for a power pack too.

A little bit stingey in length at 91mm, but I guess that’s to make them fit more bikes.

Might be an option.

I’ve just got some Madison Winter gloves (£50) and they’re awesome.  They feel a bit less dexterous and grippy than my old gloves, but you get used to that pretty quickly, I had a bad habit of resting my hands on the road bars rather than wrapping fingers around them.

Poggies are awesome, don’t discount them.  Alternatively look for waterproof shell gloves that will fit over your winter gloves, decathlon do some. They block the wind from getting to the gloves so make a decent difference to how warm they feel.

And are your core and arms warm?  If your forearms are warm then the blood will keep flowing on to the fingertips. I see loads of people this time of year wearing too few layers or the wrong layers (e.g. an outer that makes them sweaty, but not enough of a mid layer to retain enough heat) and then super thick gloves. Layer up your core, arms and legs first and then the hands and feet will stay warm.

+1 on liner gloves making a disproportionate difference.

I use £2 ‘magic’ gloves as well as posher outdoor brand merino gloves.  No difference in performance…

I’ve used something like these on the tandem for my daughter. Wrap around the bars and use elastic bands to secure them.

1 Pair Black USB Carbon Fiber Heating Mat 5V USB Electric Heating Element Film Heater Pads for Warming Feet https://amzn.eu/d/1MrXllP

Battery heated gloves have been out this week – and will be on full power tomorrow morning (3 levels) – I wouldn’t wear anything else now in cold weather. Its the going downhill when commuting that kill my hands – but the heated gloves keep it all away. I don’t get white finger in these gloves. Bought them from Amazon about £40 – battery sits on top of your wrist.

I’ve recently got a set of these Ultimate Add-ons clip on heated grips for my motorbike (while they were on sale a tenner cheaper)

Discount code SOCIAL10 gets you 10% off currently.

Thanks all – looking forward to trying the new gloves out when they arrive. Already got liner gloves I wore today so still have those to try with the new gloves if needed.

Core is warm thanks – I’ve been commuting in an under armour ‘cold gear’ base layer with an Isobaa merino zip base layer over the top. Then a Gore jacket that’s wind proof over that. Add a snood to stop cold air going down your neck.

Feet were cold last week so this week I wore some thermal socks and the neoprene overshoes over my road shoes. Did the job nicely.

For feet, I like long wool socks over leggings. I like to keep the blood warm as it goes down into the feet. It’s obvious, but if you have extra layers, like liner socks or gloves, you MUST have bigger outers or the blood can’t circulate. My gloves are a size above what I normally wear and noticeably loose without the liners. I have another pair for warmer temperatures, and still thinner pairs for mild weather.

Moving your ankles and wrists a lot in the first 10-20mins makes a huge difference, especially on a road bike where your position is pretty much static with almost no ankle and wrist movement and a bad position from a blood flow perspective.  You need the extra pumping to get the cold blood in your extremities back to the core especially in tighter clothing.  Once you’re up and running and your BP, HR and Core temp are up, it’s then much easier to stay warm.  Just a few cycles of the ankles and wrists ever few miles and it sustains.

The advantage of liners over a single glove is that when your hands start to get hot, you can just remove the liners instead of getting sweaty hands.  They’re tiny and easily stored.  Once you leave the woods and are back on the road in the windchill, bob them back on.

As in another thread, my wimpy hands can’t take anything below 0 degrees even in my best winter Castelli gloves now, so I bought some of the cheap(ish) Amazon ones to try heated gloves.

They were £60  Sportpursuit have some at around £100, which are no doubt better quality, but I wanted to give it a try first.

First thing – the gloves are basically cheap skiing gloves with the heating stuff built in – so much more bulky than any cycling (winter) glove. So they look a bit mad, but on the bike it didn’t bother me. The temp this morning for my first ride with them, wasn’t quite as cold as I really would have liked to test them in – it was 2-3deg and without the heating element, these gloves were just about warm enough. I swtiched it on for the last 10 mins of my ride in, cos that’s when my thumbs start to get numb.

They felt nice. I didn’t actually realise how cold it was til I took the gloves off in the bike shed to lock up and my hands suddenly noticed it was damn chilly!

In sub-zero temps I think they will work well, so will keep these ones. Not sure its worth spending more – I think the amazon ones are all much of a muchness, so you can get some for about £40 on there. These are the ones I bought .https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D6VSCW9Z

These are pretty much the same thing, if you fancy trying them for a few quid less .https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DJMC9GH4

Update :  -2 this morning and no pain in my thumbs. I reckon these heated gloves have saved my winter commuting. Happy with that!

The little power lights on the gloves are like indicators too, bonus feature! 🙂

Thanks for the update – if these new gloves don’t work then I’ll give the cheapie (relatively) heated ones. Hoping for something warm enough that isn’t quite as bulky as a ski glove but we’ll see if that’s possible!

I use some leather sheepskins gloves I inherited from my grandad.

Only in the dry, I don’t think drying them out will be much fun

Ok below 5C, fine for -5C

I had a wind proof outer over a winter glove, used to work at -5 commute or at least I don’t remember struggling

I tried the unigear heated gloves over the weekend in avoriaz, down to – 9c yesterday.

They work well, but really you need to be using the middle or hottest setting. On the hottest setting they last just over 2 hours, which isn’t enough for a day’s skiing, but might be enough for a commute.

In the middle setting they will do 4 hours, I ended up using the middle setting mostly, with the hottest setting temporarily to warm me back up if I’d had to take my hands out of the gloves at any point. I took a little USB power bank with me and topped up the charge at lunch times.

Just a little update – used the Galibier gloves twice so far. Cold days but not bitter cold minus numbers cold days. Definitely warmer than the DHB gloves and they feel completely wind proof.

They’re quite chunky but on cold days I’m happy to accept that for warm hands. Could still change gear ok on di2 shifters with the little paddles etc.

Will update further once I’ve had a sub zero type of commute.