INTRODUCTION
As a self proclaimed outdoor gear AND techie addict, it was only a matter of time before these two passions crossed paths in a review... via keeping my digits warm...in winter...when outside...using my touch screen smart phone. Most of my friends simply dismiss this as an unhealthy obsession to all-things-iphone, and recommend I wait until I'm back indoors to use it. However, with the busyness of life on the run, coupled with all the "information" packed on my iphone, with an occasional trip to the ski slopes, I find it an absolute necessity to have a glove I can use my iphone with in the dead of winter.
"Things have changed" - When I first purchased the The North Face's eTip glove back in 2009, it was one of the few (if not only) glove on the market for the iPhone. Now, if you do an ebay search on 'iphone gloves' you get 1,309 hits (as of 9/27/12) with prices starting at $1.29. So, as a limiting factor, I googled 'iphone gloves' and the three top product hits are the iTap gloves (www.itapgloves.com), the Aglove gloves (www.aglove.com), and The North Face eTip gloves (www.thenorthface.com). The contenders have been chosen.
TEST 1 - FIT, FEEL, AND CONSTRUCTION.
Aglove and iTap right out of the box look very similar as standard yarn knit gloves. Both have a snug fit, and a relatively soft feel. Not as soft as fleece, cashmere, or flannel, but my wife tried them both on and said they felt just fine. The relatively soft rating is due to the materials they are made of:
AGLOVE (Retail $25.99) - The material is an acrylic/silver yarn combination. Depending on the type of glove, determines the amount of silver. The more silver the more conductivity. That said, the standard Aglove comes with a 7% silver/acrylic nylon blend, the white Bamboo comes with 15% silver/acrylic nylon blend, and the Aglove Sport comes with 15% silver/acrylic nylon blend. (note: on two pairs of the Aglove Sport, the tag says 20% silver/acrylic nylon blend...hmmm...mislabeled or unintended upgrade?). An important point to make is that the ENTIRE glove is made with the conductive material, so that means that (1) you can use all 10 fingers on your device, and (2) the website claims that this conductive material transfers all your bio-electric energy in your hands, to your finger tips...which...I would need to see lab test results to believe this. This review will be on Aglove Sport only, with mention of the other Aglove products.
The Aglove Sport comes in black with silver speckles only. Also, the Aglove has their logo right in the middle of the back of the hand, though you can reverse the glove so the logo is on the palm, giving the glove a classier, nondescript look. The Aglove gloves also have doubled over fabric in the wrist to help keep the gloves on.
iTAP (Retail $20) - The material is made from merino wool, one of the softest wool blends on the market, second only to cashmere. However, not all merino wool blends are equal. For comparison sake, the wool on the iTap while soft, is not as soft as my Express merino wool sweater, or my smartwool base layers. The wool in iTap is also piling slightly giving it a more casual look and feel. To allow for conductivity, there is silver thread weaved into the fabric at the tips of the thumb, index finger and middle finger, which amounts to two less fingers than the Aglove. However, the silver is weaved into both sides of the tips so the gloves are symmetric and reversible in use as well.
The iTap has more fabric and a snugger feel at the wrist. In terms of look, the iTap looks more casual and 'everyday' as something you would wear with a different outfit if you're one to accessorize The iTap comes in 4 colors (2011 colors). The Bark is a lighter brown and looks more brown then the website picture. I also got a pair of gloves in Brick, which actually looks more like a brick red than the bright red on the website
**Key point - Both gloves are symmetric, in that there is no designated right or left hand based on construction. However, the Aglove Sports does have a logo on the back of the hand OR palm of the hand, depending on how you wear them. Though, when you wear them with the logo on the palm, you can feel the inside stitching. iTap has no indication of which hand to wear them.
eTIP (Retail $45) - The North Face eTip gloves are much more technical looking. On close inspection, I noticed that the eTip gloves are made from at least 10 different panels (per hand) of fabric sewn together, allowing for articulation in the index finger and thumb. These gloves are made from a four-way stretch fleece. The exterior is smooth, non-snagging, and abrasion resistant. These are NOT windproof, or even wind resistant. The interior is brushed fleece with a very soft hand. Besides the stitched TNF logo and eTIP logo, the palm and palm side fingers have a silicone rubber pattern to give grip, which is nice. To allow for conductivity at the finger tips, a silver blended fabric used at the tips of the index and thumb only... giving them an ET 'glowing finger' look...'ET phone home'... For those keeping count, there are three less usable fingers than Aglove, and one less than iTap. There is a designated Right and Left hand.
TNF eTIP also have a snug fit, maybe a little looser than the other two. The inside of the glove is a brushed fleece, so its the softest feeling of the three, BUT you can also feel all the inside seams where the panels were sewn together.
BOTTOM LINE: All three couldn't be anymore different in material used for construction. However, for their respective materials, they all seem to be of relatively high quality. Maybe not industry leading quality materials, but none of it feels cheap either. All three gloves are comfortable to me, and will be to most people. If you're sensitive and don't like feeling seams you might not like The North Face eTips. If you don't like the feel of wool, avoid the iTap gloves.
TEST 2 - USABILITY
For Usability Ratings, I tested three categories of touch screen use: (1) Basic Navigation (hitting apps and icons, swiping the screen sideways, and scrolling down a webpage), (2) Detailed Navigation (hitting hyperlinks in webpages, back/forward arrows, and phone numbers), and (3) Fine Motor Skills (typing a text message, email, or using a calculator).
For comparison purposes I am going to use a 10 point scale, with bare fingers in all three categories being a baseline 10. A zero would be total uselessness, as if wearing regular ski gloves.
AGLOVE - The Agloves work really well in touch screen responsiveness and accuracy. In general, I found the Agloves to be the best of all three gloves in this review. I tested four different pairs (three Aglove sports, and one pair of Aglove Bamboo) and found the Usability for all four gloves to be consistent and nearly identical.
(1) Basic Functions, Score 9 or 10. The Agloves were consistent and nearly perfect in this category. The only reason for a score of 9 would be that with the Aglove, you did have to put a little bit more pressure than bare fingered. But just a little.
(2) Detailed Navigation, Score 9. Even hitting specific hyperlinks or phone numbers, the Agloves performed extremely well. The only issues I had was when clicking on a link that was in list of links, or menu of links where I sometimes inadvertently hit the link above or below.
(3) Fine Motor Skills, Score 8 or 9. This was the one category that I noticed a difference from using bare fingers. When typing a text or email, or hitting numbers on a calculator I had to work a little more slowly, and had a few more mistakes when compared to using bare fingers. However, I found that these gloves worked great, and once you get used to them, you don't even notice them.
OVERALL USABILITY SCORE for AGLOVE = 8.5 with 10 being bare fingers
iTAP - This rating is a bit more difficulty to score because I tested two different pairs, that performed very differently. One pair scored very high. The second pair was practically unusable. This variance in quality across products is troubling, but giving them the benefit of the doubt, my review reflects the good pair only
(1) Basic Functions, Score 8 or 9. The iTap were consistent and excellent in this category. Slightly less responsive than the Aglove, but very, very functional. Like the Aglove, you did have to put a little bit more pressure than bare fingered. But just a little.
(2) Detailed Navigation, Score 8. Again, just a little lower in score than the Aglove with the same issues above, but with less accuracy. However, still very functional in this area.
(3) Fine Motor Skills, Score 7. Like the Aglove, there was a noticeable difference from bare fingers. Unlike the Aglove, I never really got used to texting. They are ok for short texts, but longer texts and emails were a bit cumbersome. For longer texts I would probably take the gloves off.
OVERALL USABILITY SCORE for iTAP = 7.5 with 10 being bare fingers (note - after one season of use, this overall score dropped to a 6 as the sensitivity seemed to decrease.
TNF eTip - Overall, eTip glove had good, accurate, electromagnetic response, but bulkier tips of the eTIP glove made the glove seem less responsiveness than the others.
(1) Basic Functions, Score 9. The eTip gloves were quite good in the basic function category. Things like answering the phone, dialing numbers (if numbers were big), clicking on icons, etc was just fine. Though the bulkier tip may be an issue if you have a protective case (I have an Otterbox) when hitting icons near the edge of screen.
(2) Detailed Navigation, Score 8. Due to the bulkier tip, definitely lower in score than the other two with the same issues above, but with less accuracy when clicking on hyperlinks or phone numbers. However, still functional in this area. Just not as accurate.
(3) Fine Motor Skills, Score 7. Short, necessary texts only. Anything else, I would probably take the gloves off.
OVERALL USABILITY SCORE for iTAP = 7.5 with 10 being bare fingers.
TEST 3 - WARMTH AND DURABILITY
Ok, compared to my Primaloft lined RAB gloves, none of these gloves compare. But in fairness to each of these products, that's not what they are about anyway. Since the Aglove and iTap use a yarn knit fabric (acrylic and wool respectively) they have little to no wind resistant. So, in a cold car, or when the wind isn't blowing, they work ok. However, on a gusty day, the wind cuts through them like a warm knife thru butter. As for the North Face gloves, there was a different issue, the cut of the gloves was tight around the fingers, restricting blood flow, resulting in chilly finger tips. However, I did use all three gloves as glove liners under my RAB eVent mitten shells, and all of the were just fine as an insulation layer. But while running around town by themselves on a cold winter afternoon, they all helped, but don't expect total and complete warmth.
After one whole season, all three gloves wore fairly well. By the end of the season, the Agloves looked great, except for some wear and light browning of silver on the finger tips, but function just as well as when I first got them. The wool iTaps had started to pile slightly giving them a natural rustic look. The functionality decreased slightly, but still very usable. The North Face gloves looked great, except, the silver tips had some significant wear, decreasing their effectiveness to almost useless. However, the gloves were an early generation of the glove and The North Face stood by their product and replaced them under warranty. With realistic expectations for warmth and durability, you shouldn't be too disappointed.
BOTTEM LINE
Well, there is not a clear winner hear. If consistent usability is your thing, than you can't beat the Aglove. It has a contemporary look and feel, and black goes with just about everything. If usability with a casual look is your thing, you have to love the merino wool iTap. Also, as a reminder, merino wool as a natural technical insulating fabric is second-to-none. If technical look is your thing, go with the North Face eTip.
Note: For the iTap, their customer service was non-existent. While their online store processed my order just fine, when I got one pair that was too big, and didn't work, they never returned one of my three emails. Good thing at least one pair fit and worked great, but the other was a waste of $20. As for TNF and Aglove, both have outstanding customer service as I have contacted both on different occasions for different reasons. And as a gear junkie, good customer service is something you just have to expect in the outdoor apparel industry.
As a self proclaimed outdoor gear AND techie addict, it was only a matter of time before these two passions crossed paths in a review... via keeping my digits warm...in winter...when outside...using my touch screen smart phone. Most of my friends simply dismiss this as an unhealthy obsession to all-things-iphone, and recommend I wait until I'm back indoors to use it. However, with the busyness of life on the run, coupled with all the "information" packed on my iphone, with an occasional trip to the ski slopes, I find it an absolute necessity to have a glove I can use my iphone with in the dead of winter.
"Things have changed" - When I first purchased the The North Face's eTip glove back in 2009, it was one of the few (if not only) glove on the market for the iPhone. Now, if you do an ebay search on 'iphone gloves' you get 1,309 hits (as of 9/27/12) with prices starting at $1.29. So, as a limiting factor, I googled 'iphone gloves' and the three top product hits are the iTap gloves (www.itapgloves.com), the Aglove gloves (www.aglove.com), and The North Face eTip gloves (www.thenorthface.com). The contenders have been chosen.
TEST 1 - FIT, FEEL, AND CONSTRUCTION.
Aglove and iTap right out of the box look very similar as standard yarn knit gloves. Both have a snug fit, and a relatively soft feel. Not as soft as fleece, cashmere, or flannel, but my wife tried them both on and said they felt just fine. The relatively soft rating is due to the materials they are made of:
AGLOVE (Retail $25.99) - The material is an acrylic/silver yarn combination. Depending on the type of glove, determines the amount of silver. The more silver the more conductivity. That said, the standard Aglove comes with a 7% silver/acrylic nylon blend, the white Bamboo comes with 15% silver/acrylic nylon blend, and the Aglove Sport comes with 15% silver/acrylic nylon blend. (note: on two pairs of the Aglove Sport, the tag says 20% silver/acrylic nylon blend...hmmm...mislabeled or unintended upgrade?). An important point to make is that the ENTIRE glove is made with the conductive material, so that means that (1) you can use all 10 fingers on your device, and (2) the website claims that this conductive material transfers all your bio-electric energy in your hands, to your finger tips...which...I would need to see lab test results to believe this. This review will be on Aglove Sport only, with mention of the other Aglove products.
The Aglove Sport comes in black with silver speckles only. Also, the Aglove has their logo right in the middle of the back of the hand, though you can reverse the glove so the logo is on the palm, giving the glove a classier, nondescript look. The Aglove gloves also have doubled over fabric in the wrist to help keep the gloves on.
iTAP (Retail $20) - The material is made from merino wool, one of the softest wool blends on the market, second only to cashmere. However, not all merino wool blends are equal. For comparison sake, the wool on the iTap while soft, is not as soft as my Express merino wool sweater, or my smartwool base layers. The wool in iTap is also piling slightly giving it a more casual look and feel. To allow for conductivity, there is silver thread weaved into the fabric at the tips of the thumb, index finger and middle finger, which amounts to two less fingers than the Aglove. However, the silver is weaved into both sides of the tips so the gloves are symmetric and reversible in use as well.
The iTap has more fabric and a snugger feel at the wrist. In terms of look, the iTap looks more casual and 'everyday' as something you would wear with a different outfit if you're one to accessorize The iTap comes in 4 colors (2011 colors). The Bark is a lighter brown and looks more brown then the website picture. I also got a pair of gloves in Brick, which actually looks more like a brick red than the bright red on the website
**Key point - Both gloves are symmetric, in that there is no designated right or left hand based on construction. However, the Aglove Sports does have a logo on the back of the hand OR palm of the hand, depending on how you wear them. Though, when you wear them with the logo on the palm, you can feel the inside stitching. iTap has no indication of which hand to wear them.
eTIP (Retail $45) - The North Face eTip gloves are much more technical looking. On close inspection, I noticed that the eTip gloves are made from at least 10 different panels (per hand) of fabric sewn together, allowing for articulation in the index finger and thumb. These gloves are made from a four-way stretch fleece. The exterior is smooth, non-snagging, and abrasion resistant. These are NOT windproof, or even wind resistant. The interior is brushed fleece with a very soft hand. Besides the stitched TNF logo and eTIP logo, the palm and palm side fingers have a silicone rubber pattern to give grip, which is nice. To allow for conductivity at the finger tips, a silver blended fabric used at the tips of the index and thumb only... giving them an ET 'glowing finger' look...'ET phone home'... For those keeping count, there are three less usable fingers than Aglove, and one less than iTap. There is a designated Right and Left hand.
TNF eTIP also have a snug fit, maybe a little looser than the other two. The inside of the glove is a brushed fleece, so its the softest feeling of the three, BUT you can also feel all the inside seams where the panels were sewn together.
BOTTOM LINE: All three couldn't be anymore different in material used for construction. However, for their respective materials, they all seem to be of relatively high quality. Maybe not industry leading quality materials, but none of it feels cheap either. All three gloves are comfortable to me, and will be to most people. If you're sensitive and don't like feeling seams you might not like The North Face eTips. If you don't like the feel of wool, avoid the iTap gloves.
TEST 2 - USABILITY
For Usability Ratings, I tested three categories of touch screen use: (1) Basic Navigation (hitting apps and icons, swiping the screen sideways, and scrolling down a webpage), (2) Detailed Navigation (hitting hyperlinks in webpages, back/forward arrows, and phone numbers), and (3) Fine Motor Skills (typing a text message, email, or using a calculator).
For comparison purposes I am going to use a 10 point scale, with bare fingers in all three categories being a baseline 10. A zero would be total uselessness, as if wearing regular ski gloves.
AGLOVE - The Agloves work really well in touch screen responsiveness and accuracy. In general, I found the Agloves to be the best of all three gloves in this review. I tested four different pairs (three Aglove sports, and one pair of Aglove Bamboo) and found the Usability for all four gloves to be consistent and nearly identical.
(1) Basic Functions, Score 9 or 10. The Agloves were consistent and nearly perfect in this category. The only reason for a score of 9 would be that with the Aglove, you did have to put a little bit more pressure than bare fingered. But just a little.
(2) Detailed Navigation, Score 9. Even hitting specific hyperlinks or phone numbers, the Agloves performed extremely well. The only issues I had was when clicking on a link that was in list of links, or menu of links where I sometimes inadvertently hit the link above or below.
(3) Fine Motor Skills, Score 8 or 9. This was the one category that I noticed a difference from using bare fingers. When typing a text or email, or hitting numbers on a calculator I had to work a little more slowly, and had a few more mistakes when compared to using bare fingers. However, I found that these gloves worked great, and once you get used to them, you don't even notice them.
OVERALL USABILITY SCORE for AGLOVE = 8.5 with 10 being bare fingers
iTAP - This rating is a bit more difficulty to score because I tested two different pairs, that performed very differently. One pair scored very high. The second pair was practically unusable. This variance in quality across products is troubling, but giving them the benefit of the doubt, my review reflects the good pair only
(1) Basic Functions, Score 8 or 9. The iTap were consistent and excellent in this category. Slightly less responsive than the Aglove, but very, very functional. Like the Aglove, you did have to put a little bit more pressure than bare fingered. But just a little.
(2) Detailed Navigation, Score 8. Again, just a little lower in score than the Aglove with the same issues above, but with less accuracy. However, still very functional in this area.
(3) Fine Motor Skills, Score 7. Like the Aglove, there was a noticeable difference from bare fingers. Unlike the Aglove, I never really got used to texting. They are ok for short texts, but longer texts and emails were a bit cumbersome. For longer texts I would probably take the gloves off.
OVERALL USABILITY SCORE for iTAP = 7.5 with 10 being bare fingers (note - after one season of use, this overall score dropped to a 6 as the sensitivity seemed to decrease.
TNF eTip - Overall, eTip glove had good, accurate, electromagnetic response, but bulkier tips of the eTIP glove made the glove seem less responsiveness than the others.
(1) Basic Functions, Score 9. The eTip gloves were quite good in the basic function category. Things like answering the phone, dialing numbers (if numbers were big), clicking on icons, etc was just fine. Though the bulkier tip may be an issue if you have a protective case (I have an Otterbox) when hitting icons near the edge of screen.
(2) Detailed Navigation, Score 8. Due to the bulkier tip, definitely lower in score than the other two with the same issues above, but with less accuracy when clicking on hyperlinks or phone numbers. However, still functional in this area. Just not as accurate.
(3) Fine Motor Skills, Score 7. Short, necessary texts only. Anything else, I would probably take the gloves off.
OVERALL USABILITY SCORE for iTAP = 7.5 with 10 being bare fingers.
TEST 3 - WARMTH AND DURABILITY
Ok, compared to my Primaloft lined RAB gloves, none of these gloves compare. But in fairness to each of these products, that's not what they are about anyway. Since the Aglove and iTap use a yarn knit fabric (acrylic and wool respectively) they have little to no wind resistant. So, in a cold car, or when the wind isn't blowing, they work ok. However, on a gusty day, the wind cuts through them like a warm knife thru butter. As for the North Face gloves, there was a different issue, the cut of the gloves was tight around the fingers, restricting blood flow, resulting in chilly finger tips. However, I did use all three gloves as glove liners under my RAB eVent mitten shells, and all of the were just fine as an insulation layer. But while running around town by themselves on a cold winter afternoon, they all helped, but don't expect total and complete warmth.
After one whole season, all three gloves wore fairly well. By the end of the season, the Agloves looked great, except for some wear and light browning of silver on the finger tips, but function just as well as when I first got them. The wool iTaps had started to pile slightly giving them a natural rustic look. The functionality decreased slightly, but still very usable. The North Face gloves looked great, except, the silver tips had some significant wear, decreasing their effectiveness to almost useless. However, the gloves were an early generation of the glove and The North Face stood by their product and replaced them under warranty. With realistic expectations for warmth and durability, you shouldn't be too disappointed.
BOTTEM LINE
Well, there is not a clear winner hear. If consistent usability is your thing, than you can't beat the Aglove. It has a contemporary look and feel, and black goes with just about everything. If usability with a casual look is your thing, you have to love the merino wool iTap. Also, as a reminder, merino wool as a natural technical insulating fabric is second-to-none. If technical look is your thing, go with the North Face eTip.
Note: For the iTap, their customer service was non-existent. While their online store processed my order just fine, when I got one pair that was too big, and didn't work, they never returned one of my three emails. Good thing at least one pair fit and worked great, but the other was a waste of $20. As for TNF and Aglove, both have outstanding customer service as I have contacted both on different occasions for different reasons. And as a gear junkie, good customer service is something you just have to expect in the outdoor apparel industry.
