Ochre / Carob Ochre / Carob Black Black Outdoor Research Mens Highcamp Glove Review
Outdoor Research Highcamp Review
This model delivers in all the right places from the backcountry to the resort
Cost: $95 Listing | $94.95 at Backcountry
Compare prices at 2 resellers
Pros: Warm, adequately dexterous, good price, comes with liners
Cons: Moderately durable, lower end materials throughout
Manufacturer: Outdoor Enquiry
By Jeff Rogers ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ Dec 12, 2018
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Our Verdict
A vast majority of skiers these days do not desire to spend a lot on a pair of gloves. Information technology's a pitiful fact of life that many of us won't get out on the skis fifty+ days a year, and but exercise not need to spend such an inordinate corporeality of money on top of the line gear, and definitely don't want to spend coin getting 2 separate pairs of gloves. Enter the Outdoor Research Highcamp. This is one of the best bargain gloves on the market and includes a diversity of excellent features which issue in the glove batting meliorate than the price range would detail. Overall, we loved the glove for the resort (for its warmth) and backcountry skiing (due to its removable liner and insulated shell pattern), and wait the durability to be at such a level that all but the nigh hardcore of users will get years of enjoyment out of this loftier-value glove. It'southward a quiver of one glove for ski tours and chair laps at a great price.
Compare to Similar Products
| This Product | Gordini GTX Storm Trooper II | Blackness Diamond Mercury Mitt | Outdoor Enquiry Carbide Sensor | The North Face Montana Futurelight Etip Mitt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  |  | |||
| Price | $94.95 at Backcountry Compare at two sellers | Cheque Price at REI Compare at iii sellers | Check Toll at REI Compare at three sellers | $79.92 at Amazon Compare at 2 sellers | $70 List $69.95 at Amazon |
Overall Score | |||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Warm, adequately dexterous, good cost, comes with liners | Warm plenty, weatherproof, inexpensive | Incredible warmth, weather resistant, durable | Warm, atmospheric condition resistance, relatively inexpensive | Corking features, comfortable |
| Cons | Moderately durable, lower end materials throughout | Poor dexterity, slightly tight fit around the duke | Poor dexterity, could have better features | Poor dexterity, touchscreen fingertip not reliable | Not warm for a mitten, could be more weather condition resistant |
| Bottom Line | This model delivers in all the right places from the backcountry to the resort | A warm and fully featured ski glove for a groovy toll | These mitts provide extreme warmth and conditions resistance at a good price, nailing the 2 most important aspects of ski mittens | These warm and protective gloves lack the versatility to exist useful | An affordable mitten that sacrifices some warmth for increased dexterity |
| Rating Categories | Outdoor Inquiry Hello... | Gordini GTX Tempest T... | Black Diamond Mercu... | Outdoor Research Ca... | The North Face Mont... |
| Warmth (25%) | |||||
| Dexterity (25%) | |||||
| H2o Resistance (25%) | |||||
| Durability (xv%) | |||||
| Features (x%) | |||||
| Specs | Outdoor Enquiry Hello... | Gordini GTX Storm T... | Black Diamond Mercu... | Outdoor Research Ca... | The N Face Mont... |
| Double or Single Glove | Double | Single | Double | Single | Single |
| Gaunlet or Cuff? | Gauntlet | Gauntlet | Gauntlet | Gauntlet | Gauntlet |
| Palm Fabric | Goat leather | Polyurethane | Caprine animal leather | Goat leather | Constructed leather |
| Waterproof Material | Ventia insert 100% nylon crush | Gore-Tex | BD.dry | Gore-Tex | Futurelight |
| Insulation Blazon | Shell: 130g Vertical X Lining: RadiantFleece | Megaloft | 340 thousand PrimaLoft Aureate, high-loft fleece | 130 g/m2 VerticalX polyester Dorsum of paw: 200 yard/m2 VerticalX 100% polyester | Dorsum of mitt: 200g Heatseeker Eco Palm: 100g Heatseeker Eco |
| Nose Wipe? | Yes | Yep | yep | Yes | No |
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Our Assay and Exam Results
A bargain tin be hard to come by in the glove industry. Too often are the cheaper gloves on the market of low build quality or mostly non warm and waterproof. It is also very rare to see any pricepoint gloves accept all the necessary features to excel on the chairlift as well equally the skin track. The Highcamp is an exception.
Performance Comparison
Nosotros loved the Highcamp for backcountry tours. Hither, information technology finds itself in the bowl at Tuckerman Ravine.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Warmth
The OR Highcamp receives high marks in warmth due to its heavily insulated outer glove paired with an extended length liner which swallowed up all of the testers' wrists. The outer glove itself is where most of the insulation lies, and kept testers warm in single digits temperatures while skiing in New Hampshire. The cuff blueprint is not equally big and enveloping every bit the other offerings in this review, and so it did lose some points due to this issue.
Overall the glove proved to be plenty warm for backcountry skiing, our testers skinned upwardly 4000ft of vertical in the liner and threw on the outer portion for the descent. Nosotros recommend a 2nd set of liners if y'all routinely have sweaty easily.
Dexeterity
Dexterity is non a huge asset to the Outdoor Research Highcamp Gloves and information technology received a eye of the road score here. This is due to the lower toll construction methods of the palm. Instead of creating multiple layers to shape the palm to the user's paw, the glove uses a rather thin leather palm that is 1 piece. Surprisingly, this did not restrict movement to a caste which severely hindered the glove, and allowed united states to do basic tasks such equally buckling and unbuckling a ski kick, removing and donning goggles, besides as grabbing and extending our season passes for the lift attendant to scan — all normal duties of a resort skiing day.
In the backcountry, the outer was piece of cake enough to take off exposing the extremely tight-fitting and dexterous liner glove, which was able to do the most dexterous of tasks with ease. The included wrist leashes add security when removing the outer gloves.
Once more, the highcamp feels right at home digging pits and assessing avalanche terrain in the backcountry.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Water Resistance
Having a heavily insulated outer glove and a thin liner as an inner glove, the Highcamp has the advantage of existence able to divide the inner to dry. This is important and increases the gloves' overall weather resistance, particularly in multi-day ski scenarios. What turned out to be a negative of this glove was the thickness of the insulation in the outer. When the glove soaked up water later on extended utilize in rainy conditions, information technology was quite hard to dry out.
The initial atmospheric condition resistance of this glove is decent. Information technology does not need leather treatment to restore the waterproofness of the palm. As the testing went on, the DWR on the dorsum of the glove finally gave out and the softshell type of outer did a decent chore of repelling frozen precipitation while skiing.
The large gauntlet cuffs permit testers to stay warm and dry while playing in the snow. Hither tester Jeff Rogers digs a pit to test the gloves atmospheric condition resistance.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Durability
Durability on these gloves was also a centre of the route score. Gloves in this cost range lack meaning reinforcements and thick leather palms similar some of the other more than expensive gloves in our test. So with that said, this glove will not concluding every bit long every bit its more than expensive counterparts.
Within gloves of the aforementioned price range, the Highcamp does a slap-up task of being durable for multiple seasons of use. The biggest failure we saw was the thumb splitting from the palm of the glove over long-term employ. This is most probable due to a tight-fitting palm and a loftier wear area at the seam because of this. When a glove doesn't take multiple panels to make upwardly the palm, sure sacrifices need to be made and the pollex range of move decreases due to this. Again, all Outdoor Research gloves have an amazing warranty and this should be factored into any buying conclusion.
Features
At this price betoken, information technology is rare to find a fully insulated outer glove come WITH an splendid fitting thin liner as well. This is a huge characteristic and should not be disregarded if you intend to do any backcountry skiing. The rest of the glove has decent features including a nice wrist closure to snug the glove onto your paw tightly. The biggest drawback to this glove is the poorly executed gauntlet which remains just a impact besides small to fit over most ski jackets and will non even come close to a heavily insulated puffy jackets sleeve.
The appearance of finger-mounted loops to help in storing the glove in a vertically oriented position allowed you to stow the outers of the glove on your harness while you make the long skin in for the approach of a climb. This style of mounting prevents snow from inbound the gage, a trouble often realized by clipping the gloves by their gauntlets to your harness.
Our splitboarders spend more time with "gloves on snow" than our skiers. Our tester Alex Calder was a big fan of the highcamp's weather resistance and double glove functionality. Here he is pictured virtually to driblet into tuckerman ravine.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Value
This glove didn't take our All-time Purchase Award, simply for skiers who both hitting the resorts and the backcountry, this might exist your personal top budget option. You get a heavily insulated glove and a great fitting liner backed with a lifetime warranty.
The Highcamp, high on mt Washington, is an excellent backcountry touring glove.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Conclusion
The Outdoor Research Highcamp is one of the all-time values of whatsoever of the gloves we tested because it is so versatile with its dual layers, making it substantially a 3-in-1 pair. Information technology is not perfect in every category and suffers from some small-scale setbacks due to cheaper materials existence used in the construction of the glove. But this affair is less than 100 bucks! A cracking value ski glove that will surely be an upgrade from the average department store special.
— Jeff Rogers
Source: https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/snow-sports/ski-gloves/outdoor-research-highcamp