Heated Grips or Heated Gloves?

Weasel

Weasel

Well-Known Member
www.zetapolishing.com
Since my funds are (always) limited, I have to choose between the two. I've never had either of them, so your input would be greatly appreciated. I ride nearly every day to/from work--regardless of temps. However, I live in Arkansas so the average "cold" morning is around 20degrees. Last week I rode in 7degrees but that's very rare. Either way, my hands are the only things that suffer. What do you all like better--heated grips or gloves?
 
Weasel said:
Since my funds are (always) limited, I have to choose between the two. I've never had either of them, so your input would be greatly appreciated. I ride nearly every day to/from work--regardless of temps. However, I live in Arkansas so the average "cold" morning is around 20degrees. Last week I rode in 7degrees but that's very rare. Either way, my hands are the only things that suffer. What do you all like better--heated grips or gloves?
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Thats my dilemma as well. Here are my thoughts on the subject: The heated grips (like Oxford or others), are good but will only heat the bottom of your hands, so without guards, the tops of your fingers will still be cold. The electric gloves will heat your entire hand, both top and bottom, but will cost double the price or more than the heated grips. With the gloves you are usually buying a controller as well. So there ya go. You decide which is a better fit for you. Me, I'm going with the grips because of my financial situation.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Thats my dilemma as well. Here are my thoughts on the subject: The heated grips (like Oxford or others), are good but will only heat the bottom of your hands, so without guards, the tops of your fingers will still be cold. The electric gloves will heat your entire hand, both top and bottom, but will cost double the price or more than the heated grips. With the gloves you are usually buying a controller as well. So there ya go. You decide which is a better fit for you. Me, I'm going with the grips because of my financial situation.
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I'm leaning toward the grips, too. I probably wouldn't be wearing heated gloves in the (slightly) warmer seasons anyway. But on a cool evening I could still benefit from the heated grip. ----still trying to decide.
 
Gloves made for heated grips are less bulky on the palm side, and if they block enough of the wind, it seems that would be good combination... but the heavier-insulated ones work very well too - I think it should depend on just how cold (and wet) you're going to be in.

Here's another thought - you can turn OFF the heated grips, but you can't lighten a heavy-insulated glove...

I rode in the low -mid 40's and my little fingers got a bit cold, but not too much so - I have medium insulated gloves that are wind-proof - I thought it was good for me - probably could go down to low/mid 30's, but that would be pushing it.

Heated grips, for me, would be a rarely used luxury, but would give me that extra bump of heat with my decent cold-weather gloves without having to buy another pair of gloves...

those are my 2c's but that's all they are worth! ;)
 
I have heated grips on my bike and using standard full gauntlet gloves it's comfortable into the 40's. I think anything below that and the outside of my hands would be too cold. These gloves are not insulated or anything like that. They are just regular Fieldsheer gloves.

However, I don't like bulky gloves so this setup is great for me. I guess it comes down to personal preference and riding conditions. For me the heated grips just work better and if it's too cold I just wont ride.
 
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I was always told that heated vest is the best way to go. Reason being is, if your core is warm than your hands should be warm too. If your riding in 20 degree weather then maybe you do need something more.
For me high 30s is as low as I will go. Besides, here in northwest its very easy to hit balck ice once its in the lower 30s.
 
If there's one thing I will claim to be an expert at it's how to keep my hands warm and comfortable. First of all I have Raynauds syndrome which causes the blood corpuscles in your hands and feet to go into convulsions when cold which closes off the blood circulation. My hands go numb and trun white, sometimes called "waxey hands". About 20-25% of the population has the dilemma. Anyway, if a person who has my problem is also a smoker or heavy coffee drinker it will be worse and it usually gets worse as you age. It's a real bugger when riding in anything less than about 70 degrees for long distances anyway. Whenever the temps are below 60 and I'm traveling over 100 miles, my electric gloves go on. Grips that are heated do me absolutely no good at all. If you have, or think you might suffer from Raynauds, don't bother with heated grips, You'll end up with the gloves in the end if you want to be able to enjoy comfortable long distance riding
 
FZRider said:
I was always told that heated vest is the best way to go. Reason being is, if your core is warm than your hands should be warm too. If your riding in 20 degree weather then maybe you do need something more.
For me high 30s is as low as I will go. Besides, here in northwest its very easy to hit balck ice once its in the lower 30s.
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OK, If you are riding in 50 degree weather you will LOVE heated gloves. I have heated gloves and a heated vest. I bought the heated vest hearing the same that you had and my hands were still freezing! So I sacked up and bought the heated gloves and that is nice! I have the Tourmaster Synergy vest and gloves and they have three setting low med and OMG!!!
 
Look in General discution under Hand Guards, on the last page with my avitar. There are handguards that look way better than what has sofar been found before. These and heated grips. My choice would be the heated grips due to not having to plug in and the longevity factor. Gloves would seem to me to be suspect in wear, breakage or flat-out loosing them.
 
Weasel said:
Since my funds are (always) limited, I have to choose between the two. I've never had either of them, so your input would be greatly appreciated. I ride nearly every day to/from work--regardless of temps. However, I live in Arkansas so the average "cold" morning is around 20degrees. Last week I rode in 7degrees but that's very rare. Either way, my hands are the only things that suffer. What do you all like better--heated grips or gloves?
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Hello. Must put my spoon to soup.... We have in Finland normally guite cold, especially at spring/autumn.. Have never used heated grips/gloves, but can highly recomended Finish brand Rukka and their thermo-serie gloves. Last spring was driving all day at 0-4 C degrees temp (32-39 F)and it was also snowing/raining..... Look link . They might have distributor or if not, can help find good place to get those....
 
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I'd love some heated gloves but *WHY* are they all so darned expensive? Has anyone tried the battery run heated gloves?

Here's a thought... The battery gloves are rather inexpensive, IF they happen to work even just enough, what's to stop someone from taking out the battery box, replacing that with a plug, place a wire to the charging system, a resistor to get the voltage down to the glove's battery capacity and plugging in?

I'd love to have a bunch of Gerbing gear for cold weather but I can also find a lot of really nice stuff to spend that kind of money on!
 
I can tell you about both of those courtesy of my BMW. Heated grips are good for cool rides but not really cold, the wind will kill you anyway. I use Gerbing electric gloves and regularly ride in temps in the teens. You can have a small plug wired straight to your batt that you connect to the gloves, or get a BMW style plug, mount it to your bike, and just plug the cable in like a phone jack. Of the two, I'd go with the gloves (and a heated vest).
 
I know you probably got ample enough info on this but I just wanted to chime in with my experience. My bike came with heated grips. There is a high and a low setting. I purchased the Held Phantom gloves (I'll review those in some other thread). Anyway long story short, the phantoms have vents in between the fingers and while the grips will get hot enough to burn your hands, the vents will let air in and the top of your hands will be frozen. I just ordered a new pair of winter gloves and that should fix this problem. :)
 
I posted this over in the other FZ1 form and here is where I stand on the subject. Hope this helps you make a decision

Today I managed about 40 miles in upper 30 - lower 40s temps. These temps are not new for me but this is the first time that I have truly had warm hands. My real goal is to be able to lay down lots of miles in the 20s without even being concerned with how cold it is out side.

Gear:
Hand Guards $ 19.00 USD
First Gear Carbon gloves $ 180
Tusk Grip Heaters $13.

GlovesI've ridden last winter and a a few rides this winter using only the First Gear gloves. They have kept my hands from freezing, but the heat they give off is mostly on the back side of my hands leaving the palms to fend for their selves, and fingers only about half warm. Don't get me wrong without them I couldn't have ridden some of the all day rides with temps in the 40s that in non-heated gloves would have been much more uncomfortable.

Hand Guards
I added the hand guards to help the gloves effectiveness after a wire change in the gloves to increase their longevity also reduced how hot they seem to get. They were a big help and allowed me to take the gloves from running on high all the time to half power or just above half power in the same temps. Good bang for $19.00 (on clearance at cycle gear.)

Grip Warmers:
The grip warmers were just too good a deal to pass up at only $12.99 so I figured what the he||. The ones I have are the cheap ones that use a resister to vary the temperature between a hi and a low setting. With the hand guards low as been plenty warm.

So how do they work:

The hand guards alone will allow you to go from a thick winter glove to a much thinner winter glove or even a summer glove in temps in the mid 40s, All I can say is that the wind is your enemy, and without these using heated gloves alone I have varified that the Gen1 does not make enough electricity to really keep your hands warm in the low 30s and below.

The gloves work really well down to low 40s on their own. When the temps are below 40 and the speeds are above 65 the back of your hands get overly warm but your fingers get cold. I would often find myself opening my hand up to get my fingers to make more contact with the back of the glove (where the heat is produced). This helped for a brief period, but who wants to try to lay down 300 - 500 miles that way?

The grip warmer work just the opposite of the heated gloves. Your palms will get warm (very very warm) but the tips of your fingers and the back of your hands will soon be screaming "Where's the heat!" yes you can wear thicker gloves, but that is exactly what I was trying to avoid. You can also jack the heat up more on the grips, which lead my hands to sweat and then feel even colder on the back side.

In short what I am saying is that if you want warm hands I believe it takes all three of these to really make you comfortable. All are a step in the right direction, but none of these alone will provide you all day comfort in the cold like the three of them in unison will.

As for my other gear. I have yet to ride in cold enough conditions where my First Gear Teton jacket (with removable liner), My Nitro Racing winter pants (with my micro fleece under layer) and my AXO boots (with wool socks) have failed to keep me warm. Of the 3 the jacket can start to feel chilly in the low 30s when crossing water, so to combat that I anxiously await delivery of my heated vest (an anniversary present from our very own TheWolfTamer) to be delivered and put to the test. I believe with the addition of the vest I should easily be able to ride comfortably in the low 20s without any thoughts of jealously towards my caged brethren in the leather heated seats.
 
I have to say that I have been wanting a pair of heated gloves for at least 3 seasons. I can dress in enough layers to keep me warm enough but my hands were taking a real beating when I ride in any weather below 30*.
I came up with a "redneck" solution for my hands. I was in Academy in San Antonio and started looking at gloves. I came across some snow skiing gloves on sale for $20. I decided to buy one size larger than normal and slide Icon motorcycle gloves under the snow skiing gloves. My thinking behind this was to add insulation and warmth while maintaining protection. I can say that it works pretty well for a $20 solution. LOL Like all my "redneck" fixes - it's not perfect but it works. :)
I need to add a thank you to Cruzman. I had never thought of hand guards but he is 100% correct in saying that it is the wind that kills your hands. In fact when you drop below 30, it becomes down right brutal. I will have to check out the hand guards and see what is out there.
 
This just proves Cruzman and I are moto married. He saw my hand guards and got to try them out; he went out and bought some a few days later. He told me about his grip heaters so I just ordered some. I thought with the hand guards the heated gloves were great and he tells me adding grip heaters make it perfect.

I tried out his Gen2 bar and bought one. I painted it and baked the paint on last night so now I'm just waiting on the new grips, grip heaters, and replacement throttle tube (I cracked the end of mine when I put my last grips on) to arrive so I can put them on the bike. Until then, imagine me watching tv with my future handle bar in my hands pretending to ride making motorcycle noises.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yttbFbMPQeM]YouTube - motorbike sounds with mouth[/ame]
 
theWolfTamer said:
This just proves Cruzman and I are moto married. He saw my hand guards and got to try them out; he went out and bought some a few days later. He told me about his grip heaters so I just ordered some. I thought with the hand guards the heated gloves were great and he tells me adding grip heaters make it perfect.

I tried out his Gen2 bar and bought one. I painted it and baked the paint on last night so now I'm just waiting on the new grips, grip heaters, and replacement throttle tube (I cracked the end of mine when I put my last grips on) to arrive so I can put them on the bike. Until then, imagine me watching tv with my future handle bar in my hands pretending to ride making motorcycle noises.

YouTube - motorbike sounds with mouth
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Is that what you were doing on the phone the other night. I thought you had a toddler sitting in your lap or something. :)
 
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