3 finger or dry gloves?

[String]

Its that time of year again. My hands are getting numb and painful in my 5mm semi-dry gloves and im not sure i can face another winter of this.

Ive heard fairly good things about the 3 fingered mitts - anyone on here use them and any idea of what makes and who sells the things in the uk ?

As for drygloves it seems people love or hate them with no in between. Are the ring systems irritating if not wearing the gloves and is there a set yet thats easily self donning ?

What would people recommend for the winter months?

[DIVE BUDDHA]

hi ya string just want to recomend the posiodon 5mm pro gloves which are the mits and always had no problems with diving in them over the cold months although it does take a few dives to get used to the dexterity and the feeling of the gloves as for the dry gloves ive never used em so cant comment best wishes leigh

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by String

What would people recommend for the winter months?

Lanzarote.

Chris

[dlegros]

I'm currently awaiting a set of 7mm 3-finger mitts from Waterproof, to give them a try.

Dom

[John Gulliver]

I used to hate drygloves, so I wore 3-finger mitts all winter up until now. I found they kept my hands warm under water. It was not until I took them off after the dive that my hands felt (very) cold - it gets pretty cold in February here on the west coast of Sweden. The solution is to have a towel ready so that you can dry your hands immediately and put on warm gloves. I wear warmly lined heavy duty plastic gloves, as worn by building workers etc, to strip down my kit after the dive. My favourite 3-finger mitts are Mares 6 mm as they are more supple than other makes and at least as warm. I found Poseidon hard to put on and take off. Waterproof are good but not as good as Mares, in my opinion.
However, I decided to give drygloves another try, so I had Viking rings fitted to my drysuit and gloves earlier this week and tried them out on a night-dive last Wednesday. I loved them. They make it very easy to put on and take off your gloves and they are warm. They have a bayonet fitting and you don't have to glue them to your suit, so you can easily switch them over to a new drysuit. I put the inner gloves on before putting my arms in my drysuit sleeves, thus avoiding glove squeeze. I tried Ro-Lock first, by the way, but didn't like them. They are so smooth you can't get a proper grip and I found it impossible to put my gloves on or take them off without help.

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by dlegros

I'm currently awaiting a set of 7mm 3-finger mitts from Waterproof, to give them a try.

Dom

I used these with great success last winter. At the end of the dive the small amount of water they contain is warm which can then be poured on the hands of the poor souls who don't have them!

This year I am going to try dry gloves because any form of signalling requiring all 5 fingers cannot be done in mitts, obviously!

Rgrds
Mal

[ericdv]

John I would be interested to hear how you get on handling a camera wearing dry gloves.
My UK dive season only runs from April to end of October and I never wear gloves. As most of our dives are for at least an hour my hands do get very cold at times. I have tried neoprene gloves but just can't get on with them.

[John Gulliver]

Originally Posted by ericdv

John I would be interested to hear how you get on handling a camera wearing dry gloves.
My UK dive season only runs from April to end of October and I never wear gloves. As most of our dives are for at least an hour my hands do get very cold at times. I have tried neoprene gloves but just can't get on with them.

No problem! Once you've got used to them, you can do almost anything in thick 3-finger mitts or drygloves that you can do with bare hands. I can imagine that it might be harder operating a small digital housing, with the buttons close together, than an amphibious camera but I've never had any problems manipulating my Motormarine II or Nikonos V with any type of glove.

[Ian@1904]

I use some very simple dry gloves, that have seals that butt up to my wrist seals. The gloves are a little bulky-with all that insulation, but keep the hand sufficiently warm for winter channel and puddle diving, I have used them down to 3c on 60 minutes dives.

The fun starts when I try to remove them. I usually end up sticking a screwdriver inside the seal to prise the glove off my hand. Always good for a laugh.

I have enough dexterity to press valves, clips, etc, can't comment on cameras.

[ClaireDJ]

We have three-fingered mitts (7mm) made for our hand size by Ben Wade of Scapa Scuba. You do have to get used to the lack of dexterity but it is quite possible to send up DSMB's etc without too much difficulty! Much warmer too.
Spike tried out some dry gloves, but hated them so much he gave them away.