There are a lot of things to try to find in an excellent set of gardening gloves– healthy, mastery, defense from sharp things, comfort– that it can be frustrating trying to find just the best ones for your needs. With so many specialty gardening gloves readily available, you might quickly wind up with dozens of gloves– one for each gardening job!
But if you’re trying to find one glove that can do nearly everything, you can’t go wrong with the Bionic ReliefGrip gardening glove. It has some unique features that make it an excellent choice not just for the typical gardener, but also for those of us with arthritic fingers.
Silicone Finger Tips
I’ve never ever seen this in gardening gloves prior to. The silicone ideas send enough feeling through the gloves that, while you still observe the reduction in your sense of touch, it’s not nearly as much as with leather gloves.
Something I discovered is that the Velcro plant ties I utilize to bind my tomatoes adheres to the silicone. Odd and extremely bothersome, but that’s the only disadvantage I’ve discovered to the silicone finger tips.
Neoprene Wrist
This is among my favorite features of the Bionic ReliefGrip gloves. The neoprene wrist and Velcro closure offer a snug, comfy fit that keeps dirt out of your glove. Even after hours of sturdy gardening, my hands are completely clean when I take the gloves off.
One thing I ‘d like to see added to the glove is a leather tab at the wrist to help when pulling the gloves on. As it is, you have to pull on the neoprene to get the gloves on.
The Bionic ReliefGrip gloves are made from goatskin leather, which is the crème de la crème of hard but flexible leathers. The leather is exceptionally supple, with simply a little “offer” as you move your hand. It stands up well to gardening in the gravel and sharp sand here in Tucson.
Best of all, the gloves are washable! You can simply throw the gloves in the washing device (no bleach and a mild detergent only), although it’s best to hand wash as the agitation from the washing maker can in some cases loosen the stitching. Constantly air dry the gloves. Washing the Bionic ReliefGrip gloves is supposed to make the leather much more supple while boosting the resilience of the glove. I can’t vouch for that however I can say that the gloves are still perfectly flexible and have not diminished after lots of runs through the cleaning maker (and the stitching is still undamaged).
Padded Joints
The cushioning on the bottom of the fingers is a special feature of the Bionic ReliefGrip gardening gloves. The pads are placed midway in between each finger joint and are supposed to even out pressure throughout the entire surface area of the finger when you grip something, like a shovel or rake. This should decrease blisters and require less force when gripping the tool, a certain plus for those of us with arthritis in our fingers.
There’s likewise padding on the palm of the hand which I truly value after several hours of digging or using a hand tool.
There are small pieces of terrycloth strategically stitched into the within the glove, primarily where the padding is. These serve to keep your hands dry in locations where you usually sweat, hence lowering the chance of blisters. I ‘d like to see a terry spot on the outside of the glove though, maybe on the thumb, to clean my brow on those hot Tucson days in the garden.
I can’t determine grip force but I can tell you that I’ve never developed blisters while gardening with the Bionic gloves and my hands don’t get the “soaked” feeling I have with some of my other gloves.
Lycra “Flex Zones”
One of the factors leather gardening gloves can be uncomfortable is that they don’t stretch a lot, making it harder (and tiring) to flex your fingers or grasp a gardening tool. Goatskin leather is quite supple however Bionic has actually taken things one action further by including elastic Lycra “movement zones” on the back of each knuckle and “web zones” between the fingers.
Besides looking quite cool, the “movement zones” do appear to make it much easier to form a fist as they supply some “give” on the back of the hand. The “web zones” are planned to help dissipate heat and make the gloves fit much better across several hand/finger sizes. The downside is that each motion and web zone is double-stitched in location (so they will not likely come undone), making for a lot more joints on the inside of the gloves. You get used to all the joints after a while however, initially, it can be a little uncomfortable.
Fit
There are separate styles and sizing for males and females. Make sure to utilize the company’s sizing standards on their website or as revealed on the inside of each display screen sleeve if you’re buying the gloves in a shop. I discovered that they run a little smaller than other brands– I normally use a small but in the Bionic gloves I wear a medium (and could probably go to a large as the medium gloves were rather tight when I initially put them on).
Everyone has their own preference when it concerns how securely a glove needs to fit. For sturdy work I choose mine to be a little looser. But for “regular” gardening jobs, I like a tight fitting glove. It sits tight, keeps the dirt out, and offers you more fine motor control of your fingers. So if you’re discussing whether to increase or down a size with the Bionic gloves, I ‘d recommend opting for a somewhat tighter fit as the gloves will extend a bit and they work best when they’re a little snug. After a while, I don’t even notice that I’m wearing them as I’m digging, weeding, or planting in the garden.