Lightest water resistant gloves?

Thinnish, polypropylene gloves with some kind of light, WR nylon or polyester shell over them work decently. The polypropylene isn't usually brushed/fleeced, so it holds less water and polyproplyene is pretty hydrophobic so if they do get wet, shaking them really fast to get out water helps. Best thing is that they are cheap, cheap, cheap. Oh, and PP stink is not near as much an issue with hands, as with say baselayer tops or crotch area of baselayer bottoms.

Dishwashing gloves, but they get sweaty. The OR Versaliner gloves have a light liner with a very light waterproof shell. Pretty much the go-to UL rain glove, IMHO. http://www.outdoorresearch.com/en/mens-versaliner.html I think the Mountain Hardwear Plasmic gloves are the latest version of the Conduit gloves, which have rain shell type fabric with a light (fixed) tricrot fleece lining. You might look for the old Conduit gloves too. http://www.mountainhardwear.com/mens-plasmic-outdry-glove-1552501.html?cgid=mens-accessories-gloves&dwvar_1552501_variationColor=012#start=8

Last year I treated a load of fleece items with Nikwax polar proof and it made them very water restiant, not sure if it effected breathability.

Are you talking about 'during rain'? If so, use a poncho and keep your hands inside the poncho. They will stay nice and warm. That's the problem with jackets: your arms get cold and your hands get cold and wet. cheers

latex glove UNDER a work glove, the kind that is stretchy with a nitrile or similar palm. I use this combination on the jobsite when I am pouring concrete, and the sweat factor is not as bad as you'd think. The key is to not wear a thick warm glove over the latex (or better yet, nitrile since they are much more durable) glove. What you want is to keep your hands just warm enough, and the work glove is just about right for that.

For the warmer 6 mos. of the year, I use Seirus stretch gloves that have patches over the thumbs, palms and forefingers. They weigh under 2 oz for the pair. They claim to be waterproof, but don't know for sure because they usually stay in the pack when the rain is not freezing. The on line reviews said that they are not warm enough for really cold weather, and I agree. But I carry them in the later spring, summer and early fall just in case there is a long spell of cold, rainy weather, especially where there will be long distances above tree/timber line over rocky ground and I want to be able to use the hands to stop falls or hold on to rocks.

I have the Seirus Hyperlite. I love these gloves for 3 season trips. Definitely not waterproof. I've had a fair amount of experience with these in rain in the mid 40's. your hands will definitely get wet in a prolonged rain but where Seirus make a big difference is still keeping your hands warm. I would liken them to neoprene (wetsuit material) in the way they behave. Just my opinion though. No scientific evidence to support it. ;-)

Do try nitrile gloves UNDER a light fleece glove (or better yet, a light fleece mitten). This is an effective, lightweight (and cheap!) option for water resistant gloves I bought several pairs of Land End 100 wt fleece mittens (women's XL) for about $5 a pair, warm and light at 1.0 oz- paired with nitrile gloves, just a wee bit over an ounce total

I like Mountain Hardwear Power Stretch gloves, even though they are a bit pricey. They are fairly light at least, and more rain resistant than cheap polypro. I pair them with waterproof mitts (Propore or Event) which are quite light. The gloves are small enough to use for just about any task, and you can get them damp. But to avoid getting them really wet, put on the waterproof mitts (which make for a toasty warm combination until you need the big fuzzy/puffy mitts).

They may be more water resistant than PP gloves, but once they get wet, they will both absorb more moisture and take longer to dry. If combining with WPB mitts, pretty much any thinner, lighter synthetic gloves will do, from 100 wt fleece, to grid fleece, to power stretch, to mid loft (pile like) fleece, to PP, etc, there will only be small differences in different areas of performance under those conditions. But it sounds like the OP doesn't want to use a fully water proof outer, but also doesn't want the non breathablity of rubber gloves. This makes it a bit tougher to address. PP liner gloves will dry faster than most other once wet, they are very light because PP has density of about .95. Adding a thin, light, tightly woven, highly water resistant, DWR treated polyester or nylon shell (EPIC would be excellent in combo with PP gloves) seems to fit the OP's criteria the most holisticially.

I had some mountain hardwear "softshell" gloves. They used some kind of windproof laminate. I found them to be very cold in cold weather. Even when dry, they couldn't keep my hands warm around freezing. I put them in my jacket to warm them up but still, when I put them on to go use my shovel or grab firewood my hands were cold and would not warm up. Something about the fabric made my hands cold. Like having wet cotton on your skin I borrowed some powerstretch fleece gloves from a hiking partner and my hands were warm, even when they got a bit damp from snow. Something about the fabric just made them warm. One time I used some latex palm gardening gloves just below freezing as it started to snow. I was putting in stakes for my mid and touching some snow. The palms of the gloves got super cold and my hands got numb very quickly. I couldn't warm them up at first until I took off the gloves. Wearing the gloves was worse than nothing at all. Can anyone explain this to me? I've used fleece gloves in the rain and they didn't do to much for keeping my hands warm. Midweight wool gloves seem to work just fine in the rain but they absorb a lot of moisture, take a while to dry, and at the thickness required for durability your hands can overheat even when soaked, forcing you to pack away sopping wet wool gloves. I need to try some basic shell mitts. I think what you want are just basic shell mitts with thin liners. Wear them by themselves when it's raining and not too cold but too cold to get your bare hands wet, throw liners under them when needed, or just wear the liners by themselves when it's not raining. The problem I see with shell mitts is the light probably aren't that abrasion resistant if you are hiking off trail and scrambling around, add some reinforced palms and then they are heavy and you might not want to bring them that often.

@justin, I've had the same experience with powerstretch gloves. They generally keep my hands warmer than even my thicker wpb MH softshell gloves. This has me curious to try out a good power stretch midlayer for winter. I'd agree that a two glove system is more effective and will come at a comparable weight to what your looking for, sacrificing some simplicity. Montbell has excellent UL gloves. I've been happy with this combo of liner and (almost) waterproof glove from MB: Zio Line 3D– 1 oz (M) http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=2404&p_id=1118253&gen_cd=1 I've used these liners a lot with trekking poles, skiing, running and around town for about a year and a half with no holes thus far. Warm enough for 3 season & they wick incredibly well. Thunder Pass Gloves–1.2 (M) http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=2404&p_id=1108912&gen_cd=1 The thunder pass gloves have been surprisingly durable, although they are not seem sealed, so will get damp in a storm. They're also quite dexterous layered over a liner. I just ordered a pair of borah gear event mitts, which, if relatively durable, will be even lighter and more effective than the MB's. And while I'm at it: for colder weather, these mountain hardwear grub gloves have been an awesome cold weather UL glove. 2.5 oz for a powerstretch glove with built in synth over mitts. The system works great for cold weather, its like having a belay jacket for your hand. They can be found for a great price, which helps make up for the lack of durability in the glove. http://www.mountainhardwear.com/grub-glove-1552661.html

I think it's just certain types of fabric, like more sheer tightly woven fabrics are more thermally conductive? Like a wet windshirt against your skin feels like ice but a wet fleece against your skin is much warmer. I think fluffy fleece or knit is the way to go. Less material contacting your skin, air is less thermally conductive than any fabric… I think? Justin Whitson and I talked about this in another thread.

Yup Justin, for next to skin warmth–especially when damp or wet, the less material that touches the skin, the better generally. So grid fleeces, regular fleece, lofty wool, and higher loft fleeces will feel warmer than most other materials–especially while damp or wet. The thermal conductivity of most fabric materials range from at the best at near .1 (some polypropylene's) to the worst to near .3 (some nylons). The lower the number, the better, the less efficient it is in conducting heat. Conversely, air's thermal conductivity is .024–much lower than even the best fabrics. For a little while i got excited by Kevlar because some of the literature i was reading about it, misprinted that it had thermal conductivity of .04. Digging deeper, i found someone talking about how DuPont had misprinted that and it should be .14, which is pretty good but no where near .04. Water is .58 (some forms of polyethylene's come close to this). Course, once water starts evaporating near one's skin, it's a whole nother kettle of fish. Practically and holistically speaking, perhaps the best combination for a very wide range of temps and conditions, would be an inner glove made out of grid fleece, a 2nd layer made out of high loft fleece, and then some kind of highly water and wind resistant shell that still allows a lot of moisture movement. This 3 combo system could be used in various different ways and different conditions. If they can ever design a material that has much lower thermal conductivity, then it could rely less on loft. Perhaps the best bet is bonding particles of the new polymer Aerogel's to fibers made out of traditional fiber material (polyester, nylon, etc). Perhaps someday they will be able to use carbon dioxide trapped in some kind of polymer matrix because carbon dioxide gas has even significantly lower thermal conductivity than air! Air is .024 and CO2 is .0146.