Field Report:
Outdoor Research Talon Gloves

Product Description
From the Outdoor Research (OR) website: “Suited to any alpine challenge, this glove uses Gore WindStopper® Soft Shell fabric to provide warmth and weather resistance. A ripstop face resists abrasion from rocks and ice, while a lightweight fleece interior retains warmth. The Suregrip palm handles wet and icy equipment with ease while the anatomical curve allows natural hand movement. A tapered wrist offers a secure fit while boxed construction promotes movement and comfort.”

Test Location and Conditions
Test Period—Mid-December 2005 to mid-April 2006.

Test Locations—Southwestern US (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona).

Testing Conditions—The testing terrains consisted of: badlands desert, canyon country, forests, and high elevation alpine country. Extreme conditions included snow storms, strong winds, dust storms, intense sun, low temperatures, and high elevations. Temperatures ranged from 15 F to 55 F (-9 to 13 C); elevations ranged from 5,000 to 12,000 feet (1524 to 3658 m).

How the Gloves Were Tested—I tested the Talon Gloves with different clothing systems and in different outdoor activities. I wore them by themselves, with liners inside them, and as a mid-layer (liners inside, shell glove or mittens over them).

Amount of Use and Activities— The OR Talon Gloves were the primary gloves I used during the test period. I wore them a total of 28 days in a variety of activities, as listed in the table below. I made two winter car camping trips to southern Utah, where the Talon Gloves were used while hiking during the day as well as in our backcountry camp.

Measurements and Data—After each trip I recorded the following data in relation to my comfort in the OR Talon Gloves: 1) temperature, 2) estimated wind speed, 3) estimated humidity, 4) altitude, 5) precipitation (including what form), 6) clothing system, 7) gloves worn in or over the Talon Gloves, and 8) how well they performed in terms of warmth, dryness, comfort, and utility.

Field Report
Following are the specific factors on which I am evaluating the OR Talon Gloves. In this Field Report, I have supplied my evaluation for each factor based on two months of testing.

Fabrics—The gloves are made of Gore WindStopper® Soft Shell fabric, which has a ripstop nylon face and short fleece inside surface. The fabric has moderate lateral stretch and little or no linear stretch. The palms and three fingers (from the thumb end) are coated with Suregrip to increase their gripping ability and wear resistance. The two smaller fingers do not have the Suregrip coating on the inside.

Construction and Quality—Superb. The simple edge seams are sewn on the inside with “right” sides together and trimmed to a 1/8-inch (3 mm) seam allowance. Most seams are single stitched, but stress areas where seams come together are double stitched.

Features—Stretch-woven Windstopper fabric, thin fleece inside surface, Suregrip palms (and three fingers), plastic clip to connect the gloves (and hang them over a line), hang loop on each glove, 3.5 in (9 cm) gauntlet with elasticized opening.

Sizing and Fit—The Talon Gloves run small, and therefore have a trim fit. I requested size XL, expecting them to have enough room to wear liners inside. The size XL gloves I received look and fit like a normal size Large. I checked with OR and found that there was no mislabeling, they do indeed run small, and XL is their largest size. The purpose of the tighter fit is to allow better dexterity with the gloves on and to achieve closer skin contact for maximum breathability through the Gore-Tex Windstopper fabric.

When wearing the gloves by themselves, I found that the stretchy fabric made it easy to get them on or off. The fit was excellent on my large hands. However, I could barely get them on over the thinnest liner gloves I have. The resistance from their fleece lining made them hard to slip on over the liner gloves. I was able to wear them over liners, but the tight fit did not help much as far as warmth. At best, adding the liners increased the warmth of the Talon Gloves by 5 degrees F (3 degrees C).

Articulation—When worn without liners, the gloves have a snug fit that allowed me to wear the gloves to reach into a pocket to grab something, pick up fairly small objects, and grasp a small zipper pull. I was also able to leave the gloves on to perform numerous other operations, like changing outerwear, putting on/taking off snowshoes, getting something out of a backpack, and unhooking a fish. When worn with liners inside, my dexterity decreased somewhat, but I was still able to perform most of the tasks listed above.

Warmth and Comfort—For active pursuits like snowshoeing, hiking, and cross-country skiing I found the Talon Gloves comfortable down to about freezing (32 F/0 C). In less active pursuits like ice fishing they were comfortable to about 35-40 F (2-4 C), depending on sun and wind. Wearing a liner glove inside was a tight fit and extended their warmth only about 5 degrees F (3 degrees C). Wearing fleece mittens or a waterproof shell glove over them increased their warmth by 10-20 degrees F (6-11 degrees C), depending on the amount of insulation and sun/wind conditions.

Breathability and Moisture Management—I found the Talon Gloves to be moderately breathable. The fabric is tightly woven and contains Lycra to provide stretch., which is great for durability, but limits breathability. On several brisk conditioning hikes, climbing at a rate of 1,500 feet per hour (457 meters per hour) in 35 to 45 F (-2 to 7 C) temperatures, my hands sweated significantly and the gloves felt clammy inside. On the way back down the gloves dried out fairly quickly; I did not experience any chilling and the clammy feeling quickly disappeared. Under moderate exertion levels in cool weather - such as hiking, skiing, or snowshoeing on undulating terrain – the gloves stayed dry inside and felt comfortable.

Weather Resistance—While cross-country skiing on a sunny, windy day with gusts up to 45 miles per hour (72 kph) and temperatures at freezing (32 F/0 C), I found the gloves to be perfectly comfortable. On one igloo building trip in warm weather (the high temperature reached 54 F/12 C that day), I used the gloves to intermittently pack snow and found that they eventually wetted through and felt damp inside. On another igloo building trip, this time in powder snow and snow flurries falling all day, the gloves stayed dry while I was shoveling snow but wetted through when I used them for packing snow. I have not yet had an opportunity to wear the gloves in a rain or heavy snow storm.

Performance For Bushwhacking—I wore the Talon Gloves while off-trail day hiking on many occasions, and found them very effective for keeping my hands warm in cool weather (temperatures ranging from 30 to 45 F/-1 to 7 C), and to protect my hands while bushwhacking. The gloves are very tough and well suited for pushing brush aside and gripping rock while scrambling. The gloves also get a good grip on trout caught through a hole in the ice!

Usability—I have used the Talon Gloves for a variety of activities and have found them to be very useful. They work best by themselves. Their trim fit provides very good dexterity, so I can leave the gloves on to perform many tasks. They provide reasonable warmth in cool weather, but I need to wear a mitten or shell glove over them in colder weather. For off-trail bushwhacking in cool weather, I like to wear the gloves all day because they provide good warmth, hand protection, and grip.

Durability—After two months of constant use, the only sign of wear is some loss of the Suregrip coating on the finger tips (see photo). This mainly resulted from gripping sandstone in southern Utah, which is very abrasive. The Talon Gloves are much more durable than other gloves I have used for bushwhacking; on many hiking trips in Utah I wear holes in the fingers after just a few days of use (and my wife is not very happy about repairing them).

Versatility—I have found the Talon Gloves to be very versatile and have used them while pursuing a variety of activities. For me, they would be more versatile if they were sized a little larger so I can wear liner gloves inside of them.

Measurements—Length is 10.75 in (27 cm), width exclusive of thumb is about 4.25 in (11 cm), girth exclusive of thumb is 10 in (25 cm), wrist opening unstretched is 4 in (10 cm), wrist opening stretched is 5 in (13 cm), and gauntlet is 3.5 in (9 cm).

Weight—At 3.2 oz (91 g) per pair, the Talon Gloves are quite light.

Cleaning—Washing instructions are: “Machine wash cold water, wash separately, powdered detergent, do not bleach, do not use fabric softener, hang dry, do not machine dry, do not iron, do not dry clean”. I have not washed the Talon Gloves yet, and need to do so soon. I will evaluate how well they clean up and whether washing results any loss of performance (like waterproofness).

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Outdoor Research and the BackpackGearTest Group for selecting me to participate in this test.

Will Rietveld