Tough Outfitters Xplore - Women's Review

The Tough Outfitters Xplore gloves are a worthy pair for basic use, featuring a simple, sufficiently warm design and a very low price. They are made from Durable Water Repellent (DWR) treated nylon with a faux leather palm, insulated with polyester, and include a wrist adjustment strap and wrist leashes. Their performance and features leave a bit to be desired for more demanding outdoor activities, and they tend to absorb water in wet environments.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

The Xplore Gloves have a decent loft, with fluffy synthetic insulation that feels puffy and is well distributed from the fingertips all the way to the wrist gusset. They're a medium loft glove — not particularly low profile — and you can feel the benefits of the warmth features on a cold day. They have a soft fleece inside that's cozy and easy to slide on and an effective wrist cinch and gusset adjustment that helps block out any wind and snow. In the field, our lead tester noted, “While the Xplore is warm, it has a bit of a narrow temperature range. At warmer temperatures, the glove doesn't breathe very well, so my hands tended to get sweaty and then cold later on. When it got really cold, like into the single digits, I had to do a fair amount of moving and arm swinging to keep my hands warm.” Our testing team noted that these gloves were sufficient for most cold days until temperatures dipped into the single digits or below.

In our objective tests, the Xplore came in with fairly average scores, and warmth was one of its best metrics, showing performance that was slightly above average. In our R-value test, we measured the internal temperature before placing them in a freezer for five minutes to assess their insulative value. We then re-measured the temperature after removing them and found it only dropped 8 degrees. While skiing, these kept our hands reasonably warm, although, as mentioned above, our hands quickly got sweaty on warm days, as these lack breathability.

Dexterity

Compared to other women's ski gloves of a similar loft and weight, the Xplore does not have very good dexterity. It fell squarely in the middle of the group during our tests, and we had trouble completing some tasks, like grabbing small zippers and pressing buttons on our car keys, but were still able to do things like buckle our boots. The unisex sizing is likely in part to blame for this: Our main female tester had these in a size small, and they were a bit big. They do carry an extra-small, though, and we'd recommend that women wearers size down for better dexterity. The fingertips on these gloves are also sewn quite wide and are covered in a soft and flexible nylon exterior that, when combined with the extra material, feels a bit floppy.

That being said, if you tighten down the wrist cinch strap, the dexterity improves a bit, and they're certainly good enough for most tasks associated with resort skiing. If you're putting boots on in the morning and mostly hanging out on the chairlift, you'll probably be just fine in these gloves. Luckily, they do have wrist straps that keep them attached to your person if you need to remove them for a bit more precision in your grip. Those with longer fingers relative to their hand size might also have better dexterity.

Water Resistance

Unfortunately, water resistance is where we saw the poorest performance from the Xplore gloves. During the submersion test, they absorbed more water than most other women's ski gloves tested, with a 113 percent increase in weight absorbed from water. “I could also feel a bit of moisture starting to sneak in through the stitching at the wrist, although they never became fully waterlogged,” said our main tester Kaylee Walden.

They were sufficient for most days on the mountain, but if the weather turns really wet, or you're using your hands a lot, they will definitely soak through. To add insult to injury here, the soft and unfortunately absorbent outer material can then freeze if temperatures drop later in the day, making the glove feel stiff and cold.

Construction Quality

We don't usually expect the quality of materials to be a strong point of gloves in this price range. However, these held up surprisingly well throughout our testing period and don't show any obvious signs of wear. Our tester pointed out the areas she was most worried about when using the gloves: “I would be most suspect of the stitching pulling out, as it is looser and lower quality than most other ski gloves, and the fingertips wearing out, since they're just covered with the thin nylon outer, and would potentially rip if you were doing a lot with your hands.”

As our main tester noted, the weakest point and most vulnerable to wear is the fingertips of these gloves, and the stitching, and we noticed a thread starting to pull out on the wrist cinch of one of the gloves. However, they should hold up just fine for light duty use and, aside from the loose stitching, they didn't break down on us during the testing period.

Features

Once again, these gloves do not stand out in terms of useful features, but they have enough to land slightly above average. They give you all of the essentials of a good ski glove without any flashy extras. They have a wrist cinch, leashes, a nose wipe, and a gusset cinch to keep out snow and wind.

It could be nice if they came with a liner glove, especially since they're not all that dextrous, but that problem could also be solved by sizing down. It would also be nice to have an integrated hand warmer pocket, which could increase their warmth on very cold days. But overall, with their price tag, we're not complaining.

Should You Buy the Tough Outfitters Xplore?

If you're a fair-weather skier looking for a truly affordable pair of gloves for very occasional use at the resort, the Xplore might be just the glove for you. However, if you're using your gloves more frequently, working with your hands, backcountry skiing, or recreating in very cold or very wet environments, these gloves aren't up for that. They aren't made for heavy-duty use, and you'll likely wind up with cold hands if you try to push their limits too much. However, as we said, for a single ski vacation or occasional cold weather, these are just fine.

What Other Women's Ski Gloves Should You Consider?

It's pretty much all uphill from here when it comes to quality, but also when it comes to price. If you're willing to spend twice as much, you could look into the Dakine Camino, which has more features and better construction while still being pretty affordable compared to other gloves in our review. For even more warmth, you could look into the North Face Montana Mittens, which scored a couple of points higher for both warmth and water resistance. If you're looking for touchscreen compatibility and more dexterity, the MCTi Touchscreen Gloves have a slightly better fit.