Here they are! Ready for the chopping block...! They passed. But, not exactly with flying colors...
Just The Facts, Ma'am:
Available Sizes: XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
Available Colors: True Black, True Black "Shadowbox Print (huh?!)", "Trench Green Gallery of Words Print (wtf!)", and something called "Blotto Gray Jail House Stripe". I rocked the basic black, because I'm a plain vanilla kinda bloke.
Price: $64.95, pretty much everywhere. I got mine at Perfect North's Loft Shop (in Lawrenceburg, Indiana).
See 'Em At:
http://www.burton.com/mens-snowboard-gloves-mitts-pipe-glove-superpipe-glove/221116,default,pd.html?dwvar_221116_variationColor=002&start=39&cgid=mens-gloves-mitts
The Good Stuff:
There was a lot of good about these gloves. They are:
- Quite snug-fitting (Easy to use things like binding ratchets, and quick-changing tools in 'em). Yet, they are definitely:
- Comfortable.
- They're exceptionally dry (I used Serius liners in mine, yet the breathability and wicking was superb. And, the velcro ankle strap does a great job of keeping snow out...),
- They're more than warm enough (Never got cold fingers at all, even at the frigid Mt. Bohemia), and
- They're easy to get on and off (The liners probably helped, here).
In short: These gloves worked, and worked well. Which is exactly what I expect in a glove. Especially one that sets me back sixty-five clams.
As a bonus: I was told that the back of the glove is designed to use as an on-the-fly "goggle wipe". I used this feature a lot, and it was the tits. Never scratched a lens, and quickly wiped away all sorts of snow and water. Nifty.
The Not-So-Good-Stuff:
Durability was a bit of a problem. The first thing to begin going to shit, was the "grippy" rubbery whatever that they put on the palms and fingers of the glove. The first day out, whatever this shit is began peeling off everywhere... it's as if, it didn't bond at all to the underlying plastic palm material... and, that continues to this day. But, that wasn't a huge deal at all. The palm and fingers are still grippy enough to handle whatever, even without this stuff.
The second thing that happened was, the velcro wrist-closure started to rip off the glove. I chalk that one up to inadequate or inferior stitching, as it only happened on one glove. Had it been a design defect, I would have assumed that it would have happened on both. Thankfully, my mums is a master sewer. So, she stitched it up uber-quick, and it holds to this day. Hey, Burton? My mum's totally available for sweatshop labor, any time. Look her up, she'll be stoked.
The big red circle shows the seam that started to rip, which meant that the velcro strap was starting to come off the glove. A little bit of Mum's Love and stitchwork fixed this one up pretty quickly.
The last thing that happened was, the thumb piece began to rip away from the palm. Maybe the XXL still isn't big enough for my humungo hands...? But, this one might be chalked up to "average wear and tear", as I probably had about 45 days in 'em by this time, and that's a pretty long season for any product to endure. I think I got my money's worth out of 'em.
Here, we can see the "grippy pattern" coming off the palm (small red circle), and the ripped thumb-seam (big red circle). When I pay $65.00 for a glove, I expect a little bit better bulletproofing than this...
The Final Verdict:
I probably would have happily paid a few extra bucks to get truly vice- and defect-free gloves. But for what I got, and for what I paid... I was "happy enough", I guess. Maybe they'll have a few of the kinks worked out by next season. We can only hope.
