In harsh windy conditions in the bitter cold, turn to the Outdoor Research Stormtracker
Heated Gloves. These are a pretty lightweight soft shell glove that offer a lot of protection
from wind in those bitter cold temperatures. They also have an integrated heating system.
The stand out feature here is the AltiHeat Technology, which Outdoor Research has put
a lot of development and research into that AltiHeat Heating Element. With these gloves
you do get two rechargeable packs, one for each glove. These are lithium ion rechargeable
batteries. And it comes with the adapter to the wall outlet. So you just plug them in
there, plug them into the wall outlet and you can recharge these batteries.
It is very important that you charge them 100 percent the first time you charge them,
but after that, since they are lithium ion batteries, you can charge them at any state.
You do get with the wall outlet you get three different adapters, one for the US, one for
the UK and one for Europe. So you can certainly use these in different parts of the world.
And that stand out feature really is the AltiHeat.
When you are done recharging your batteries, there is a little pouch right here, a zippered
pouch that you simply connect to the battery. Make sure you have a good connection there
and then tuck it away. This allows you to have that extra heat. So when you are out
on those bitter cold days, those windy days, climbing, mountaineering, anything you can
throw at them, these are going to give you that extra added heat that you need.
There is one push button here and it is really convenient. The battery pack goes right on
the wrist. So that is not going to get in the way of any of your hand there. And then
the push button is right on top of your wrist.
In order to turn them on, you just need to hold it in for a couple of seconds until you
see that red light come on. On the red setting they are going to last about two and a half
hours. That is the highest setting. If you hit that button again you have the yellow
and that is a medium setting. It is going to last about five hours. And then you hit
it again and there is the green setting. That is the lowest setting and that is going to
last about eight hours. And to turn them off, you just need to hold that button in for a
couple of seconds until the light goes off. So if you are going to be out for long days
in the backcountry and you know you are going got need to have it on that highest setting,
you can purchase other battery packs separately and that way you can change them out and keep
it on that high setting.
So certainly take those time frames into consideration before taking these out into the backcountry.
For a more technical and in depth review of how to charge, how to use and how to care
for your AltiHeat Technology Gloves, certainly check out our separate video on AltiHeat Technology.
The rest of the glove has its own set of technologies that are really great in their own right.
You have got windproof, wind stopper material. This is soft shell material on the top of
your hand. And so in those conditions where you are going to have a lot of wind, that
is really going to protect you there.
These gloves are insulated with Primaloft synthetic insulation. It is a 60 gram insulation,
so you certainly get some lightweight warmth there. And you also have a nice liner on the
inside to give you a little bit more warmth. But if you do start to perspire, it is going
to wick away that sweat.
It is pretty weather resistant, although these are not waterproof gloves. They are more meant
for those alpine conditions when you are not necessarily going to be in contact with a
lot of snow, but you are going to be in contact with a lot of wind and really cold wind at
that. So you are going to be protected there. You have an overlay of some really durable
materials, leather and even some rubber there, areas that will come in contact with gear,
come in contact with ropes and that kind of thing.
If I turn this over you have got flexible goat leather on the palm. This is really flexible,
but also very durable. And even the shaping here of the glove it is already hand shaped.
So it doesn’t take a lot of break in time. It is very, very flexible and it comes in
at a pretty low weight as well.
Down here on the wrist you do have some stretchy material there so it fits really well. You
have got a glove attachment, so you can attach it to the other glove. If you have it stored
away you won’t lose track of both of them. And then you do have some extra overlays here
on the top. So this fits really well over top of a jacket or underneath. You can cinch
it down. There is a zipper right here. So when you put the glove on, it goes on really
nicely. You have a nice pull tab there. And then you can just kind of cinch it down with
that zipper on the side. So, as you can see, they are a pretty lightweight glove. In the
coldest of conditions, when you are out in the wet and snow, this may not be the best
option. There are certainly other Lucent Heated Gloves, but these are great for those really
windy, really cold conditions where you just need an extra bit of added heat to keep your
hands nice and warm for the entire day.
They are the Outdoor Research Stormtracker Heated Gloves.