The really useful gloves – Rab Power Stretch Gloves Review

February 12, 2015 Off By Gabs

I don’t like shoes, socks or gloves. I do understand now that, as I no longer live on a tropical island, at the very least I am expected to wear shoes and socks, in the Winter. I am just coming to terms with gloves.

In the last few years I have trained as a Swift Water and Flood Rescue Technician, and I also host Open Water Swimming Holidays, in Winter as well as Summer. So I know a thing or two about cold hands.

I have some Buffalo mitts that I use when my fingers are a funny colour and incapacitated after an icy swim or snow ball fight, for instance. But for a pair of gloves to have always to hand, you can’t beat the Rab Power Stretch Gloves. They are stretchy material with a warm soft inside. They are a blend of polyester and nylon with a bit of spandex called Power Stretch, made by Polartec. I have the Women’s ones in Indigo (blueish purpleish). They have Rab written in pink on the back of the hand and a bit of grey round the cuff, but other than that- no tech, no touch screen doo dahs, no silky panel to wipe your nose, no way to attach them to a string…. They are basic, but they are not pretending to be anything else.

I use these gloves the most when I go running (shuffling). I wear a layer with a few pockets normally but sometimes when I am on extra long shuffles I use a Low Alpine bumbag.  They can get stashed away in there and still leave room for other essential paraphernalia, a buff, snacks, car keys phone, more snacks….. They really do provide a lot of warmth for how small they are. I quite often dig about for them and panic that I have lost one, when they are just compact and take up less room than I thought. They can be worn as liner if you need but might be a bit bulky unless in a mitten. They dry out pretty quickly, so if you shove them by heater in the car they will toast dry in no time. They get bunged in the wash from time to time and come out just fine, Im sure the care label has better advice.

They are probably sized a bit large for ladies as I have the paws of a giant. I have only met 3 people with bigger hands that myself and I wear the large, which I would expect to be far too small, but they are fine- the finger length is a bit lacking, but as I said its not a fair test.  So if unsure, I would go a size lower than you think, but just come in and try them.

Are these gloves going to be the only gloves you ever buy? Nope, but they are perfect to have in the bottom of your kit bag all year round as a spare, or the ones that you take when you don’t know if you are going to need gloves or not.

So buy your really useful Rab Powerstretch Gloves here