Question Dry glove colours

[sylverbard]

Yes, this might be weird.

I started with Orange (max dexterity?) gloves. loved them, any water temp all year round.

Got new Black ones after I tore the seals of orange. sadface. Black ones are great in warm water, no liners or really thin liners.

I've got a pair of blue ones that came with my DUI suit. Haven't used them yet.

I went diving on the weekend in 37 F water. black gloves were useless, stiff.

Is there any truth that the different colours behave differently in various water temperatures? it certain seemed to be the case.

 

[Jeff_O]

Used the gloves that were provided on a DUI test diving with electric heated undergarments including the gloves. The dry gloves were attached after I got in the suit by a representative. They had to connect wires before zip sealing the dry gloves. Not remembering what color type of glove, but I could operate fingers for controls diving OK. The gloves leaked a bit, but of course they were in the testing phase of the heating system and the use of the gear by a lot of people testing for them, was probably taking toll. Paid for my transport to Catalina and a taxi. Separate to DUI for diving and lunch like 25 dollars. I don't believe I would be needing the electric heated drysuit and gloves, but I am trying now the manual deteriry orange dry gloves and the yellow liners. How long did the orange gloves last you? I was thinking if I was not diving in a river in the winter, the neoprene wetsuit gloves are all I need in California.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Not that I have extensive experience, but of the ones I've tried I really like the blue Showa 720's.. pretty versatile and fairly tough. (Wreck diving, zebra mussels, not really an issue).

There was a long thread on SB where someone rated all the different gloves and tried them out.. I can't remember what it was called, maybe @Zef would remember... my memory is shot.

 

[Marie13]

The orange ones are thinner so my fingers got chillier sooner than with the blue ones. That’s all I can tell you.

 

[sylverbard]

Used the gloves that were provided on a DUI test diving with electric heated undergarments including the gloves. The dry gloves were attached after I got in the suit by a representative. They had to connect wires before zip sealing the dry gloves. Not remembering what color type of glove, but I could operate fingers for controls diving OK. The gloves leaked a bit, but of course they were in the testing phase of the heating system and the use of the gear by a lot of people testing for them, was probably taking toll. Paid for my transport to Catalina and a taxi. Separate to DUI for diving and lunch like 25 dollars. I don't believe I would be needing the electric heated drysuit and gloves, but I am trying now the manual deteriry orange dry gloves and the yellow liners. How long did the orange gloves last you? I was thinking if I was not diving in a river in the winter, the neoprene wetsuit gloves are all I need in California.

My orange gloves lasted 3 years / 600 dives as a rec diver in a DIR setup (so bolt snaps) and the occasional zebra mussel encounter stuff.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

My orange gloves lasted 3 years / 600 dives as a rec diver in a DIR setup (so bolt snaps) and the occasional zebra mussel encounter stuff.

I don't get that long with Showa's, but digging around for bugs or through the silt for whatever will do that.. I think they would last a lot longer if I wasn't rough.

In the thread that I can't find Sea-Jay had another glove that you lost a little dexterity but they were better for working. He uses both that glove and the 720 for scraping barnacles off of boats... can't get much tougher than that.

Added bonus (I guess because they're PVC coated) is that they're warmer than most other gloves. You can reach out to Showa to send you a pair for free.

 

[sylverbard]

Thanks, I will do that if they ship to Canada

 

[Zef]

Not that I have extensive experience, but of the ones I've tried I really like the blue Showa 720's.. pretty versatile and fairly tough. (Wreck diving, zebra mussels, not really an issue).

There was a long thread on SB where someone rated all the different gloves and tried them out.. I can't remember what it was called, maybe @Zef would remember... my memory is shot.

The info you are referencing is in the epic discussion thread titled “Ultima Dry Glove System Question“ (page 104, post # 1037).

The member who did the reviews and posted the data was Seajay (aka Deep South Divers).

There is good glove info on the preceding and following pages of the post with the chart.

It’s a very useful discussion thread with the unfortunate exception that a lot of good info is buried in pages of discussion that should have been broken out as “new” discussion topics instead of remaining as new be giant body of discussion.

-Z

 

[Zef]

I don't get that long with Showa's, but digging around for bugs or through the silt for whatever will do that.. I think they would last a lot longer if I wasn't rough.

In the thread that I can't find Sea-Jay had another glove that you lost a little dexterity but they were better for working. He uses both that glove and the 720 for scraping barnacles off of boats... can't get much tougher than that.

Added bonus (I guess because they're PVC coated) is that they're warmer than most other gloves. You can reach out to Showa to send you a pair for free.

The gloves in question are the SHOWA 3416. The glove is a neoprene coating over an “engineered cut protective” base.

-Z

 

[Zef]

Yes, this might be weird.

I started with Orange (max dexterity?) gloves. loved them, any water temp all year round.

Got new Black ones after I tore the seals of orange. sadface. Black ones are great in warm water, no liners or really thin liners.

I've got a pair of blue ones that came with my DUI suit. Haven't used them yet.

I went diving on the weekend in 37 F water. black gloves were useless, stiff.

Is there any truth that the different colours behave differently in various water temperatures? it certain seemed to be the case.

The gloves typically used as dry gloves are predominantly made from PVC. One of the drawbacks of using this material for diving in cold temps is that it becomes stiff…this causes the diver loses dexterity and the glove becomes easier to become compromised.

The blue SHOWA pvc gloves are triple dipped PVC and the orange are double dipped. This gives the blue PVC a slight margin compared to the orange. SHOWA also makes a black pvc glove(s) but I don’t believe they have any advantage for diving compared to the 720 nitrile glove.

I am a big fan of SHOWA’s glove model # 720. The 720 is a nitrile glove that has better cut resistance, thermal protection, and does not become stiff in cold water compared to PVC gloves.

The only drawback that some folks have found with the 720 is that it fits a bit snugger than what they are used to with PVC gloves so it is best to prefer samples in a few sizes or just go a size larger than what one typically uses with PVC gloves…The nitrile construction is a bit stretchy and relaxes a bit after a couple of uses and becomes more comfortable. I have dived mine in water temp down to 2c without any issues.

If one is not worried about dexterity but instead wants a greater amount of cut/puncture resistance and greater thermal capacity then the SHOWA 3416 is recommended.

-Z