For years, people assumed that tactical gloves were special protective gear reserved only for the law enforcers, military personnel, and combat specialists. However, this is not the case since the best tactical gloves are more than just shooting gloves. They are a protective tool for anyone seeking to shield their hands from cuts, bruises, or biting cold.
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Today, the popularity of tactical gloves has increased tremendously due to their versatility and improved functionality. They’ve become an essential tool for any modern man seeking to undertake their daily life hustles while still looking at the safety of their hands.
You can use tactical gloves under different scenarios depending on your personal needs. However, choosing the right pair may be challenging given the hundreds of options available. We’ll list some of the best options in the market today. But first, let’s delve a bit further into tactical gloves applications.
Main Applications of Tactical Gloves
Tactical gloves can be effectively put into different uses as outlined below:
- Paintball: Given that these gloves were initially intended for use in the military field, they offer excellent protection when playing paintball. They provide an ideal medium for absorbing the paintball hits while their grip and dexterity make shooting much easier.
- Winter: You can use normal gloves during winter to shield yourself from the cold. However, these regular gloves become less effective when trying to perform strenuous activities; and that’s where tactical gloves come in. They can be used alongside other cold-busting work gloves to protect you from injuries when performing duties during winter.
- Motorcycle riding: Due to their high impact resistance, most tactical gloves are ideal for riding motorcycles. While they safeguard your hands against injuries, also wear other protective gear such as motorcycle jackets to prevent injuries in other parts of your body.
- Airsoft: Airsoft is similar to paintball but uses solid pellets rather than balls of paint. Therefore, when playing airsoft, you’ll need a good level of protection for your hands, and this is where tactical gloves come in.
You can also use tactical gloves when hiking, climbing, horseback riding, or any other outdoor activity that exposes your hands to injury.
Let’s take a look at some of the best tactical gloves in the market for you to choose from.
9 Best Tactical Gloves
The best tactical gloves combine dexterity, grip, and comfort to offer you unmatched hand safety. While there are plenty of options to choose from, here is a detailed list of our 9 top picks.
1.Mechanix Wear: M-Pact MultiCam Tactical Work Gloves
The M-Pact MultiCam Tactical Gloves is among the best and most durable tactical gloves available in the market. These gloves from Mechanix Wear come with a decent design. Although initially designed for military use, they can be ideal for use in other outdoor activities such as hunting, horseback riding, and climbing.
M-Pact features a thermoplastic rubber (TPR) knuckle guard that extends through the fingers’ length to protect them from high impacts, cuts, and abrasions. Adding to this is an internal dual-layer fingertip construction that reinforces the index finger and the thumb for added abrasions resistance.
Protection here does not end on your fingers and knuckles; your palm is also well padded. The gloves boast a D30 palm padding that effectively absorbs and dissipates high vibration and other physical impacts on your palm.
Interestingly, although these gloves have thick palm padding, they don’t have issues with dexterity. The padded palm features a 0.8 mm seamless leather, allowing it to strike a perfect balance between toughness and dexterity. Additionally, the embossments on the index finger and the thumb improves dexterity and the general comfortable feel.
With these gloves, you get a form-fitting breathable TrekDry material at the back of your hands, which improves ventilation keeping your hands cool and comfortable.
Alongside the TrekDry is a Multicam camouflage material that blends well in any outdoor setting and complements combat gear. Thanks to the comfortable wrist closure, you will enjoy a seamless fit on your wrist.
Depending on your personal preference, you can get this pair of protective gloves in shades of black, brown, grey, camouflage Multicam, or camouflage woodland camo.
2. Ironclad EXOT-PBLK-04-L Tactical Gloves
The Ironclad EXOT-PBLK-04-L Tactical Gloves feature a durable synthetic leather palm and a highly flexible neoprene fabric for maximum form-fitting comfort. The neoprene knuckle feature protects the knuckles against shocks and abrasions. Additionally, the palm is EXO embossed for extra protection and enhanced grip.
These gloves are uniquely designed with a sweat management feature. This feature comes as a terry cloth at the back of the palm that you can use to wipe away sweat while still focusing on the task beforehand.
They also feature an adjustable loop and hook closure for a secure custom fit. Adding to the loop and hook closure is a suede cuff puler that makes it easy to get the glove into the right position. These gloves are suitable for any heavy-duty activity.
Depending on your taste and preferences, you can get these gloves in different colors, such as black, real tree, coyote brown, and Od green.
3.Hikeman Tactical Gloves
The Hikeman Tactical Gloves boast of their faux leather material that offers your hands maximum protection from injuries during sports, shooting, hiking, cycling, among other activities. Adding to their protective nature and agility is an adjustable wrist Velcro that wraps tightly around your wrist.
Additionally, they feature a double-layer synthetic leather material on their palm that features an anti-skidding design. These gloves are also user-friendly owing to their odor-free breathable material giving you the comfort you deserve. Additionally, they feature a functional vent design that reduces sweating making them ideal for hot weather.
Hikeman gloves have a 3-finger touch screen design on the thumb, index, and middle fingers, which allows for the convenient use of your smartphone or tablet.
4.Glove Station Tactical Gloves
This perfect pair of gloves from Glove Station has a perfect blend of materials. The palms are of durable seamless synthetic leather, while the back is a breathable padded mesh fabric. At the joints is a well fitted flexible neoprene fabric.
Additionally, Glove Station Tactical Gloves feature double stitches for longevity and durability. The rubber knuckle plates protect your knuckles without being too aggressive, while the neoprene fabric at the fingers allows for unhindered finger movement.
Other than increased protection, the polyurethane (PU) synthetic leather fabric on the palm enhances grip. And on the other hand, the leather fabric on the middle and index fingers are designed to be touch screen friendly. This means that you can conveniently answer calls, respond to text messages, and even take photos without taking off the gloves.
The padded mesh at the back of the hand allows for faster heat dissipation, making them ideal for use even under hot weather. Additionally, the rubberized aero vents increase airflow making these gloves more comfortable and user-friendly. For convenient storage, these gloves feature a hanging loop.
5.Viperade Men’s Tactical Gloves
The Viperade Tactical Gloves are designed with composite artificial leather blended with knitted fabric and non-toxic rubber at the finger panels. The heavy reinforcement at the palms and the hard knuckles offer full protection to your hands against cuts, bruises, burns, and other physical injuries.
These quality gloves also feature meticulously fitted double-layer sewing that increases their durability and efficiency. The microfiber PU leather fabric on the palm increases friction offering better grip during sporting, climbing, cycling, or shooting.
Thanks to their functional vent design and odor-free breathable material, they can reduce sweating and intensify airflow, making them comfortable to wear even when the prevailing temperatures are high.
Using the adjustable wrist Velcro, you can easily adjust the wrist wrap to your preferred tightness. Another plus is that the index finger is touch screen enabled, meaning you don’t have to take them off when using touch screen devices. This tactical glove is available in only one color; black.
6.TAC9ER Kevlar Lined Tactical Gloves
The TAC9ER Kevlar Lined Tactical Gloves boasts of full Kevlar lining strong enough to handle high-temperatures and is resistant to sharp objects. These gloves also have a reinforced palm grip for enhanced durability, water resistance, anti-slip, and maximum protection.
Thanks to their warm, breathable neoprene fabric, you can comfortably wear them even when it’s hot. They also feature a neoprene wrist band and a hook and loop closure allowing you to get a custom fit. TAC9ER tactical gloves include a hanging loop for storage convenience.
The thumb, middle, and index fingers are touch screen friendly, allowing you to use touch screen devices with ease.
If you are looking for tactical gloves that offer protection without sacrificing your taste, comfort, and functionality, consider these TAC9ER gloves. They are available in a black hue, and you can use them for airsoft and paintball, climbing, motorcycling, and military use.
7.FREETOO Tactical Gloves
Meticulously designed from a perfect blend of leather, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and rubber, the FREETOO gloves offer maximum protection against cuts, burns, bruises, and other physical injuries. They also boast of double-layer sewing, making them durable and more efficient.
Your fingers will enjoy increased motion by wearing these gloves because of the highly elastic mesh fabric on the fingers’ panel. The breathable vent design and the padded mesh reduce sweating and increase ventilation keeping your hands clean and dry.
The knuckle padding is strong enough to safeguard your knuckles from knocks or cuts. Additionally, your wrist is well protected, all thanks to the adjustable, shockproof wrist wrap.
If you are interested in these gloves, you can get them in shades of either black, green, or desert.
8.REEBOW Military Tactical Gloves
If you are looking for high performing yet simply designed tactical gloves, you will love these REEBOW Military Tactical Gloves. They are made of long-lasting microfiber leather fabric that is wear-resistant, anti-slip, and lightweight.
They are carefully stitched for durability and efficiency and boast of a breathable material that makes a comfortable protective gear. Additionally, they have an adjustable hook and loop wrist design to provide a comfortable fit and support while performing tasks.
You can use this type of gloves, available only in a black hue, for military duties, shooting, outdoor sports, and other heavy-duty activities. They offer maximum protection without being overly designed or padded.
9.PIG FDT (Full Dexterity Tactical) Delta Utility Gloves
The PIG Full Dexterity Tactical (FDT) Gloves are high performing minimalist gloves and are also among the best sellers in the market.
Unlike most tactical gloves, which feature a double layer sewing, they have a single layer multi-piece palm design. They are designed so that only one layer of the material gets into contact with the shooting grip. The thinnest material goes to the trigger finger for increased sensitivity when using firearms. This minimalist design aims at giving a barehand feeling while still offering maximum protection.
The knuckle padding in these gloves is thin enough to fit into your pockets, unlike other thick padded ones. Interestingly, despite the thin padding, they still offer the desired knuckle protection.
The thumb and index finger are fitted with a touch screen conductive fabric allowing for convenient use of touch screen devices without losing tactile dexterity. The absence of jammed up seams under your fingernails complemented by the well fitted ventilated material on the inner fourchettes means there is maximum air circulation. With these gloves’ breathable nature, your hands will remain comfortable and dry while performing tasks.
You can get these user-friendly minimalist tactical gloves in shades of black, carbon grey, coyote brown, ranger green, Multicam, and Multicam black. Don’t be fooled by their minimalist look; they are as efficient as the thick-padded tactical gloves.
Tactical Gloves Checklist
Here are the factors to consider when buying tactical gloves:
- Grip: If the gloves hinder your ability to hold an object comfortably, say because of too much padding, they are not a perfect match for your hands. Also, if they allow objects to slip out of your hands, they aren’t ideal. Consider getting gloves with added grip features on the palm and beneath the fingernails.
- Ease of movement: Good tactical gloves should allow for easy movement of your fingers. Other than the standard protective mechanism, they should have a high level of dexterity. Some experts recommend that to test for dexterity and ease of movement, try tying or untying your shoelaces.
- Comfort: Don’t get tactical gloves that trade your comfort for protection. Go for gloves made of breathable material to reduce sweat build-up when working. Also, ensure that the gloves you get are a perfect size for your hands: small, medium, large, or extra-large.
- Price: It is advisable to consider the cost of the gloves. Go for gloves that fit your budget.
Conclusion
Hands are an essential part of your body; hence you should do everything you can to protect them from injuries. When engaging in heavy-duty activities such as shooting, hiking, climbing, and motorcycling, consider getting an ideal pair of tactical gloves. Go for the best tactical gloves in the market and enjoy unmatched hand safety and protection.