Advertisement

Beuchat Premium Gloves

Beuchat Premium Gloves

Posted in:

You need some kind of hand protection on most dives, and there is a massive range of gloves out there that cover all eventualities.

In the main you want your hands protected against mechanical damage—scrapes, scratches and bangs—when wreck and cave diving. To this end, Beuchat have covered the palms, the front of the fingers and the fingertips of their 'Premium Gloves' with Kevlar. This will help make these gloves far more durable. I recently did a photo shoot wearing a plain pair of neoprene gloves where I had to do a repetitive task. By the end of it, one of my fingertip pads had worn through, much to my disgust and frustration. The Kevlar should help mean these gloves don't get worn so quickly when a diver conducts key underwater activities, such as clipping and unclipping bolt snaps.

You also want your hands thermally protected when immersed in very cold and temperate waters and Beuchat have made these gloves out of 4.5mm ultra-soft 'Elaskin' neoprene. The inside of the glove has a jersey lining. This may provide additional warmth.

It is possible to lose heat from the wrist, especially if you are diving latex or silicone seals. (These seals provide very little thermal protection). Whilst this heat loss is not much relative to body heat, cold wrists can make hands uncomfortable and compromise dexterity. These gloves have been designed with slightly longer than normal wrists. Because the wrist is covered and thermally protected, this design may help keep your hands more comfortable and functioning for longer.

No one likes or needs the frustrating faff of pulling on a pair of gloves—typically gloves are pretty much the last item of equipment you don. Therefore ideally you want a pair of gloves that you can easily doff and don. Beuchat states their glove is super stretchy and it has a stretch gusset at the wrist seal which is fastened with Velcro fastener. This should all make the process of pulling on these gloves easier.

A pair of diving gloves ought to be comfy and fit and this is where unisex gloves may not deliver the right solution for all divers. Women typically have longer slender fingers, men have shorter fatter fingers. The answer? Try them on and see if they fit!

Other articles and news about

Advertisements