Do you have any experience with smartphone/touchscreen gloves? Recommendations?

November 30, 2012 5:15 AM

Do you have any experience with smartphone/touchscreen gloves? Recommendations?

I'm buying a gift for my sister-in-law and need some help with picking out a nice pair of touchscreen gloves... the kind of gloves you can use with a phone without taking them off. I'm having a hard time finding current reviews or comparisons about how well they work. The brands I was looking at were Echo, Portolano, Lord & Taylor, and possibly Charter Club (Macy's brand). Bonus points if the gloves aren't "one size fits all" and are available in brown. Anyone have any suggestions?

posted by MegoSteve to technology (9 answers total)

I have the glove.ly ones, and they work great, but are definitely drafty. I'm going to check out these C. Wonder ones next.
posted by snickerdoodle at 5:31 AM on November 30, 2012

I dislike the ones where there activating bit is sewn onto glove at the thumb & index finger tips only - they never fit both fingers snugly enough to maintain contact between skin & glove, so I end up having to take the glove off if I need to do anything quickly. The ones where the activating bits are threaded throughout the entire glove fabric work the best for me, though they're not very warm (I solve that by wearing some wool fingerless gloves over the touchscreen glove). I think my current pair is the Aglove. I have yet to find a pair that is both effective in all fingers & good for really cold weather, it's always a trade-off.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:42 AM on November 30, 2012

I'm thinking about buying conductive thread (check around that site for multiple options - a bobbin is probably not what you need) and experimenting with sewing it into my own gloves.
posted by amanda at 7:11 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

seconding oh yeah! touchscreen glove liners with wool fingerless gloves (those mitts with the part that flips open if you can find them are my fave) I had a pair of burton ones and then a pair of.. north face ones. they were both fine, came in a variety of sizes, but were black.

also, I have a pair of nice leather gloves that just work with my touchscreen? I have to press slightly harder than I do with touchscreen gloves, but not so bad that I can't type. they're thinsulate.
posted by euphoria066 at 7:14 AM on November 30, 2012

It's hard to find a pair of these that are warm - they seem to usually just be knitted gloves and depending on climate, that's not really an option.

I just picked up a pair of Isotoners from Target that seem like the functional, well-fitting, reasonably warm pair I've been looking for the past two winters. They may run a bit large - I'm a woman with big hands and usually have to go for a man's L, but in this case that was actually a bit too big and a man's M wound up being the right size. So far, they're a winner.
posted by Stacey at 7:56 AM on November 30, 2012

I bought a pair of Isotoners, and they're pretty good with my iPhone. I wouldn't type with them or anything, but they're fine for basic navigation. And they're nice gloves. I usually wear a women's small or medium, and the medium fits me well.
posted by Kriesa at 12:04 PM on November 30, 2012

Once it gets cold, I don't leave the house without my Cashmere Echo touch gloves. They work much better than other brands I've tried and the fact that they're 100% cashmere makes them luxurious as well as functional. Unfortunately, they are one size.
posted by chaiwawa at 12:53 PM on November 30, 2012

Check out these links:

My windstopper biking gloves work fine though, just need a bit of extra pressure.
posted by guy72277 at 1:39 PM on November 30, 2012

Thanks for the suggestions. I went the path of least resistance and got leather smartouch Isotoners at a local department store. That way, she can just return them in person if they don't work out.
posted by MegoSteve at 3:20 PM on November 30, 2012