Re: Gloves vs Pogies

Posted by LeeG on Oct 7, 2004

this is another thing where personal preference develops over time. If there's ANY chance of a wet exit or low energy output where immersing your hands will render them useless then you gotta have some kind of minimal insulation. Just like your head. I've liked using neoprene gloves more than pogies for most cold weather use as long as my body was pumping heat into the extremities. But for more extreme cold thin neoprene gloves AND pogies works or instances where I was secure that my hands weren't going to dip into 35degree water then pogies might work well for cold wind protection and I'm sure there's little risk of dipping hands in the water.

The best thing to do is see what it takes to have functional hands after various significant periods of immersion. Just like you'd do for whole body/head immersion to see if your cold water protection works. The easiest thing is what's comfortable for paddling,,then dip your hand in the water for a minute and see what happens,,then do the whole wet-exit/re-entry rigamarole and see how important functional hands are. Most time/immersion/temp charts indicating onset of hypothermia don't indicate when your fingers don't work or your head is susceptible to vertigo from cold water in the ear canal. Some folks have found lined heavy dish washing latex gloves work in a pinch. I found cheap $17 Stearns neoprene gloves worked as well as $35 ones. The thin 1-2mm neoprene gloves are versatile but not much insulation.

In Response to: Gloves vs Pogies by Mac on Oct 7, 2004

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