Glove thickness for Cold Water Diving

[Landlocked123]

In the process of finalizing my scuba gear for this upcoming Spring. Will be doing mostly diving in local quarries in MD/VA/PA. Cold water temps ranging from 45-55 average. I have a 6.5Mill semi Dry Mares and matching hood. I need to get gloves. I want to obviously keep my hands warm but do not want to give up on dexterity and the ability to perform tasks at depth. What thickness gloves, type of material should i get?

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks. George

 

[befee]

That is a hard question to answer and it depends on your thermal requirements. Get the thinnest pair of gloves or mitts that allow you the flexibility and dexterity while maintaining the warmth. 5mm is a good place to start.

That being said, in those temps I dive dry and with drygloves. However, I did an ice dive with someone who wore no gloves simply because he couldn't stand them and he was perfectly content.

 

[fisheater]

In those temps, I've had the best results from 5 mm Fifth Element "Spider-Man" Gloves.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TMHeimer]

That is a hard question to answer and it depends on your thermal requirements. Get the thinnest pair of gloves or mitts that allow you the flexibility and dexterity while maintaining the warmth. 5mm is a good place to start.

That being said, in those temps I dive dry and with drygloves. However, I did an ice dive with someone who wore no gloves simply because he couldn't stand them and he was perfectly content.

Yeah, standard 5 mm gloves for me at those temps. Below 40F I usually use 3 fingered mitts. 60F or above reef gloves. As pointed out, it varies according to someone's cold tolerance. You'll probably wind up with 2-3 different gloves anyway.

 

[g1138]

From 50-54F, I go with 3mm gloves that fit like a glove. Little to no wiggle room in the fingers length or width wise and equally important, a good sealing wrist cuff. Either a velcro wrap w/o a plastic buckle (like Aqualung's Aleutians), or a tight wrist seal like the ones seen on O'niell surf gloves or Scuba Pro's Everflex gloves.
Having gloves that have little squish factor at the fingers helps too. So look for kevlar tipped fingers, tool dip your finger tips with Plasti-dip, or get thin gloves (not really a comfortable option for you).

Keeping water transfer in and out of the glove means warm hands, assuming you have good circulation.
At your temp range, I would recommend upgrading to the 5mm; but still keeping with the above requirements which will allow to keep some amount of dexterity.

If you get a glove that doesn't actually fit like a glove (loose material, wiggle room in the fingers and palm) you'll can lose most or even all your dexterity, no matter what thickness. Just keep that in mind.
With a proper fitting glove you should be able to write notes and tie your shoe with a little practice. Granted it will still be a tad bit sloppy, even when you get good at it.

 

[jwalko]

5mm gloves seems like a good place to start, as others have mentioned. In 41 degree water, I am good for about a 30 minute dive with 5mm gloves that fit well (no water flushing through the gloves) before my hands start to get cold.

John

 

[Landlocked123]

Thanks a ton for the information. I will go with 5MM and take a serious look at the gloves mentioned above - George

 

[decompression]

If I may, I use the 3mm HEAT gloves from whites in waters 46 F. They are great at reducing water movement and are super flexible. They also have a 5mm.

 

[fjpatrum]

I wear 5mm gloves at Millbrook in NoVA. Wetsuit or dry suit, they keep my hands relatively comfortable down to about 40 degrees F. Dexterity isn't fantastic, but it's a good compromise.

 

[CamG]

If using wet gloves I roll with 7mm Bare gauntlet gloves.
In the last few years I wear dry gloves with liners when it is the cold season or diving deep.
In the heat of summer on shallow training dives I dive without gloves or a light pair of grip gloves.


CamG