Hestra CZone gloves -- waterproof or not?

[wutangclan]

Wondering how Hestra's (proprietary?) CZone membrane performs compared to Gore-TEX ... does anyone have experience?

I have their Army Leather Gore-TEX gloves and those are solid -- I use those when working all day in the rain and my hands remain dry even if the outer leather/synthetic layers of the gloves are soaking wet. But only a handful (badumtss) of models have a Gore-TEX liner, a few others have the CZone liner, especially the less bulky gloves.

 

[Tricia]

Waterproof, yes. Their OutDry is really good, but you should keep in mind this is waterproof for snow conditions, not rain (or snain)

If you're looking at Hestra products, look for gold stitching instead of the usual stitching. Gold stitching is their way of show that its Gore-tex
Example, Army Leather Mitt with and without Gore-Tex

 

[wutangclan]

Waterproof, yes. Their OutDry is really good, but you should keep in mind this is waterproof for snow conditions, not rain (or snain)

I instruct at Whistler/Seymour/Grouse/Cypress (Vancouver, BC). I do mean rain :-(

 

[Analisa]

CZone and OutDry are pretty different. OutDry is designed for high output activities and is more breatheable - really good options for uphill touring & ice climbing. CZone is a proprietary competitor to Goretex. There's a lot less publicly published, independent 3rd party lab testing for waterproofing & breatheability performance for mitten fabrications, compared to the way REI did some testing across hardshell membranes a few years ago. And manufacturers like Hestra and BD don't even disclose whether their membranes are PU, ePTFE, or a combination of the two.

Based on what I've read, Gore is the gold standard, and proprietaries usually means a bit of a sacrifice in either breatheability or waterproofing. It's really hard to tell to what degree though, since face fabric also has a lot of influence over how taxed the membranes are. For example, a leather Black Diamond glove with BDry technology will outperform one with the same membrane with a woven face fabric, and both will outperform one with knit fabrication - even though the membrane is the same across all 3 mittens. Membrane performance is more noticeable in items like shell jackets where the vast majority of options are nylon or polyester wovens.

 

[Tricia]

For what its worth, every glove clinic I've sat through has emphasized that ski gloves, no matter what kind of waterproof is used, are waterproof for snow conditions, not rain.

The only thing that is really really waterproof is rubber.
You can get some nice waterproof gear that is pretty darn good, but...

The gear that I've been most happy with are the Helly Hansen HellyTech Professional line up.
https://www.hellyhansen.com/hellytech/
I'm fairly knowledgeable about Helly Hansen, and I am not familiar with any gloves that are HellyTech Professional, most are HellyTech Performance.

 

[dbostedo]

Here's something that might work

 

[Jim McDonald]

More duct tape, Harold!