Outdoor Research Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves

Outdoor Research's Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves are the best kind of simple: they do their job—keeping hands warm while providing finger dexterity—without any fuss. I've had my pair for more than a year, use them regularly for photography and general use, and just bought a backup pair, so I don't have to worry about losing them.

 Use

Fingerless gloves are, obviously, for when you want finger dexterity, and to retain some warmth. That might seem like a narrow usage window, but I use this OR pair regularly from fall through spring for photography, and often as my general go-to glove in cool temps. If I'm bringing my camera and temps will be cool or colder, I'll automatically take these with me when traveling as my light-ish weight pair. Fingerless gloves are also popular for fishing, among all sort of other uses where you need dexterity. If you need more tactility, you might appreciate fingerless gloves.

The Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves allow me to easily change settings on my camera's dials and touchscreen, switch out batteries, use my iPhone, and more, but still have some warmth. Previously, I'd take off my gloves when I needed better manual dexterity for a task; unsurprisingly, this often led to cold hands (I generally start with cold hands). I've also tried gloves with finger pads for screens, but those never seem to work for me. 

These are fingerless by design, so your hands will eventually get cold in cold temperatures, but not as fast as wearing no gloves. Depending on temps and your activity, you may need to bring another pair of gloves along as well to switch out or put on over. Plan accordingly.

For such a simple glove design, it took a while to find a pair of what I wanted. 

Fit and Design

The Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves come in two unisex sizes (I have the s/m). They're made from 100 percent wool (7 gauge) with a stretchy rib knit wrist. My pair weighs 1.7 ounces / 49 grams.

I find them quite comfortable—they go on easy, aren't too tight or too loose, and I don't think about them once on. The wool moves with your hand and is breathable, and since they're 100 percent wool less likely to get stinky.

Fit is always personal, including with gloves, but I think being fingerless and made from wool with some natural stretch makes this pair accommodating to more sizes and shapes of hands; try them for yourself.

Durability

I've used this pair of wool gloves several times a week in cool- to cold-weather for more than a year (outside of summer). The palms don't have any grip nor any reinforcement for durability, but I didn't want any in this case. There's some minor pilling of the wool from all that regular use, but nothing I noticed until taking pictures today and so far it doesn't affect fit or comfort. 

Recommendation

I have accumulated quite a few gloves—everything from lightweight liners and running gloves to waterproof, insulated gloves for skiing, and a whole bunch of wool, fleece, and synthetic options in between. The Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves are singular and probably get the most individual use out of all my pairs. They are simple, comfortable, and have become an essential part of my photography kit, as well as for general outdoor use. I like them and rely on them so much I just bought a backup pair. 

Additional Thoughts: The Fingerless Glove Search

If you're still reading, here are some further thoughts on fingerless gloves. For such a basic glove design, I was surprised to not find more fingerless options when I started my search (FYI, look up fishing glove recommendations for more options). I knew what I wanted and could picture it, but there weren't as many choices as I expected. If I knew how to knit, I'd have made them myself (and probably spent too much time and money in the process because knitting is hard). 

Basically, I wanted two pairs of fingerless gloves:

1. a simple, wool fingerless glove (like these Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves), and
2. a version like above with over mitts to extend their usage into colder temps. 

Thankfully I found OR's Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves and have been happy with them for the first option. For the second over-mitt version, I was excited when I saw OR's Lost Coast Fingerless Mitts since they looked exactly like what I'd been wanting. But disappointingly, I found their fit odd—too long in the fingers but also too tight—despite my having fairly average hands. Sadly, I had to return them.

If OR would use the Fairbanks Fingerless Gloves as the base for a design similar to the Lost Coasts that would be ideal for my second, warmer fingerless glove setup. In the meantime, I recently got the fleece Gripper Convertible Windbloc Mitts for a warmer option, and so far they are better than the Lost Coasts, but I haven't used them enough to review them.

Background

I've worn gloves and mittens since I was a child, but these are one of my first pairs of fingerless gloves.