Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

[bravotwozero]

So I finally bit the bullet and decided I was going to buy myself a pair of these. They aren't cheap, however I found a pair overseas on an auction site for about £28 in total.

Not bad, eh?

Admittedly I was expecting a pair of fakes to turn up. But no - a genuine pair arrived and believe me when I say you will know if they are real or not from the quality.

If you do order overseas then be aware of the risks involved, in respect to fakes. Check the labels and there should be a Oakley Serial number inside.



Took nearly 2.5 weeks to get here but hey ho what do you expect from ordering from a few miles away. No point whining as it was a good price.




I'll keep the review short and sweet.







Why I bought them......?

They're cool, aren't they? That's the not the main reason though.

My job required a glove that was tough, offers protection, and yet still remains slim and tight fitting in order to take notes or handle keys etc.
So that was pretty much any military style shooting glove. They are slim, they are tough, and they look the part.

I did some research, and obviously I've seen a few on here in photos and I knew I wanted these bad boys.


From research - the main contender to these are a pair of gloves made by Camelback. I didn't choose these as they are shorter and don't come in all black.





First impressions:

Very well made.

That was my initial thought when opening the packaging. They smelt like new quality gloves, they looked like it, but they felt like it too.

They are tight fitting, so make sure you get the right size for you.

Once on your hand they fit like a, well like a glove. They somehow feel 'real steel' even though they're only gloves.


Features:

The most obvious feature (And was my main attraction) are the Carbon Fibre knuckles.

What are they for?

Well... you be the judge of that. But they offer good protection for a large proportion of the top of the hand.

But if you use your imagination, they are useful for other things too....

The Carbon Fibre is extremely hard. I threw a few punches into my punch bag and they did leave indentations and yet I felt nearly nothing.


My only issue with the knuckles is that they don't sit perfectly on the knuckles, infact a few MM just behind them.

SO when throwing a punch you may have to aim slightly lower to get them on target.



The glove also has 5 vents on each front of the finer. These aren't waterproof gloves, but they will offer warmth and will vent when it's too hot.



The grip

The glove has a single sheet on the underside of the hand as the grip. There are no fancy pads or patterns but a flat rubbery type material, which works just fine.

Rather thoughtfully, Oakley has added extra grip dots on the two trigger fingers on each hand. Perfect for shooting in cold, wet weather.






Usability

like I said, I bought these because I need a good grip but have to do fiddly things like turn keys and make notes.

These pack a punch and yet still make it easy to carry out delicate tasks, so when it comes to changing batteries, lighting smokes or whatever then they can do it.

Unfortunately I found it difficult to use touch screens with these though. This may or may not be relevant to you but for me, I may need to adjust sat navs etc while wearing them.

Some gloves do work with some touch screens but these don't.




Appearance

Professional. Practical. Genuine. Intimidating?

Some words I'd use to describe them. But this really is a matter of opinion so I'll leave this to you.




Bad points:

The positioning of the knuckles.

I feel they don't sit in line with you're own knuckles, but this may be a fitting issue.

Not alot to say on this section but I'm sure I'll have more to say here after longer use.





Overall...?

Well they're fantastic.

I'd give them a good 8/10 overall but they are expensive. If you can find them for about £30 then it's money well spent.

You really do get what you pay for here, and it's good value too.



Like I said, just a quick overview of what I think, feel free to add and discuss etc.

[dannyeprice23]

Re: Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

i bought a pair of these the other week, in black. i have rather small hands for a dude, so went for the small. overall i do like them, probably not as much as my mechanix ones, but these definitely offer more protection, and as i wanted them for CQB they offer much more protection, however the same as you, i also find the knuckle positioning a little off.

overall though, i also would have given them an 8/10, possibly a 7.......they do however, look the dogs bollocks!

[Vulcan Raven]

Re: Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

I have a genuin pair in Khaki for £24. Comfort get's a 9/10 they don't make your hands sweat and are a comfy fit with good grip and material quality. Appearance wise get's a 7/10 although they have a very good look the knuckles don't seem to be placed correctly as much. Needs minor adjusting on the manufacturer part. Overal 8/10 well worth the money for any enthusiast.

[dave38x]

Re: Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

I've had a pair for about four years now, regularly use them for snowboarding - they are perfect. In contrast to the OP i've found that they do work with my HTC sensation, but ive only ever tried that while they have been wet, which could explain it.

They are a cracking lightweight pair of gloves, mine are starting to show significant wear and tear after a fair bit of snowboardiing/four uses airsofting, however they work like a charm. Re: fitting, and the alignment of the knuckle plates - mine are spot on, however they are a bit short for my fingers as far as the webs between the index finger and thumb goes, meaning operation of a KSC glock18's controls is somewhat tricky when wearing the gloves.

Other than that they get full marks, so 9/10 from me.

For those interested I bought them from a military kit website (not airsoft) in the uk for 24 quid - cheaper than any legit snowboarding glove!

[bravotwozero]

Re: Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

Suppose I could update:

After being worn for about 12 hours a week, the signs of use are starting to appear.

The fingers have started to fray, and the Velcro straps have weakened a lot. They don't have the same grip as they once had.

I have found the gloves to work with a touch screen (HTC) but don't expect pin point accuracy.


The gloves have also moulded a little to my hand. Was they start to wear in, they fit much better and feel like they've been moulded for my hands.

So fantastic really. Still no rips ... yet.

[NEWT]

Re: Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

I use these and cant fault them comfy warm but cool when its hot, i used them with my iphone they worked fine for me! The only downsides i can think of is the knuckles and they stink after a while as you cant wash them! That may me the same with any glove? How do you wash yours? I also chopped the end of my trigger finger part of the glive off to give that extra bit of use as i cant be bothered to keep taking them off to light a fag or adjust my hop!

Great gloves will definatly be getting another pair when these die!

[dave38x]

Re: Oakley Pilot glove (Black)

The only downsides i can think of is the knuckles and they stink after a while as you cant wash them!

Throw em in the kitchen sink with some warm (hand warm, they'll shrink if its scaldingly hot) water and some clothes detergent - job done!