Mark, I have a pair of those mittens you mentioned. Only part-way through one winter’s use. They seem to be top-quality. A bit on the heavy side due to the “bells and whistles”, viz. adjustable loops to attach them to your wrists or forearms so that you can take them off without dropping them; one-hand easy cinch and release pulls to tighten and loosen the gauntlets; wrist-straps to seal off the hand proper from the gauntlet. I suppose some of these extras could be removed to lighten them, but the mitten might not be as functional (i.e., seal as tightly) without them.
As far as performance:
hands stay dry (from outside moisture) and warm – especially if liners are worn. I’ve worn them in the mid-teens with PossumDown liner gloves (the ones sold on this website) and my hands have felt a bit cool, but not real cold. In other words, my hands could tell that it was cold out, but were not cold themselves. Sometimes, if not using my hands, I could wish that they were a bit warmer at these temps, but I didn’t feel the need to place my mittened hands under my armpits to warm them.
Some feel is retained when wearing them, but not much, especially if liner gloves are worn under them. If you wear them for a while and use your hands a bit, things can get a bit moist inside, but I haven’t had sweat puddles rolling around inside when my arms swing. Sorry I can’t be more precise in my description. Hope this info helps some.
The material used on the palms seem rather robust, but I’m sure that climbing/scrambling up rough rocks while wearing them will soon wear holes through the palms or tips of the mittens.
In part, perhaps, because of the robust palm material, these mittens do not compact down real well. Don’t misunderstand, they aren’t exactly bulky, but you’re not going to compress these greatly, since they are uninsulated.
For the price, $45, IIRC, I feel that they are a good value for a feature-rich uninsulated water-proof mitten/gauntlet.
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