4/26/11 - In previous writeups, I've focused mainly on the garments offered in the Arc'teryx LEAF (Law Enforcement and Armed Forces) line. Featured here are some items from the LEAF line of gloves, which are models that are also available from their commercial line.

Note - Reiterating what I've said in other glove writeups: When it comes to gloves, there's always a balance to be struck between dexterity, tactility (sensitivity to manipulation by feeling), and insulation or protection. Just to give the reader a common frame of reference for how much tactility the following gloves have, I performed my regular test of loading 9mm rounds into a pistol magazine. This requires picking up the round, identifying the right end, inserting it into the mag - both by looking and again using only feel. I also did my 'coin test' - picking coins: a quarter, nickel, penny and dime from the hard, smooth, flat surface of a table.

The more durable and insulative a glove is, it's a good bet that it'll be less tactile. It's not good nor bad; it's just a matter of fact. It's up to the user to decide what tasks he'll be using the gloves for and which features are most important, the majority of the time. Sometimes, you'll just have to take a glove off to perform a certain task, like manipulating the controls on a camera or weapon in very cold weather, when a bulky glove won't allow it.

While it doesn't get very cold where I live unless I go into the mountains, I test gloves by wearing them on my pre-dawn motorcycle commute to work, when it's almost always chilly (and quite cold in winter), especially when combined with the wind chill of 50 mph. My hands are completely exposed and can get very cold.

Venta LT - The Venta LT is a light weight, windproof, breathable glove that incorporates WINDSTOPPER® technology with light insulation. It's targeted at high-output aerobic activities in cooler conditions such as skate skiing, X-country skiing or trail running. The 720N WINDSTOPPER® stretch fabric has a smooth, moisture-resistant exterior that is treated with a DWR (Durable Water Repellent) finish to shed moisture and snow. The inside surface of the 720N has a Micro Check backer texture, which is a micro fleece in a tiny grid pattern (shown below on the right). It's a low loft insulation and designed to wick moisture away from the skin for rapid evaporation. Lezanova goat skin leather lines the palm and part of the thumb to provide protection against ski poles. The stretchy, trim-fit cuff is made out of Rentex stretch knit, which is a polyester/lycra blend. It's very comfortable and seals out wind effectively. It'd normally be worn under a sleeve cuff instead of over it - I've shown it over just for illustrative purposes. The leather pull tab makes it easy to don the glove, and also doubles as a clip-in loop. The Venta LT also features anatomical shaping for fit and comfort, and seam-free fingertips. It's available only in Black, and weighs 2.5 oz.

Venta LT

Micro Check Backer

I have small hands with short fingers, and usually wear between an XS and S men's. Yes, I have little Hobbit hands. I usually get the smallest size I can fit into so that there is the minimum of excess material at the fingertips, and also to get a tighter fit. I got the XS men's Venta LT, and found that they have a more generous fit, and fit about a half size larger on me, but only in girth around the fingers. The gloves could have accommodated fatter fingers, while the length was just about perfect. A bit more room is normal for an insulated glove, where too tight of a fit will compress the insulation and not provide the same degree of warmth.

The Venta LT is designed as a lightly insulated glove meant for mainly aerobic activity. I wore them on some chilly evening jogs and they kept my hand warmer than they needed to be, since it was only in the low 50's. On my morning motorcycle commutes, with wind chill bringing the temperature down to the mid 20s, and no aerobic activity to get the blood circulating, my hands did get chilly, which didn't surprise me since the Venta LT are only lightly insulated and not really meant for static non-activity. They were about equivalent to my regular leather motorcycle gloves, which aren't insulated either, but quite thick. The motorcycle test is mainly to see how warm and wind resistant the gloves are under pretty repeatable conditions; when I test different gloves on the same commute over a short period of time for comparison. Based on this, the Venta LT are definitely warmer than uninsulated tactical gloves like flight gloves etc.

I also performed my 9mm magazine loading test and coin test. Dexterity as well as tactility (feel) is pretty good, as the insulation is thin and allowed me to feel the 9mm rounds and load them into the magazine both when looking and without looking. Due to the smooth nature of the 720N WINDSTOPPER® fabric, the fingertips don't provide much traction, which makes it more difficult to perform finer tasks that require some grip at the tips. When it came to my coin test, I couldn't pick up the coins as the fingertips would not grab the edges of the coins. I'd love to see some tacky rubber added to the fingertip of the Venta LT, which would greatly aid in finer tasks. For activities such as shooting (both pistol and carbine), I found that the Venta LT was fine, except that again, I'd prefer more grip on the fingers. I could manipulate all controls on an AR and pistol and perform mag changes without issue. The Venta LT is a good choice for the role it's designed for, unless you're planning on performing any tasks that require fingertip grip or picking up small items.

Cam SV - The Cam SV is a rugged softshell glove featuring a wind-proof, weather-resistant and breathable outer shell made of Burly™ double weave in a 'rawhide' colour (it's a less green shade of the LEAF crocodile colour). The burly doubleweave softshell fabric is used in the hand and cuff area for extra mobility and breathability. The glove is treated with DWR finish that helps shed water and snow. A full wrap of durable 0.7mm Lezanova goat skin on the fingers and palm with aggressive articulation is pre-shaped to the hand for excellent mobility. The fingertips are seam-free for comfort.

The leather on the palm extends to the wrist to form a pull tab, which can also be used as a clip-in loop. Near the tip of the middle finger is a clip-in loop that enables the gloves to be attached to a carabiner with the finger-tips facing up, so the glove does not fill with snow. The slim-fit cuff has a die-cut adjustment strap with velcro closure. The cuff can be worn outside or under a sleeve cuff. I preferred to wear it under, and cinch it up tight to keep the glove secure around the wrist, and my fingers at the ends.

The inside of the glove is insulated with a layer of Polartec® Thermal Pro® Velvet, which also serves to wick moisture and keep the hands dry. The back of the hand and fingers have a higher loft insulation, while the palm and gripping surface of the fingers have a lower profile insulation for reduced thickness. The cuff itself has no insulation around the wrist.

Cam SV

Like the Venta LT, the Cam SV glove fit me perfectly in finger length, with a bit of extra room otherwise. Not a 'skin tight' fit, but 'comfortable'.

The Cam SV glove is more heavily insulated than the Venta LT, so I expected it to keep my hands warmer on my chilly motorcycle commute. I wore them during the same period as I did the Venta LT, with the wind chill bringing the temperature down to the mid 20s. They did not disappoint, and I was actually surprised at how effective they were. They were completely wind-proof; I could not feel the wind through them, and for the first time in a while, I didn't have cold fingers or hands. They kept my hands comfortable, and warmer than my regular uninsulated leather motorcycle gloves. I also liked the fact that there are few seams on the palm, and no extra padding or panels sewn on. The insulation in the Cam SV feels quite luxurious; it's exceedingly soft and comfortable, while the Lezanova leather is very supple. I did immerse my hand in a sink full of water, and it took a while for water to make it through the seams. These are water-resistant gloves, after all, not water-proof; and can succumb to extended exposure to water.

Of course, I also performed my 9mm magazine loading test and coin test. Dexterity is unrestricted due to the soft leather and stretch material used. Tactility (feel) is reduced, which is to be expected, due to the insulative layer surrounding the fingers. Still, I was able to load 9mm rounds into the magazine both by sight and feel, as they're not that difficult to handle. When it came to the coin test, I was able to pick up the quarter and nickel, but not the dime nor penny from the table. With the insulation, the fingertips are more 'rounded', and couldn't grab the edges of the thinner coins. The reason that I was able to pick up the quarter and nickel with the thicker Cam SV and not the thinner Venta LT was the leather fingers. The leather provides traction that the smooth synthetic fabric doesn't. I found that the full leather fingers and palm on the Cam SV provides very good grip on most surfaces.

Carbine and pistol controls manipulation wasn't an issue with the Cam SV - reloading, flipping safeties on and off, releasing slide locks etc aren't a problem, even with the 'fatter' fingers. Pressing tiny buttons on a compact digital camera did result in some fat fingering, which is to be expected. For cool/cold weather where good dexterity and grip is required, I think that these would be a good choice in glove.

Alpha SV - The Alpha SV is an anatomically superior, advanced waterproof GORE-TEX® glove, engineered using Arc'teryx's new Tri-Dex™ technology; Ideal for use in the backcountry under temperate/arctic conditions. The Alpha SV consists of an outer waterproof shell, and a removable inner fleece glove liner. Having a removable liner allows for quicker and easier washing of the liner if it gets wet, and also enables the shell to be used with other gloves.

The Alpha Project - The two initial goals of the Alpha glove project were to improve on water-proofness and fit. To do that, Arc'teryx looked non-traditional methods of achieving those goals. Rather than the standard method of sandwiching a water-proof/breathable membrane between an outer shell and liner, they instead used waterproof/breathable GORE-TEX® Pro Shell fabric with a removable liner, which emulates the layering system in their GORE-TEX® shell garments. How the hand works and the relationship between each of the fingers was closely studied, and the pattern that Arc'teryx came up with eventually became the patent pending Tri-Dex™ Technology. Rather than a boxed construction, the pattern for each finger consists of a single piece of fabric that has three lobes (with the fingertip at the center) that are joined together to form an articulated and shaped finger, with the minimum amount of construction needed. It's sewn together and trimmed to micro-seam allowances (1.6mm), then seam tape is then applied. The seam tape flattens out the already tiny seam; all but eliminating it. The same Tri-Dex™ pattern was applied to the design of the fleece liner, which was also sewn together with micro-seam allowances; which was a first for sewing fleece. The result is a liner and shell that are perfectly matched in shape and pattern, which provides greatly improved articulation and fit.

Shell - The Alpha SV shell is made out of 410N GORE-TEX® Pro Shell 3L, with Lezanova goat skin leather covering the fingers, thumb and palm. The Pro Shell 3L is waterproof and treated with a Durable Water Repellent finish to shed water and snow. The Tri-Dex™ Technology mentioned above creates a glove that is pre-shaped to the hand, with the curvature of the fingers already built in. The micro-seam allowance reduces bulk and weight, and increases comfort as there are no seams to speak of that can dig into the hand. All seams are sealed with tiny GORE seam tape (see the photo below of the shell turned inside out). Just behind the hand is an elastic wrist strap that secures with a cam-lock buckle. It's secured and opened quite easily with one hand. The extended gauntlet cuff is designed to fit over sleeve cuffs, and has a one-hand adjustable elastic draw cord. The cuff is cinched up by pulling on the plastic pull. The ITW Cyberian cord lock has a pull tab that when pulled, loosens up the elastic cord. All adjustments are readily accomplished with one hand wearing a glove. The shell doesn't come with dummy cords or a leash, but you can easily rig one up by attaching it to the loop to which the cord lock is sewn to.

Alpha SV shell and liner

Inside the shell

Laminated liner cuff

Cuff pull tab

Liner - The Alpha SV liner is made out of Polartec® Wind Pro® High Loft, and also utilizes the same micro-seam and Tri-Dex™ construction as the shell. This identical shaping ensures a perfect fit between shell and liner, which is not always the case when the liner is made from a differently designed pattern than the shell. The liner is thick and has the same pre-curved fingers that the shell does, reminding me of a black bear paw for some reason. It's a great fit on my hand - wonderfully comfortable and soft. A The inside of the cuff is laminated which keeps the cuff open, making donning the glove easier over sleeves. The insulation is reduced in the wrist area as it's not generally needed as it overlaps a jacket sleeve.

Alpha SV liner

Like the other gloves, the Alpha SV have a 'short and fat finger' fit - they fit my short fingers just fine, with some extra room left over in girth. If you have long, skinny fingers, you might find the fit a bit loose. I performed my coin test, and on a smooth table, I was unable to pick up any of the coins. I wasn't really expecting to, given the thickness of the gloves. I just couldn't get a grip on the edges. However, when I put the coins on a concrete surface, I was able to pick them all up. Took a little trying, but it was possible. Having a bit of surface irregularity allowed the coins to tip up just enough for my finger to grab the edges, and that was enough. As with the Cam SV, the tackiness of the leather has a lot to do with it.

I was also surprised to discover that I could manipulate everything on an AR-15; I hadn't expected to. An oversized trigger guard does help because of the fat fingers (in this case, the Magpul trigger guard). While I could manipulate a Glock, the trigger finger was too bulky to fit into the trigger guard for me to feel safe doing it. I also tried the 9mm mag loading test, and was able to load 9mm rounds into a Glock magazine, but only while looking - not by feel alone. Overall, I found that while feel (tactility) is reduced, as expected from an insulated glove such as this, dexterity is surprisingly good, as long as you can see what you're doing, or don't try to do something ridiculous like text on your cell phone.

The cam lock buckle for the elastic cinch strap on the back of the hand doesn't give me too much confidence, even though I didn't have it come loose. It doesn't take much of a pull on the end of the elastic strap to pop it open. I had some issues with a similar set up on the Arc'teryx knee pads, which kept popping open, and I'd prefer a more positively locked buckle. I'd also like to see the loose end secured down with velcro, as it can flap in strong wind.

These gloves are waterproof. I left them immersed in water for a few hours and they remained completely dry inside. The elastic strap does get saturated, of course, but the leather seems to be relatively water resistant. It gets damp, but doesn't hold much water (at least from my experiment). We had some heavy rains this winter season, and I wore the gloves while trying the Sphinx and Gryphon pants out in the rain. The results were as expected - warm and dry hands. I didn't get the chance to wear them up in the mountains in the snow, unfortunately. The cold morning motorcycle commute was no match for the gloves, as they were completely wind proof and warm. The toastiest my hands have ever been. The Alpha SV shell fits over both the Venta LT and Cam SV gloves, should you choose to use it as a waterproof shell over them.

1/9/12 - Tactician AR - The Tactician AR is based on the Cam SV glove pattern (reviewed previously), but is an all-leather glove instead of a leather/softshell combination.

The Tactician came about because some helicopter crew customers liked the Cam SV, but needed an all-leather version as exposed non-FR synthetics (like the soft shell fabric used on the Cam SV) are a no-go for air ops. The Tactician was born, and was also picked up by the Outdoor/commercial side of Arc'teryx.

The Tactician AR is designed as a windproof, lightweight but rugged work glove with a soft lining and velcro wrist closure for a comfortable, secure fit. The Tactician is made of 0.9mm Lezanova goat leather with heavier 1.1mm leather in the palms. It's made of thicker leather than the Cam SV, which uses 0.7mm leather in the palms and fingers. The leather has a DWR, but is not intended to make it waterproof. A chemical process during the tanning of the leather is applied which helps keep the leather soft after it dries if it gets wet. The Tactician AR is available in two colours - Rawhide (shown here), or Black/Deep Dusk. The Rawhide colour of the leather matches the Rawhide shade of the Cam SV softshell fabric very closely, and is a damn good-looking colour.

While the Cam SV has a full wrap of 0.7mm Lezanova goat skin on the fingers and palm, the Tactician uses thicker 1.1mm leather in the palms and 0.9mm elsewhere, including the fingertips. That's why it has that extra seam between the palm and fingers that the Cam SV does not. The glove has aggressive articulation and is pre-shaped to the hand for excellent mobility. The fingertips themselves are seam-free for comfort.

The leather on the palm extends to the cuff to form a biner loop for clipping in. The slim-fit cuff has an oversized leather tab with velcro closure, and the Arc'teryx logo stamped on it. I'm really glad to see that the loop velcro patch is large enough to offer a wide range of adjustment. I have skinny wrists and I can snug the Tactician's cuff down tight, so the glove doesn't slip forward.

On the Cam SV, the back of the hand and fingers have a higher loft insulation, while the palm and gripping surface of the fingers have a lower profile insulation for reduced thickness. On the Tactician, the glove is lined with the same low profile material as used on the fingers of the Cam SV. It's very light insulation, and serves a comfort, moisture-wicking liner. The inside of the wrist is lined with smooth polyester fabric.

Tactician AR

Cam SV and Tactician

I'd say that the Tactician AR fits my hand slightly snugger than the Cam SV, especially on the fingers. Finger length is about the same.

The Tactician AR is intended for slightly warmer weather than the Cam SV, being lined, but uninsulated. The thicker leather makes up some of the difference, though, so there's not much difference between them in warmth that I can discern. I tested the Tactician along with the Cam during my morning motorcycle commute, which has been quite chilly for the past fwe months. I think that the Cam SV might have the slight edge in warmth, but not by much. The leather on the Tactician is completely windproof, as expected, and like the Cam, offers very good traction. I also liked the fact that there are few seams on the palm, and no extra padding or panels sewn on.

I also performed my usual 9mm magazine loading test and coin test. Range of motion/dexterity is unrestricted due to the design of the pre-shaped fingers and soft leather. Tactility (feel) is slightly reduced from that of the Cam SV, which is to be expected, due to the thicker leather used on the palm and fingertips. I'm still able to load 9mm rounds into the magazine by sight, but it was hit and miss trying it by feel with my eyes closed. When it came to the coin test, the results were the same as the Cam SV - I was able to pick up the quarter and nickel, but not the dime nor penny from the table. While the leather is thicker on the Tactician, the slightly snugger fit on the fingers evens things out. As on the Cam SV, the leather provides very good grip on most surfaces.

At the range, carbine and pistol controls manipulation wearing the Tactician proved to be very similar to the Cam SV - reloading, flipping safeties on and off, releasing slide locks etc weren't a problem. That may also have due to my familiarity with the locations of the controls, as I didn't really need to 'feel' them to know where they were. As with the Cam SV and other thicker gloves, there's not enough tactility to operate small buttons, like on a phone or compact camera. That's to be expected, as the Tactician AR is designed as a 'rugged work glove' for cool weather, not primarily as a shooting, high dexterity glove. If you're looking for a more rugged, all leather version of the Cam SV, the Tactician AR is it.

Clip-in loop