Halvarssons Butorp gloves in black

The Halvarssons Butorp is another one of those gloves that escapes traditional classification. It is, we would suggest, more like a ‘summer-waterproof’ glove than anything else. It’s certainly not, in any meaningful sense, a winter glove, but it does have some hollow-form fibre insulation, so it’s going to be somewhat warmer than a traditional, summer-waterproof glove.

It is, in many ways, a typical Halvarssons glove. For many years we had the Beast glove; again a summer-waterproof glove with some insulation. A couple of years ago this was replaced by the similarly spec’d Ljusdal glove.

Now the Ljusdal was, and still is, a great glove; but although many people love its clever ‘windwire’ adjuster mechanism at the wrist, an equal number just can’t cope with it. There’s a knack to releasing the mechanism; and frankly with both gloves on, it is just too difficult for some people. A problem made worse, the larger the wearer’s glove and hand size. And so, on one level, we see the Butorp as a more wearable Ljusdal.

The glove’s spec. is spot on.

You get a goatskin palm, with a pretty much textile back, which is really the best construction for any waterproof glove. The membrane is the same as the one that Halvarssons has used in all its clothing for many years. It’s called Dryway Plus, and it works well. They say that it it outperforms Gore-Tex in some situations. Maybe it does; we don’t know. But it does what it’s meant to do.

On the main knuckle, there’s a hard protector, but it’s backed with a foam pad for comfort. Somewhat unusually, you also get small, hard protectors on all the minor knuckles. You get extra leather on the palm, and down the outside of the hand. And two pads for absorbing the energy of an impact if you come of and put your hands out.

For comfort, all the fingers, and the thumb too, feature concertina banding. The glove also has what is known as an ‘open back’, which again makes a glove more comfortable when you wrap your hands around the grips. There’s also some stretch in the cuff.

There are two Velcro straps to secure the glove; one at the wrist, and a wider one at the cuff. And indeed one of the things we really like about the Butorp is the lack of bulk in the cuff, meaning that it will go inside the sleeve of any technical jacket; even one without much of a gusset.

These days, everyone wants their gloves to have touchscreen-sensitive fingers, and the NUDUD system on this glove, which utilises a little rubber nodule, is as good as any. In fact, we think it’s the best, as the contact point with the screen is quite small and definitive.

But whilst that is commendable, what Halvarssons seems to have forgotten is a visor wipe. And that’s what everyone would expect on a waterproof glove. It seems like a bit of a schoolboy error.

Which brings us back to the question we implicitly posed at the top. What kind of glove is this? Well, like the Held Springride, it is more than a pure summer-waterproof glove, and less than a full-on winter one. The Butorp contains more insulating material than the Ljusdal, and it has a little in the palm, which the Ljusdal does not. The Butorp also contains Outlast. Now Outlast is more a thermal regulator than an insulator, per se. But it works particularly well with heated grips, as the Outlast membrane allows heat to travel from the palm to the back of the hand.

It is difficult, therefore, to be too definitive about what this glove is, and who it is aimed at. To me, at least, it feels more like a summer-waterproof glove than a winter one. And if one of your complaints is that your hands are constantly cold, this may be the glove you would be happy to wear from late March through to early November, although you will want a pure summer glove on the very warmest days. For those who only go out on fine and sunny winter days, the Butorp might still be up to the job through the winter, especially if you have heated grips. But if you leave home at six in the morning to commute into work, all through the winter, then you’re going to need something warmer.

We know that there’s no one jacket that will work in all conditions. The same goes for gloves, but if you were looking for one glove to wear all year round, the Butorp is about as close as it gets.

It has one other trick up its sleeve; it’s one of the few that goes up to size 14! And it’s really well priced too, as you would expect from Halvarssons. Just a pity about that visor wipe!