Any experience with heated glove liners?

[oldbrownhat]

Thinking ahead to winter (yuk!) and having to take the tractor out to clear the snow from my and my neighbor's driveways, I remebered that although I can wrap up enough to keep my body warm, it's my hands and fingers that get numb, even with insulated gloves. I have lots of gloves, so heated liners I could put regular gloves would be enough.

There are a bunch of these out there but I know nothing about them. I also read about heated motorcycle gloves/liners that can run off the bike's 12v power, something I'm sure i could tap into on the tractor, or even run from a small extra 12v battery as I'd only need about 1 - 1 1/2 hr. run time. It seems most of these also need a heat controller? There are also battery-powered liners which use special 7.4v batteries, so extra cost and a dedicated charger.

Gerbing seem to have some reasonably priced products. I don't think I need a lot of heat as I'm not moving fast and it doesn't get really cold here- rarely below 12-15ºF.

Suggestions?

 

[steelslaver]

Mittens beat gloves every time unless you need fingers. Light weight woven gloves, inside wool lined mittens. You can whip a mitten off do the fine work and whip the mittens back on. Running a tractor with mittens should be fine.
I used to wear mittens working derricks on drilling rigs in Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas in the winter.

I currently plow my place and a couple neighbors, it can rake a couple hours after a good snow, but my side by side has a cab and heater so I start out with cheap woven gloves inside insulated gloves, then tum the outer gloves when the cab warms up.

 

[Tom S.]

I agree with steelslaver. I use mittens for running my snow blower and they beat the heck out of any glove I've tried, including some pretty pricey insulated gloves. A friend turned me on to government surplus mittens at the local army/navy store and they work great!

 

[CajunBass]

I used to have a couple of pair of heated gloves for riding my motorcycle in cold weather. They were great except for having to fool with the cords but they were warm.

 

[tomhenry]

Back when I used to ride my motorcycle in winter I used electric gloves and socks. That would be just the ticket for the OP. Cords inside a tractor cab are tolerable. On a motorcycle, not so much.

 

[WardenRoss]

In my long distance motorcycle days I wore a Gerbing heated jacket liner. I also wore their gloves which plug into the sleeves of the liner.

The jacket liner plugged into a cord attached to the motorcycle battery and had a rheostat controller.

I was toasty warm and I'm talking about 15° at 70mph.


,

 

[gjgalligan]

I have a couple pairs similar to these:
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and find they work better then plain gloves.

 

[Onomea]

I never thought about the difference in keeping one's hands warm between mittens and gloves, as Steelslayer and Tom S are attesting, but it makes sense when you think about it. Sorta like wearing warm pants vs being in a sleeping bag.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I have a couple pairs similar to these:
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and find they work better then plain gloves.

I had seen the Amazon listings. As usual, aside from a few known names, dozens of "all made in same factory in China and sold by different vendors", with possibly questionable battery packs. If I go electric, I'd like to stick with a known brand as there is likely some QC.

I hadn't thought of mittens. Aside from getting off the tractor to adjust the blade on the back, I probably don't really need fingers, and maybe not even for that. And it's a compact tractor - no heated cab or I wouldn't be asking In fact, I'm just about to replace my old Yanmar 1702D with a somewhat-less-old Kubota L2350DT.

 

[Super Trucker]

When looking at motorcycle gloves read all the details.
I use battery powered Fieldsheer gloves, which are a decent brand, but mine only heat the top of my hands, the bike has heated grips so this setup works great for me, but your needing something different.

 

[URIT]

Once I turned 73, I had problems with my hands quickly getting cold - painfully cold - when walking my dog in freezing temps. It really is a circulation problem.

My wife bought me rechargeable battery powered gloves which failed to keep my hands warm even on the highest of 3 settings.

I had to pull my fingers into my palm in the hand not holding the leash to get any kind of relief.

I miss the calfskin mittens with wool liners I used to blow snow when I lived in MN. I doubt they'd correct my circulation problem that causes my painful cold hands, but believe mittens are better than gloves.

 

[steelslaver]

Mittens work because your fingers share space with your whole hand. You don't want them tight, but you want a snug wrist band. I used to pull my thumb back in with my fingers a lot wearing mittens. When wearing gloves or mittens to keep your hands warm you don't want them very tight.

When I plow snow all I have to operate is the steering wheel, the shifter forward to reverse and the up and down button. None of that takes any real hand dexterity and I could easily do all of it with mittens.

At just above zero temps mittens should be fine. Another thing that would help you out is a steering wheel cover. If your tractor has no cab or heat the steering wheel will be whatever temp ambient is. Gripping it transfers heat from your hands to that cold steering wheel. Another layer between your hands and it will help.

But, I try to avoid being dependent on batteries for warmth.
I use these cheap knit gloves inside these gloves even below zero and don't have problems and my fingers have been mashed and frozen

 

[sjmjax]

One experience many years ago snow skiing.
Seemed very nice at first. But, the exertion of skiing eventually made hands sweat. Then the sweat froze! Quickly became unpleasant and possibly dangerous in that situation.

I’m sure more modern products would have better temperature control.

 

[oldbrownhat]

One experience many years ago snow skiing.
Seemed very nice at first. But, the exertion of skiing eventually made hands sweat. Then the sweat froze! Quickly became unpleasant and possibly dangerous in that situation....

If my hands start to sweat while running the tractor (or excavator) I'm clearly doing something very wrong

 

[6518John]

After this picture came out, I vowed never to wear mittens again. In fact I took the mittens I had to Goodwill.