Mittens/gloves "compatible" lights

I'm wearing shorts and sandals today, but it may only be 2 or 3 months before the first snow is here, so it is never too early to start preparing for the winter.
The most important difference between winter and the rest of the year, when it comes to using lights, is the use of mittens or gloves (or both at the same time ). This can greatly affect the usability of a light. Doing a quick test using my McLuxIII-PD with my heavy ski gloves I discovered that I was able to use all its functions (even the piston), but the light was simply too small to be comfortable to hold and use. The Surefire A2 on the other hand was much easier to use and was ok to hold. So now I'm thinking about getting a Surefire L1 as a WEDC (Winter EDC) instead of the PD, since it is much larger and has a switch that is superior for glove use. I think the Surefire switches may be the best for glove use.

I think it would be great if we could assemble a mittens/gloves "compatibility" chart for different lights. What would be interesting to know is:
- Is it slippery when using gloves with little friction? (very/a little/no)
For thin/normal gloves:
- Are you able to operate the light? (easy/hard/impossible)
- Is it comfortable to operate? (no/yes/very comfortable)
- Is it comfortable to hold? (no/yes/very comfortable)
For heavy gloves or mittens:
- Are you able to operate the light? (easy/hard/impossible)
- Is it comfortable to operate? (no/yes/very comfortable)
- Is it comfortable to hold? (no/yes/very comfortable)

If you have your gloves easily available, then please go ahead and do some testing.

Sigbjoern

I have used my EDC, the Gladius, with heavy gloves, though not with mittens (hate 'em, and are seldom in a climate where I need 'em).

Not suprisingly, the light works very well with (heavy) gloves.

No friction; the 'wings' take care of that.
Very comfortable to hold.
Very comfortable to operate.

I guess it should work with mittens, as long as you have enough fredom of movement in your thumb for channel switching. Lock-out might require some training, but can be done with just the thumb.

Lights designed for use in fire-fighting are generally suited for use with heavy gloves.

I use my XM-3 as it had a knurled body and an easily accessible Clicky switch,

The SL-20X family of lights from Streamlight has an easy to find and use switch even with heavy gloves. Much more so than the Magcharger or Tigerlight, for example.

I will second the Gladius. It was designed to be easily used with gloved hands.

You need to move to a larger light when using gloves. I find the longer 2 cell lights like the Surefires A2 /L2 to be the minimum size. The 3 cell lights are better for this. Tranquillitybase tubes are purposely made very very grippy. I have a 3 cell E to E tube with a KL1 on it that works very well for this. I have also found the Surefire 8NX to be very grippy and easy to operate too.

I think the EL Blaster series should work just fine. The switch may be a bit small, though.

Lurveleven said:

I think the Surefire switches may be the best for glove use.

Click to expand...

I would have to agree with you on the basis that I saw an ad some years back for the SureFire M6 when it was being introduced. There was a picture of a thick gloved hand with said torch lighting up.

.... I third the Gladius recommendation...

I have a SL-20XP and have used it with gloves during the winter. Great light, hoping the 6V Falcata I'm getting will work good in the winter too.

You could get a long elastic lanyard and put the light on one end and a knife on the other. Just slip it through the sleeves of your jacket and, like your mittens, you'll never loose them.

Cheers
(sorry just had a nightmare memory of childhood )

Absolute best for thick mittens are the Petzl Zoom and Petzl Micro (2xAA). They turn on by rotating the part that contains the bulb and reflector and adjusts focus -- big and easy to rotate with mittens. Unfortunately they are old, heavy and obsolete. My Tikka XP is a much better headlamp, but I'm a bit concerned about the little buttons. Anyway, I probably need another headlamp for winter.

In really cold conditions, wear thin polypro gloves underneath warm mittens for when you need dexterity, but even then it's better to leave the mittens on.

None of my flashlights are that good with mittens.
--Walter

I forgot about headlamps. As far as I know, no other headlamp will even come close to Stenlight's switch. You have to take a look at the Stenlight if you consider getting a new headlamp.

Nice tip about the thin gloves inside the mittens.

Sigbjoern