20110202

Product Review: Agloves



I never imagined that on a tech-centric blog I would be doing fashion reviews, but Agloves sit somewhere between "garment" and "tool." When I found myself on a walk manipulating my touchscreen with my nose, I knew something needed to change. Agloves are a liner-thickness glove threaded through with capacitative silver so that every part of the hand registers on the touchscreen. The fit is a bit strange, but they work as advertised.

Because the gloves are thin, I can do precision targeting like typing. Even hitting small countries in Lux DLX is pretty easy. I'm not sure that the full 10-finger response is all that necessary. I'd probably be happy with an index and middle finger. The real advantage to the sewn-in conductivity is that the lack of a conductive pad means that the gloves can be accurate and have a natural feel. Though not as warm as my nice Black Diamond skiing gloves, they seem insulative enough for most urban applications. They're not stylish, but I'll call them attractive enough that they don't embarrass me.

Unfortunately, these gloves are hard to find at brick-and-mortar stores so you may have to iterate to find your right size. I used the company's online sizing tool (which measures only the width of your palm) to order a M/L pair and had to exchange them for an XL. These gloves have very short-cut fingers, so the M/L pair left me with uncomfortable webs of fabric almost behind my knuckles. Even with the XL gloves, I wish the fingers were longer. Their customer service rep was helpful and friendly, replacing my gloves quickly and without fuss. I was a bit bothered that I had to pay for return postage. Given how personal glove sizing is, I would feel more confident buying with a Zappos-style prepaid shipping return label.

If you want to check your mail during the winter, these will get the job done. I wonder if this will start to become an expected feature in most gloves by next year.

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