If you resemble me, you most likely own a number of sets of gardening gloves. I’m always attempting new brand names and technologies in an effort to discover one that works well for most gardening tasks. And so far I’ve generally been disappointed …
The Bionic Tough Pro heavy duty gardening gloves were designed by an orthopedic hand cosmetic surgeon with the intent of producing a glove that features higher mastery, more gripping power, minimized hand fatigue, less blisters, and less fingertip distress.
They’re placed as a basic gardening glove that does almost everything the average gardener might request for, and are also recommended for those who work with power tools and other equipment. Sorry girls, they’re only offered in males’s sizes.
Silicone Finger Tips
I’ve owned dozens of sets of different type of glove. However the silicone fingertips (other than on the pinky finger) are an unique addition on the Bionic gloves that I’ve never seen before.
According to the maker, the silicone is expected to give you greater dexterity, durability and protection. I actually questioned whether this product would make a difference so I was happily surprised to find that mastery was greatly improved. I might do a variety of tasks with the gloves on that I generally wouldn’t have the ability to do without removing them (things like connecting the shoelaces on my boots, opening seed packs, picking up small seeds for planting, and installing drip watering components).
The resilience of the silicone fingertips is outstanding– I can’t believe that they’re still in place after what I’ve put them through. Gloves with traditional leather fingertips would have worn out in a couple of brief weeks if I put them to the test in the Tucson uber-hard soil.
Bottom line is that the silicone made a huge distinction. To this day, after hundreds of hours of use, there has been no damage to the silicone fingertips.
The only thing I observed was that I used through the double stitching on both thumbs and the left hand fingertip. I don’t care how tough a set of gloves is, they will eventually experience tiredness and wear. This didn’t affect the dexterity or versatility of the gloves. And the silicone still remained undamaged.
Palm Protection
Like the fingertips, the palms are strengthened with a silicone pad. Bionic states that this is to lower vibration fatigue when operating power tools (tillers, lawn mowers and the like). I didn’t use the gloves with power tools, so I can’t discuss that. But I do understand that any type of rubber (silicone included) in the palm of a glove will assist in this location. I owned a tree care business and utilized chainsaws daily. There were gloves available that bundled rubber pads into the palms and I can state from experience that these did reduce vibration. I can only surmise that the silicone integrated into the palms of the Tough Pro gloves would also lower vibration.
I liked the enhanced palm on the Bionic gloves. It made leaning on my palms a lot more comfy than a common leather glove without palm cushioning. I also had a couple of spills in the garden where I landed on my hands on really tough, gravel-covered ground. The silicone cushioned the blow and didn’t show any indications of wear. It actually conserved my palms from what might have been some major abrasions or cuts.
Padded Joints
The Bionic Tough Pro glove has another feature that I liked– the padding on the bottom of the fingers. The pads are positioned at the midpoint of each finger on the glove. This may seem like a little thing but it assists disperse the pressure when grasping gardening tool manages and lowers the chance of blisters in these locations.
I found that the padded joints also helped with gripping power. When holding a range of tools, the pads acted like individual pressure points that prevented slippage. Even when the gloves were soaking damp, I didn’t loose the improved grasping that these pads supply.