Outdoor Research Women's Alti Mitts

I have spent hundreds of days snowboarding in New England in the last 15 years and gone through five or six pairs of mittens in the process. These are the best ones I have ever used and the best ones currently in existence as far as I can tell. When it comes to gloves and mittens, there are two fundamental types: those that are meant to tuck inside the sleeves of your jacket and those that go over the sleeves. I am firmly in the mittens over sleeves camp and that is how these mittens are meant to be used. For this type of mitten, the larger the cuff (the lower part of the mitten that covers your wrist and forearm) the better the mitten will be at sealing out snow and moisture. The cuffs on these mittens are absolutely HUGE!. That alone makes them 4 star worthy in my opinion. The construction is excellent and all of the features are right in line with what you would expect from a high performance mitten in this (admittedly very high) price range. They are super warm, and the removable liner makes it possible to wash them without putting the shell through the wash too, which eventually will destroy the waterproof coating. It also make it easy to dry them should they get wet. This concludes the empirical portion of the review.These mittens do not fare quite as well when approached from a philosophical standpoint. Lets begin with the basic question "Gloves or mittens?". The reason people choose mittens over gloves is that they are warmer. Why are they warmer? Because your fingers are all together in the same space, you can make a fist, or even squeeze a handwarmer if you want. Thats it. People wear mittens because they are warmer, because their fingers can touch each other. Therein lies the fundamental contradiction that betrays the Mt Baker mittens. Although they are mittens on the outside, the liners are gloves. This is an utterly incomprehensible design choice, and one that companies other than OR are guilty of as well. If I wanted my fingers to be separate, I would buy gloves! The only reason I could think of for making the liners gloves would be that maybe OR thought the liners would be more useful as gloves if you ever wanted to use them without the shell. Give me a break. If I can afford to spend $150 on these mittens, then I can certainly afford to buy gloves for those occasions that warrant it. Let me just reiterate, in case there is an OR product rep lurking out there somewhere: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR PUTTING GLOVE LINERS IN A MITTEN SHELL EVER!!!! Doing so completely contradicts the very reason that mittens exist in the first place.Sorry for the rant folks, I have needed to get that off my chest for a long time. Ultimately, these are still the best mittens you can buy. They are so warm that the flawed liner does not warrant altering the five star rating, in my opinion.

I bought these to replace my circa 1996 OR Gortex mitten shells which have served me very well. I live in Alaska where it gets very cold. I was looking for a waterproof shell for very cold days. These mitts were available as either a "modular" set (with removable liners) or as shells without liners. Weirdly, the price was the same, so I got the ones with the liners (duh). The quality is excellent. The fit is good. They look sharp. They are also very warm. I wore them 2 nights ago putting up christmas lights when the windchill was -45 and, out of the box, they kept my hands pretty warm without any heat packs or anything. My hands got a little chillly when I was handling the ladder for long periods, but not bad. These mittens do the job and they are now definitely my "good" mittens. On the whole, they have more features than I care about and I'd suspect you could find something just as functional for less money.My two main design gripes with these mittens:1. The gauntlet is too small. The drawstring set-up on the gauntlet works great to tighten and loosen the cuff, but you kind of have to play with the gauntlet to get the mittens to sit properly over sleeves of a very bulky jacket. I went back and compared my new mitts to my 1995 mitts and, sure enough, the old gauntlets were wider. So if you're wearing a very heavy jacket, be prepared for the fact that your sleeves may not slip easily into the cuffs of your mittens.2. Why glove liners instead of mitten liners? By deciding to buy mittens I have already acknowledged that: 1) mittens are warmer and 2) I'm giving up some dexterity... so why stick gloves INSIDE the mittens? You end up with something that is just as clumsy but not as warm. Also, I'm guessing from a manufactory standpoint, gloves cost more. The glove liners don't have a proper palm, so I'm not sure I'd every use them outside of the mittens... Don't get it...

I'm more likely to wear these shoveling snow or walking outside than I am on a mountain. They are not as warm as expected but they will likely do the job for most people. They seem quite sturdy and the mitts are seam-sealed to give it a bit more quality and waterproofing. One of the first things you may notice about these gloves is the outer material has almost a crunchy-quality to them. They aren't going to be soft like cotton. The next thing you might notice is the bright red liners. The liners aren't waterproof but they are quite comfortable and fit well.Compared to another popular mitten, the Black Diamond Mercury Mitts, these aren't quite as warm. However, they have a bit more dexterity as they are not quite as large and the five-finger liner helps this as well. The liners are also more comfortable and I personally prefer the shell being the waterproof part (unlike the BD Mercury Mitts).Pros: - Warm - Waterproof shell - Quality construction - Increased dexterity over othersCons: - Not as warm as others - Design looks a bit cheap (even if the construction feels otherwise) - Shell material can be offputting if you aren't used to wearing gloves like this

These gloves are very warm, ruggedly built, waterp[roof, durable and of first class quality. Thsese Mits will be used while Snowboarding. I am very pleased with my purchase.

Perfect for cold ski days in Canada -20 C

Use them on my daily cycle to and from winter..no need to worry about getting cold hands anymore..Awesome gloves

Solid warmth, comfort and durability.

So warm!