Turtlegloves Convertible Running Mittens

About a month ago, I began testing the new innovative and creatively-designed TurtleGloves. It was an amazing experience. These gloves are so useful not only for running/walking, stretching, lifting weights, and even driving your car. I found that I kept learning of new and exciting ways to use them.

Before testing these, I was skeptical about the mittens part, having not really worn mittens since childhood. But I was amazed at how well and effectively the mittens worked too.

First, there is always a decision to be made about whether to wear the gloves as gloves (flipped inside or out) or as mittens (folded into a completely closed position). At times, we need to flip the gloves from mittens to gloves or vice versa. Easy to do. Just takes a little practice. It is beneficial during workouts to have your dominant hand in gloves so your fingers are free and can be used to stopping/starting your watch, taking pictures, texting, using your phone.

Over time I learned to use one glove as a mitten and one as a glove. This is beneficial especially if you run/walk with dogs who pull hard on the leash. The mitten gives you a pretty good grip on the dog leash.

The gloves are impressively wind-resistant. With then mittens and the gloves, I found that my hands remained very warm. The water repellent feature is very nice, especially on rainy and/or snowy days. My hands stayed dry while wearing the gloves.

There is a longer sleeve that the gloves have that can be flipped or folded/rolled up if needed (like for example to see your running/workout watch. That is good versatility, allowing us to adjust depending on whether we feel warm or cold as far as temperatures and the wind of course.

Very lightweight gloves compared to others, after using them a time or two you don’t even really notice that they are there.

The gloves did wick the sweat away from my hands very easily. The fabric is breathable and doesn’t seem to be affected much at all by moisture.

As far as fit, I found the gloves did fit well. I have large hands so the large size seemed to work. Sometimes they seemed slightly looser than I wanted. Flipping the wristband a little did seem to keep them more secure/tighter. However, on colder days, there were times when I did try some layers under the turtlegloves to see if they would work. And they did. Usually I didn’t need gloves underneath but on extremely cold days (maybe 20F or under depending upon the windchill), I had to protect my hands too. I am happy to know that the gloves can layer well and still fit as the top layer over other gloves if absolutely necessary. Winter in Nebraska means we have to dress in layers to stay warm.

The most extreme conditions (cold/wind/snow) I was able to test the gloves in was in Norfolk, Nebraska on Cowboy Trail on Thanksgiving Day while running the NYRR virtual Turkey Trot 5k. Without having those gloves with me, that run would have been very uncomfortable and cold. With TurtleGloves, it was a much more enjoyable experience.

It is exciting that the gloves don’t yet have an official name. I wonder what TurtleGloves will call them. Between us, we can definitely call ’em flipping awesome!

Yes, I tested the gloves on some warmer days and a few runs where it warmed up on me. On those occasions, it was easy to flip the mittened gloves inside or out (depending on your presence) to free the fingers and allow for better air circulation and venting. The venting is adjustable and that it is a wonderful feature.