I bought a pair of these about 6 months ago. I normally paddle with a pair of Endorfin Cascade HP's, but I wanted something to bump it up a notch for easier rivers, plus the ability to grab a persons paddle in the event they swam and I needed to rescue them - something the Cascades are not real good for. Well anyway the review:
The good:
1)They keep your hands pretty warm considering your hands are in the water most of the time unlike with a normal paddle. I wouldn't call them long distance winter paddles, but they'll do for fall time or shorter trips in the winter.
2)They make easier rivers way more fun. When you flip in the middle of Cucumber on the Lower Yough with these on, you know it!
3)They look real cool and make good conversation pieces.
4)You can do other albeit somewhat limited things with these on your hand. You can pull the grab strap in an emergency. You can use them with a normal paddle, but not real comfy. You can open/close your drain plug. You cannot adjust your helmet strap. In short it's a little like using astronaut gloves for small things.
5)Excellent for surfing, if you can get to the wave/hole (See bad below.)
The bad:
1)Not recommended for harder rivers. Everyones skill will vary of course, but you will only get so much power from these, so any rivers with must make moves are not recommended with these on.
2)They are pretty hard to get on. Thankfully you can pull the strap in an emergency, but they are kind of hard to take off too. The good part of that is you will never lose them to the river.
3)As with all hand paddles, but especially with these, it is hard to catch features on the fly and hard to attain back into those features.
The ugly:
1)The power for propelling and rolling is the big ugly here. Basically you gain around 10% more power acrossed the board compared to just using your hands with nothing. If you have a good hand roll, these will be even better, but if you can't hand roll, you don't want to use these except in a controlled environment.
The good:
1)They keep your hands pretty warm considering your hands are in the water most of the time unlike with a normal paddle. I wouldn't call them long distance winter paddles, but they'll do for fall time or shorter trips in the winter.
2)They make easier rivers way more fun. When you flip in the middle of Cucumber on the Lower Yough with these on, you know it!
3)They look real cool and make good conversation pieces.
4)You can do other albeit somewhat limited things with these on your hand. You can pull the grab strap in an emergency. You can use them with a normal paddle, but not real comfy. You can open/close your drain plug. You cannot adjust your helmet strap. In short it's a little like using astronaut gloves for small things.
5)Excellent for surfing, if you can get to the wave/hole (See bad below.)
The bad:
1)Not recommended for harder rivers. Everyones skill will vary of course, but you will only get so much power from these, so any rivers with must make moves are not recommended with these on.
2)They are pretty hard to get on. Thankfully you can pull the strap in an emergency, but they are kind of hard to take off too. The good part of that is you will never lose them to the river.
3)As with all hand paddles, but especially with these, it is hard to catch features on the fly and hard to attain back into those features.
The ugly:
1)The power for propelling and rolling is the big ugly here. Basically you gain around 10% more power acrossed the board compared to just using your hands with nothing. If you have a good hand roll, these will be even better, but if you can't hand roll, you don't want to use these except in a controlled environment.
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Reviews >> Accessories >> Paddle >> Propulsion Gloves
