Tactical gloves are designed to meet the needs and requirements of a certain duty. Often, tactical gloves are specifically designed for police, military, and other first responders. They are much more durable, impact resistant, and retain a high level of dexterity… usually. Tactical gloves are also not new to the game, despite all the recent marketing we are seeing for tactical gloves these days. In fact, they have been around since combat was fought although they are specifically documented around the 12th century when Samurai’s began wearing them. For centuries, tactical gloves were essentially additional combat armor used to protect the wearer. These days, tactical gloves certainly are designed to protect the wearer, but they also focus on a host of other issues such as grip and dexterity. Of course, these days the market is also quite saturated so it can be tough to pick out a pair but hopefully this guide makes it easier.
Like I said earlier, tactical gloves are designed with a specific purpose and need and whatever yours is should push you to a certain set of gloves. It will be important to consider things like the level of protection you are going to need, how important dexterity is, and your budget. Here are some factors to consider:
- Protection – if you are in the market for gloves, you are considering them for protection. It is important to find out how protective you need them to be, do they just need to protect you from light elements or do they need to keep you warm in extreme cold temperatures. Do they need to be sharps resistant or have knuckle protectors?
- Dexterity – you’ve already considered protection and dexterity will often greatly be impacted it by as the more protective the glove is the less dexterity it usually has.
- Materials – these days you can get gloves in a variety of materials including leather, Kevlar, nylon, polyester, spandex, and rubber amongst others.
- Grip – depending on the materials you’ve choose the grip will be almost already determined however it should be noted that different tactical gloves have very different levels of grip. For example, shooting tactical gloves are not going to have the same grip as military gloves.
- Budget – the ultimate deciding factor. Tactical gloves range in price from $15 a pair to $300 a pair.
Stay safe!
