[DeepRN]

Thought i'd jump in on this one. I have to agree... I've come to the conclusion that it's really mostly about the hands. The warmer the better. You feel warmer overall. Maintaining the warmth and dexterity means better handling of any equipment & even equalization. And I'm still throubleshooting it.

I dove yesterday. It was 25 celsius out, but the water temp was 39/40F at depth. I had about 20 minutes before I noticed the cold setting in. 30 minutes & the cold was becoming pain. Once out and back in the sun, my hands ached intensely for about 10-15 minutes. I even thought I might be onto something when I used a thickener (used in the hospital to thicken fluids for people who have trouble swallowing) to turn hot water into hot goop. It worked in that any water transfer was greatly reduced. However the temp continued to drop & eventually they were ice-boxes.

I haven't tried dry gloves yet. I've seen a couple of pair online - 5mm neoprene with the rubber/latex cuff. Think these would work well?? As far as I can tell, when people have thus far been talking about diving with dry gloves, they've been talking about a latex glove with a seal - which is fairly fragile and would not likely stand up to say, a day of spearfishing in TC.

Anyway, I agree - it's all about the hand.