Merino-Karbonflex Glove 4mm-DICONTINUED

After reading other reviews, I was excited that my new gloves had finally arrived. What a disappointment they turned out to be. I don't know, maybe I got a bad pair, but these ARE NOT cold water gloves. The seams don't seem to be sealed at all, allowing too much water exchange. I dove these gloves in 48 degree water, which is not all that cold by my standards, and every time I flexed my hands I could feel cold water flush through the gloves. That is until my hands turned numb from the cold and began to ache. Then I couldn't feel much of anything besides the pain. I'm about 99% sure it was coming through the seams as I have a Bare semi-dry with double wrist seals - one under the glove cuff and one over. My arms barely even got wet.

In addition to being cold, the Kevlar protection is poorly designed. Other than the very tips, it only covers the palm side of the fingers and thumbs. Anyone who has ever worked in rough conditions with neoprene gloves knows the sides of the thumb and index finger, along with the area in between, takes a lot of the abuse when grasping objects. Those areas are not protected on these gloves. I can't see them lasting very long for a working diver like myself who is constantly grabbing barnacle encrusted objects.

Bottomline: The generic 5mm Kevlar gloves you can pick up for 1/3 to 1/2 the price of these are warmer and better protected.

These gloves are great for lobster diving because of the Kevlar. Spiny lobsters will no longer rip open your gloves. They are warm and very durable. It is a bit long for my in the thumbs but I may just have short thumbs.

These are my favorite cold water wet gloves. The merino lining really helps keep your hands warm, while minimizing bulk of the glove. The gloves are a bit of a struggle to put on at first, but they "suck" in tight as you descend. I've had some of the stitching start to come undone after about 4 years in them, but with a good lighter, you can keep this to a minimum without performance of the glove being affected. Nice sturdy palm and finger coating. Great glove.

Another one those companies I have never known much about until Mike got me into them.

The Merino lining is an extra touch that is much enjoyed. The Kevlar on the finger tips, and palm are a definite plus for environments needing griping.

The only thing I didn't like to much about these gloves were near the fingers you can feel the seams, they were rough either from the Kevlar or glue. I even had Mike send me another pair but they all seemed to be manufactured the same way. I am not sure if they just needed to be broken in or what.

Overall these are some tough gloves.