Hatch All-Weather Gloves
I have been using these gloves for almost two months at this point. I wanted to get a pair of gloves that offered warmth, nice grip, feel, and didn't look overly "tacticoool" using them for colder weather while carrying. I am going to give my feedback about these gloves, and what I think they are best suited for based on my experiences.
Originally, I found about these gloves the way most people find stuff on the internet--through Google. The reviews I read were very promising, and the cost with shipping through Amazon was about $35.00. I did pay a little more for expidted shipping to have them in time before a local competition. If you want to know the specifics of the glove, you can go to their website and read about what the material is made out of and ect. For the purposes of this review, I am just sticking to what my findings were.
My initial impressions were good. They seemed well made, durable, nice fitment, and offered a good level of grip. In regards to feel, I would say they are comparable to Mechanix gloves, but with just a different type of feel due to the material differences. They call the material "sensifeel", which is somewhat accurate. When I shot the local match, the gloves worked decently. I wasn't overly impressed or disappointed. In the morning, the temperature was around 35degrees (F); my hands were a little cold initially, but once the action started, my hands were no longer cold.
The next day, I did some personal skills work at the range doing various drills. After a solid day of competition and half of the next day doing skills work, the gloves already blew a seam on the right hand on the inside of the thumb. This was a let-down considering that not even two days of solid use and a blown seam has already emerged. The last test was going to be during our Winter Carbine:Reactive class that was on December 13th, 2015.
The gloves showed their weakness right away as I was setting up for the class. It was lightly raining, and the wood target stands were obviously wet. As soon as I grabbed the wood, the moisture went right through the glove like I dropped them in a puddle. I wasn't expecting Gore-Tex level waterproofing but after moving the first wood stand and having soaked gloves, I was not impressed.
To keep this short, I will just summarize the rest of my points:
- The gloves would be best suited for fall temperatures where keeping dry isn't a worry.
- During more ideal conditions, my hands weren't cold or sweaty as long as I was being active.
- They have a nice appearance that doesn't scream "tactical gloves".
- Minus the blown seam (which has not gotten worse thankfully), they would probably last longer than Mechanix gloves.
- I did some light manual labor with the gloves such as cutting wood, and no issues there with durability or ability to feel the tools.
- The gloves dried pretty quickly when put next to a heater after being soaked.
- Even while wet, the gloves offered decent grip.
Conclusion: I think these gloves do a good job within the parameters that I mentioned. Which is basically a medium to light-duty glove but favoring light-duty for absolute longevity of the glove. For the casual shooter, these gloves will work great. As for the more serious shooter that trains or works with gloves on in adverse conditions, I would not recommend them.
