need advice on fitting mitts (cold water)

[harbour seal]

hello,

i recently found two used pairs of three-fingered mitts (approx 5mm).

what kind of fit do i want for cold water (diving this fall in vancouver)?


for example, which pair would be preferable:
a) somewhat tight fitting but still comfortable (also have tight wrist seals)

b) somewhat looser fitting (has no wrist seal---loose at wrist)


is tight bad for gloves/mitts in the cold or is that what i want?


cheers and thanks any advice,
sean

 

[JPPLAY]

I would want tight wrist seals. I have whites 5 mm gloves and they are the first thing to go cold when I dive as they got bad seals.

 

[harbour seal]

jjplay,

thanks for the advice.

i am going to pick up the tighter ones with the better wrist seal---they are used and cheap so i can't really go wrong.

cheers,
sean

 

[pelagicbeing]

Sean,

Hi i am in the sea all year round, and whilst maybe not Vancouver cold, the sea in the UK in January / December time is pretty chilly!

I have found the best gloves i have used are my current ones. They are made by Cressi, they are gloves not mitts, 5 mm with a brilliant double seal at the cuff.

One lip of the cuff goes under the sleeve of your wetsuit the other rolls over the outside of the wetsuit sleeve. The glove is open cell on the internal bit of the cuff 'V' section. They are tight fitting and are fantastic in the cold with no flushing of water through the gloves due to the good seal.

Hope this helps.

pelagicbeing

 

[Tompa]

as thigt as ou can!

 

[Jon]

I have many different pairs of gloves and mitts that I wear depending upon how close to the ice i am diving. I prefer mitts since they keep my hands warmer and I've been using them for a LONG time and don't find that they get in the way of spearing or using my camera.

You want a fairly snug wrist seal to keep the water exchange down to a bare minimum. Having said that, you can get carried away with too tight a mitt. You need to give your finger, especially your index finger, a little breathing room- otherwise you'll cut off all the blood flow and have much colder hands as a result.

My favorite mitts are from Elios. They are 5mm nylon outer with a silver slick skin lining on the inside. They cost me $25 and are hard to beat. My back-up mitts are the 3-finger Picasso mitts with the double wrist seal. These mitts are Little tight on my index, trigger, finger but they will fit into the trigger opening on my spear gun. I understand that they sell for well over $100 these days and I wouldn't buy them again at that price.

When it gets really cold I have some dry gloves with dry suit wrist seals I can wear with my wet suit. They are made by DUI and are pretty pricey- unless you shop around Ebay!:inlove There's nothing warmer, but they make it very ward to work my camera controls because they are so bulky. My mitts are still my favorite.

One last thing to keep in mind no matter what you buy. It can make a HUGE difference on whether or not you tuck your gloves under your wet suit sleeve or vice versa. It really depends upon the material of both and you need to try it both ways to see which way works best with your combination. I have some suits that I tuck the gloves under and others where the go over. With my wet suit socks I ALWAYS tuck my socks under my wet suit pant leg to keep warm.

Jon

 

[harbour seal]

wow, thanks for all the info everyone!

jon,
i am going to try and find those dry gloves you mentioned.

for others---here is a link to a post where Jon posted a pic of the dry gloves.
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=64619&highlight=dry+gloves

also here is a good post talking about general winter diving i found:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=41749&highlight=dry+gloves


cheers and thanks for the help,
sean