Passes & Canyons Blog

Mobile Warming's website showing the LTD Max gloves.

I’ve had my eye on getting some battery-powered heated gloves for winter riding, and I thought the time had come, but things do change.

I am specifically interested in battery-powered gloves because I tested a pair awhile back that had cords plugging into the bike and those cords were a pain in the butt. I know some companies make heated jackets where you can just plug the gloves into the sleeves of the jacket, but that means you need to buy the jacket, too. Now we’re talking expense.

So last winter I ran across this company called Mobile Warming and they were new in the market with battery-powered gloves that were much cheaper than their main competitor, Gerbing. I decided to ask them to send me a pair to test and review, and I added what I figured was a sure-fire selling point, I said “If I really like them I’ll buy them.” The woman I reached replied that she’d love take me up on that, but late in the season as it was, they were all out of stock. Get back in touch in the fall, she said.

So OK, I got back in touch with her recently and this time she said she can’t handle this, I need to contact someone else. Now I don’t know about you, but when someone offers me an opportunity to sell a product and generate some significant favorable publicity, I would tend to do what I could to bend the rules a little to make it happen. Oh well.

Then, I don’t recall how this came about, I checked their website again and found that they have raised the price of the gloves substantially. Checking Gerbing’s site I also found that they–perhaps in response to competition–have lowered their price substantially such that the two have completely shifted positions. Gerbing now sells for what Mobile Warming was asking while Mobile Warming is now selling for what Gerbing used to cost. Obviously, if I’m going to buy I’m going to be interested in the Gerbings.

But there is a third option, though it’s not as good an option. My friend Jungle recommended getting some Aerostich Warm Wrap Grips, which are pads that wrap around the grips and connect to the bike. One huge difference is the price. They only cost $45, whereas the Gerbing gloves are $200 and the Mobile Warming gloves are $270. Heating the grips instead of my hands would mean no fuss with the wires once they were installed on the bike. And at that price I could get the wraps for both my bikes and still pay less than for either pair of gloves.

The disadvantages would be that the heat would only be on the palm side of my hands, and I would not be able to walk around with warm hands as I would with battery-powered gloves. I mean, I figure that with battery-powered gloves I could take the dog for a walk in the dead of winter and keep my hands warm. That’s part of the appeal.

So I don’t know. I do intend to do something, I’m just not sure yet what. But one thing for sure is that I won’t be buying the gloves from Mobile Warming. They had their chance and blew it.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
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Biker Quote for Today

There’s no adventure in turning around. — Shoganai

Tags: heated motorcycle gear

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2012 at 10:14 am and is filed under Motorcycle Gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.