Oakley's SI Tactical FR Glove is a far cry from the Nomex flight glove that remains popular. Can a hard-knuckles and goat skin compete with the operators standby glove?
The gloves feature a double layer of 180g Nomex on the back of the hand and between the fingers for extra protect against flash burns. The palms are made from supple Pittards Digital Goatskin leather. The knuckles are covered with a molded polycarbonate which is then covered with Pittards leather - perfect for something that deserves a well placed fist strike and you want to leave an even more deserving mark. The knuckle covers are sized to accommodate different hands for the sake of comfort and dexterity. While they aren't keyed to each size of glove, there are two sizes; one for medium and below, and a second size for large and up.
When we opened the box and first read the data sheet, we were a little skeptical about the written description regarding the design which claimed both a "double layer of Nomex" along with the comment "maintains an athletic fit design". Claims like these usually fall into the Military Intelligence category. Nomex is stretchy to a point, but getting it to stay conformed around a complex shape like a hand without making it so tight that it cuts off circulation takes some serious thought when designing the fabric panel layout. Oakley did a decent job here. The gloves don't bunch, but they aren't "second-skin tight."
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We took the gloves to the range and ran them through the typical use that most gloves would experience. We loaded and unloaded Glock magazines, Standard issue GI mags, and Magpul Mags. We then adjusted all our other kit while wearing the gloves and even experimented handling paper, flipping pages in a manual, picking up small screws, washers, coins and misc ammo - everything in the center console of my truck and had no tactile issues. We then loaded, unloaded, fired and manipulated six weapons including the optics, lasers and lights on each of the following: Glock 19 Pistol, Standard M4, PWS MK2 7.62 Carbine, FN SCAR-17S, Cheytac 300 WinMag, and a FN 12ga Tactical pump shotgun. The first round of testing was conducted while the gloves were dry and a second round was conducted after we soaked the gloves in water.
Much to our surprise, the gloves never felt bulky or impeded any manipulation drill. We never had to remove a glove to manipulate a switch on a laser, light, or optic. Even when the gloves were soaking wet, they never seemed soggy or heavy and didn't seem to stretch out much, if any. This may be because the threads of the glove are still tight and unabraded. As the gloves age, the split fibers may absorb moisture more readily.
At first glance, the Pittards Digital Goatskin covering on the palms looked like it would be very grippy but it didn't function as well as we hoped. It didn't cause any slippage issues and functioned fine, however. At first glance, we thought it would be like putting on gloves like NFL receivers wear and expected to have to shake the weapon out of our hands. We did notice the Pittards Leather seemed to have a little more grip after getting, dunked.
The gloves are easy to slide on the hand but the single closure strap is very narrow and a bit awkward to secure as it's on the inside of the wrist. We noticed that when you secure the strap the excess material gets bunched up and has to be adjusted once the glove is secure. We also noticed that it was difficult to get a tight seal around the wrist without spending extra time to secure the strap to ensure dirt or debris doesn't get down inside your gloves. We didn't test the FR qualities since we couldn't find a willing test volunteer, so we'll have to trust them on meeting the flammability standard.
Of all the features we tested, one feature that should have been listed was the fact that we could operate our touch screen phones while wearing the gloves. This was discovered by accident when an iPhone rang and I picked it up and swiped the screen to answer the call and shazzam - it worked. This might be an unintended feature but one we've not seen in any other glove to date and is very helpful to us folks that seem to think we always need to be connected, even while on the range testing a new product.
Bottom line- The gloves work. The wrist strap is a pain to adjust, but that's the price you pay for going less than gauntlet length. There's plenty of feel on the fingers; no issues working with the weapons. The goatskin palm should outlast a flight glove's leather palm, so from a value standpoint $65 isn't that bad if you pay for your own gloves and want some knuckle protection. And they do look cool. The gloves come in XS - XXL and color options are Black, and Khaki and cost $65 on usstandardissue.com.
