Five HG Prime GTX heated gloves in black

If the Five HG Prime GTX wasn't a heated glove, you'd have to acknowledge that, in its own right, it would probably be as warm as any of the very best, winter gloves out there. And it occurs to me that this might have a bearing on their effectiveness. Because if you've got a thumping good, winter glove, you don't need a whole heap of power to make the wearer feel comfortable in even the coldest of conditions.

 

The glove comes with a Full Grain goat leather palm. Almost the entirety of the back of the hand is textile. And this is the best construction for any waterproof glove. Leather palm and textile back.

 

You get a hard, foam-backed, knuckle protector, digi-leather on the palm, a slider and a SuperFabric scaphoid protector.

 

You get touchscreen sensitivity on the finger and thumb on both hands. And Five's own interpretation of a visor wipe! There's extra padding on some of the fingers, and there's some concertina banding to make the glove a bit more comfortable on the bars.

 

There are two closure systems. One at the wrist itself. And one on the cuff. There's a zipped gusset that allows the cuff of the glove to be worn over the sleeve of a jacket. And with the battery in the cuff, I reckon that this is the only way to wear these gloves.

 

One of the standout features on the glove is that the membrane is supplied by Gore, which means obviously that it's guaranteed to be waterproof for life. We reckon these are the only Gore-Tex heated gloves on the market.

 

Now, technically, this is a Gore-grip membrane, meaning that it's a laminated membrane. But here it's only laminated on the palm; and this makes sense because this will help prevent the leather from soaking in the rain. But laminated gloves are always a bit less comfortable, and with so much going on within the chassis of the HG Prime something that makes the glove less comfortable is not necessarily a good thing.

 

As a winter glove, even without the heating components, this is a glove that stacks up. On the back of the hand, the insulation is Primaloft's very best Gold 200g hollow-form fibre. On the palm you get Primaloft's 60g insulation. Inside the glove, the top of the compartment is lined with a softshell material. There's also a sheet of aluminium foil to reflect heat back towards the hand. 

 

Now every heated glove manufacturer will tell you that they have discovered the secret ingredient for getting lots of heat out of a 7 volt battery, but really we cannot see that Five heating components are going to generate more heat, or last longer, than anybody else's.

 

Indeed, those gloves with 12 volt batteries in the cuff will notionally generate more heat, although every 12 volt glove I have ever tried on has felt uncomfortable to a point where I would not have wanted to ride in them.

 

In the HG Primes, you get heating elements in the fingertips, including the thumb. But the main area that is covered is the insides of the fingers, and the back of the hand.

 

Five state that the gloves will heat up to 60 degrees for two hours, 50 degrees for three hours, or 40 degrees for six hours. Well, in your bedroom maybe, but on the road in the middle of winter you are not going to get anywhere near these temperatures.

 

But there's another thing here; and it comes from my experience with gloves powered by the bike's battery. And it's that if heating is available, then you are nearly always going to want it turned up to 11! So my view is that, for most people, we are going to be talking about a maximum duration of two hours; and potentially less.

 

In terms of the settings, Five uses Bluetooth to connect the gloves to one another. So you turn the gloves on, and alter the heat setting on the right hand. On both hands you get a battery indicator to show you much life the batteries have left. The display on the left hand will also tell you which of the three settings you are on.

 

You can also buy a kit for charging the gloves from the bike as you're riding along. This kit can be connected directly on to the terminals of the bike's battery, or you can use a cigarette lighter socket.

 

For whatever reasons, some people may want battery-powered gloves. I am not convinced that Five's heated gloves are any warmer than anybody else's. But they probably start out as being the warmest, and that will clearly have a bearing on what they're like to ride in.

 

What also as to be said is that these gloves, in their own right, are great gloves. The spec. is impressive. These are proper gloves. They will be properly protective. They will be warm, even without batteries. And they will be very waterproof.

 

But here's the deal. Only buy these gloves if you are convinced that they meet your needs. Having said that they are not the best way to keep your hands warm, we will not take them back just beause you find them disappointing. And that's because, for many people, they will be.

 

If the gloves are faulty, of course, they can be returned. But not being warm enough, or lasting long enough to meet your expectations, doesn't constitute a fault.

 

If you really want warm hands, buy gloves that connect to the bike.