Heated Ski Gloves | Battery Powered

Are heated ski gloves worth it? Is the hype for real?

What a great idea to guarantee warm, dry hands... in theory.

Reality is a bit different. As a glove designer and a person who has had a cold-hands problem my entire life, I have always wanted this concept to work. The promises from manufacturers and reviews from buyers (after short-term use) are quite strong. 

Heated ski gloves have three primary problems:

1) Most have designs that are counter-productive to what makes a ski glove warm.

2) They use batteries.

3) The cost.

The design problems:

They often have "water-proof" membrane inserts that are meant to prevent exterior water penetration. It is not wet when it is really cold in the winter. This ignores the single biggest cause of cold hands, interior water production -sweat- . Membrane inserts are much less breathable than no-membrane inserts.

They often have thicker, lofty insulation. Too much of the time this insulation strategy cuts off circulation in your extremities. If you have a heater, why do you need so much insulation? Do you wear thick clothing at home when you have an operating furnace? They put thick insulation in these gloves because they know the primary flaw of battery powered heated gloves... stay tuned.

The battery problem:

The gloves generate their heat from batteries and what happens to batteries?

In my experience, and that of almost everyone I know who has owned battery powered ski gloves, the problem is that the battery power does not last long enough and runs out of juice at bad, unpredictable times. The cold does not help either in maintaining the charge (see your cell phone).

The cost problem:

They are crazy expensive. Gloves with batteries are more expensive to manufacture but not that much more. The markup from the basic glove design is completely insane and consumer predatory.

If you really want gloves that are more predictably warm, then you need to find a glove that's designed to balance and regulate the environment inside and outside the glove. The only thing that does that is a glove that's highly breathable and has sufficient insulation.

A mitten.

Learn more about ski gloves and mittens:

• How to keep your hands warm while skiing
• Ski Glove Buyer's Guide
• What is the warmest ski glove?
• Guide to insulation in ski gloves