Advnture Verdict
Only smartphone addicts and photographers need apply – the North Face Gordon Etip gloves are really only designed for regular touchscreen users. That said, they do a great job, and look rather smart, too.
Pros
- +
Good touchscreen functionality
- +
Great grip
- +
Clip together
- +
Smart looks
Cons
- -
Not warm enough for bitter weather
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First impressions
Meet Gordon. If you regularly need (or like) to use your phone in the great outdoors, he might just be your new best mate. The North Face has set out to design a glove, here, with smartphone devotees in mind. Made mostly from recycled polyester and cotton, some silicone material has been deployed on the fingers and palm allow you to easily use a touchscreen digital device without removing your gloves.
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They are more than simply a glove to grasp a phone, of course – they do also provide some thermal insulation and offer great grip (thanks to another dash of silicone). These gloves are warm enough to keep your fingers cosy on more relaxed winter walks in dry weather, and the soft fleece feels fantastic against the skin. They also clip together for easy stashing in a pocket or a backpack, which means you’re much less likely to lose one out on the hills.
• RRP: $48 (US)/ £35 (UK)
• Gender: Men’s glove
• Sizes: S–XL
• Materials: recycled polyester (74%), cotton (26%)
• Weight (per glove): g/oz
• Colours: Grey heather and black
In the field
As well as keeping our hands warm in less challenging conditions, the North Face Gordon Etip gloves do provide good grip, something that, on test, we found ideal both for holding a phone and doing chores around camp.
But, where we found Gordon came in really handy was on hikes when we were regularly stopping to navigate using an online route app, or just when we were taking a quick photo of a view, without wanting to go through the faff of pulling gloves on and off.
The Gordon gloves aren’t really warm or waterproof enough to face bad weather or severely cold conditions, and they aren’t quite slim enough to work as liner gloves, but for keeping hands comfortable in more moderate weather, especially if you’re someone who regularly uses their phone while out wandering (or who likes to play around with other tech such as cameras) they’re still a handy buy.
We’ve tested other touchscreen gloves that don’t work that well, but these gloves make scrolling on a screen a dream.
