Sealskinz Dragoneye Glove Review

How much should you pay for a glove? In my experience gloves are always the first piece of your normally inanimate kit to develop the ability to walk and then disappear forever.

You can sew a long piece of elastic to each glove and thread one through your jacket like your mum used to do but that's not cool - and anyway they end up acting as two boomerangs ready to whack you whenever you move your arms too quickly.

You can attach each glove to a wrist strap, but gloves don't go walkabouts when you're using them. No, it's when you're not watching them. When you put one down to perform a fiddly task, such as fixing a puncture on a bike ride or tucking your base layer into your trousers. All impossible to do with gloves on.

So, how much should you pay for a pair of gloves if the chances of losing one are fairly high?

Ask Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

At the age of 68 he hoped to be the first person to cross Antarctica in winter. Dubbed the 'Coldest Journey on Earth' the British Explorer had to return home prematurely from the expedition with frostbite of the fingers. He had taken off his glove to fix a ski binding.

Responding to criticism for making such an elementary mistake (the temperatures were down to minus 33 degrees) Fiennes responded "I tried fixing the bindings with my big overgloves on - couldn't do a damn thing. You couldn't peel a banana with them on.

So, while not everyone will be trekking across the most inhospitable continent on Earth in a pair of Sealskinz DragonEye Gloves, the point is that if you need a pair of gloves for your bike ride, hike, work or play - you don't want to lose them.

Ideally you can keep your gloves on to do everything whilst you're out.

Sealskinz have aimed these gloves at various activities such as cycling, trekking, camping and climbing. So do they cover the needs of all these athletes?

Sealskinz say that the DragonEye Glove is a "low-profile, close-fitting and hard-wearing glove that offers excellent dexterity for a wide range of outdoor activities."

They go on to say that "clever construction minimises movement between the layers of the glove to improve your dexterity and to virtually eliminate the problem of the liner pulling out as you remove your hand. Pre-curved fingers and stretch fabric across the back give a close comfortable fit to aid dexterity."

So they recognise the problem, but does the DragonEye glove deliver?

I've mainly used these gloves on the bike. The comfy fleece 'snotwipe' on the back of the thumb suggests that cycling is one of the target markets for this glove, so you can give your nose a quick wipe without grating off a layer of skin each time.

In temperatures of minus 5°C, pouring rain and sleet, my hands have remained warm, very warm in fact.

Generally for cycle commuting or nature watching with binoculars in the winter you would like to see the glove extending further down the wrist than these do - to eliminate any gaps when your arms are outstretched. That said, they extend far enough for your jacket sleeve to overlap the velcro closure so I haven't experienced chilly wrists.

Typical of our winter in Britain the next bike ride was in temperatures of double figures and my hands were possibly too warm. Maybe it was just me and my dislike for being hot and stuffy, but as the gloves aren't bulky I didn't feel like I was overly wrapped up.

So in terms of warmth, tick.

I remember Sealskinz's first product back in the late 1990's, the Porelle Dry socks, and as a mountain biker racing at home and in Europe I thought this was the answer - waterproof socks!

However, I didn't get along well with them, I have wide feet and the socks were too constrictive making my feet actually colder than wearing ordinary fabric socks. The other problem I found was that, like every single pair of socks in the world, they need a hole in them for your feet to get into. On long and very wet ride, the water would seep down your leg into the sock. Even a waterproof barrier and neoprene couldn't prevent that water from getting in.

Now, over 15 years later I'm back in a pair of Sealskinz but this time they are on my hands.

How do they feel?

Well, the fit is snug so again I thought this would make my hands colder but that hasn't occurred, the fit seems to be just right.

They aren't flapping about on the ends of my digits (good because they include a tab on the index finger to operate touchscreen devices) yet they allow full movement thanks to the stretchy material.

Since wearing them I have had one puncture, one snapped chain and needed to answer a phone call or two. On each occasion I have kept the gloves on - and apart from fingerless gloves in the summer, that is a first.

I could still use the fiddly little chain tool after snapping the chain on a bike ride this morning, which saved a pair of oily fingers soiling my keyboard when tapping out this review. I can also 'swipe to answer' with them on, again a first.

Other uses have been kite flying, bird watching and wood carving, all very varied and all managed with the gloves on. That's something that thick, padded cycling gloves couldn't manage - and nor could slippy, fleece gloves.

So warmth, yes - they keep your hands warm without overheating. Dexterity, another yes. So far all tasks have been completed with the gloves on, though I haven't tried brain surgery, fixing ski bindings in the Antarctic or typing an essay on an iPhone!

Lastly, the waterproofing. How did they fare in keeping out the rain?

Generally, they did well. As long as the water is coming straight at the gloves they were an effective barrier but like the socks, after a long, wet bike ride you would pull your hands out of the DragonEye Glove and your hands would be wet.

Despite that, because the gloves do breathe, they weren't cold.

I'm happy returning from a trip wet as long as I'm not cold. You can't stay dry when you are exercising vigorously so your kit needs to breathe to allow that damp, moist air out.

If your gloves aren't breathable, then your hands would still be wet - even if you wore a pair of marigold washing up gloves.

Mostly though unless it's several hours in the pouring rain your hands would come out of the gloves bone dry. The lining, incidentally did stay in place, another massive tick!

So, the question back at the beginning, how much should you pay for a pair of gloves if they could well have disappeared by the time you turn round to pick them back up?

Because the Sealskinz DragonEye Gloves allow you to keep your gloves on to fix, text or fiddle when you need to, the chances are that you won't lose these.

That makes them better value than any pair I've ever owned!