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Oct 22, 2024

The 8 Best Heated Gloves of 2024, Tested and Reviewed

We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. These electric heated gloves keep hands warm, dry, and comfortable for hours — even

We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.

These electric heated gloves keep hands warm, dry, and comfortable for hours — even when dunked in ice.

In This Article

Travel + Leisure / Sarah Barber

Few things ruin a winter outing faster than cold, wet hands. Investing in high quality heated gloves is a great way to stay warm in the winter while out skiing, shoveling, throwing snowballs, or even just going for a walk. We tested 21 pairs of heated gloves over a two-year period, wearing them in all sorts of conditions (and even dunking our hands in buckets of ice) and engaging in different real-world activities from texting to zipping up a winter jacket.

The most important qualities we looked for were breathability, warmth retention, water resistance, battery life, and freedom of hand movement. These heated gloves rated the highest in our lab and throughout real-world tests. Whether you’re planning an outdoor adventure or looking to make shoveling less painful, a pair of heated gloves are a must-have for winter adventuring.

These gloves offer exceptional warmth and protection without overly restricting hand movement.

They are quite bulky, so best for outdoor sporting or riding winter vehicles.

We tested these heavy-duty gloves while camping in the mountains. While the temperature only got down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, with lots of wind, we were impressed by just how sturdy and well-made these gloves are. The materials are thick and protective, the gloves also feature padded knuckles and a warm lining. Even with all of the layers, our hands were still dexterous enough to comfortably grip bike handlebars, a dog leash, and our all-important coffee tumbler.

The gloves are also quite intuitive to use and come with clear instructions, with three simple settings that turn on with just the press of a button. The gloves take around three minutes to heat up, and they’re easy to toggle through while wearing the gloves. Because they offer such great warmth and protection, including from the wind, we’re planning on wearing them for shoveling snow and just about any icy outdoor adventure to come. They feel well-made enough to last for years of use, even exposed to the elements.

The Details: Size S-3XL men’s, XS-XL women’s | Leather and aquatex | Up to 135 degrees Fahrenheit | Up to 8 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Water-resistant

These super-warming gloves are comfortable and a great value.

There’s no extra knuckle protection.

Heating up in just three seconds, these comfortable gloves feel well-made and durable on our hands, which is impressive for a fully waterproof option. The outsides are a soft, supple sheep leather, and the inside is a cozy fleece. They’re intuitive and easy to use, and once we put them on, we were still able to comfortably do most activities (texting took some effort, but thankfully, the index finger is touchscreen compatible), and we were really impressed by the quality for the price. Plus, these gloves are super warm even without the heat turned on, should you lose battery power or want to wear them on a warmer day.

The Details: Size XS-3XL unisex | Leather | Up to 8 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Waterproof

These ski gloves provide impressive protection from the elements.

We could use zippers and open doors, but we had trouble tying our shoelaces while wearing them.

These well-designed, highly protective ski gloves are a lifesaver for all kinds of snowy, icy activities. We love the heating wire that reaches all the way to the fingertips and spreads evenly across the hands and strong, attractive-looking protective outer layer that is incredibly water resistant. We tested the water resistance by soaking these in ice water, and no moisture penetrated to the inside. We really appreciate that these gloves have leashes around the wrist, which makes them much harder to lose while skiing, and just how easy they are to use and charge. Oh, and these gloves can actually be machine-washed!

The Details: Size S-XL unisex | Nylon and leather | 113-140 degrees Fahrenheit | Up to 6 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Water-resistant

These gloves offer evenly-distributed heat and are made of high-quality materials.

Like many other options, they’re a bit bulky, but using a phone was still easy.

To test these fast-heating gloves, which sit at a higher price point than many competitors, we wore them into a walk-in freezer and held frozen foods for several minutes. The whole time, our hands stayed wonderfully toasty. In addition to their reliable and evenly-distributed heat, we found that the gloves didn’t make it too hard to use our phones, despite them being a bit bulky-looking, and the goat leather palms allowed us to grip things easily. We also appreciate that they come with cinched gauntlets and removable leashes so we don’t lose track of them. The high-quality materials do such a good job keeping hands warm that we got great heat protection even without turning them on. While the gloves are spot clean only, they wipe clean easily.

The Details: Size XS-XL unisex | Polyester, nylon, Gore-tex, and goat leather | Up to 8 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Waterproof

We love how breathable these glove liners are.

Thicker gloves will offer heavier duty protection for outdoor sports or work.

We were pleasantly surprised by the quality and comfort of these accessibly priced glove liners; especially the soft material, which we found to be lightweight, breathable, and perfectly stretchy while providing a great deal of warmth. We liked wearing them on their own rather than inside of another bigger glove, which was a somewhat challenging fit.

The gloves heat up quickly and evenly around the hand without making our hands sweaty or uncomfortable, because of the breathable fabric. We liked wearing them for activities where we needed extra grip like driving, though without water-resistance and a thick extra layer of protection, they probably aren’t the best choice for winter sports.

The Details: Size XXS-XXL unisex | Polyester | 100-150 degrees Fahrenheit | Up to 8 hours | Touchscreen compatible

These mittens are lower priced than many competitors and offer good water resistance.

Mittens limit hand mobility more than gloves do.

Super soft on the inside with thick material that is surprisingly water resistant, these cozy mittens are well-suited for casual outdoor sports, and they are an excellent value for the quality. The stitching and fabric feel durable, and we appreciated how easy they are to tighten. They come with a little clip that lets you attach them together, a great feature for skiing. Another important quality for skiers: they grip a ski pole really well, and they offer enough breathability that our hands didn’t get uncomfortable or sweaty wearing them.

The Details: Size XXS-XXL unisex | Polyester | 104-140 degrees Fahrenheit | Up to 6.5 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Water-resistant

The outer layer and heated liner gloves are made of touchscreen-friendly fabric for super easy phone use.

They don’t get quite as warm as other gloves.

These comfortable, easy-to-use, and flexible gloves kept our hands super warm for ten minutes while they were dunked in ice, with a perfect snug fit thanks to an adjustable wrist. They're also water-resistant and both layers offer full touchscreen compatibility. We love that this model is like getting two gloves in one since the well-insulated liners can be worn separately by themselves. If you like to take selfies while you’re out skiing, or want to be able to easily text during an emergency, we can’t imagine a better option.

The Details: Size S-XXL unisex | Silica rubber palm and 3M thinsulate insulation | 95-113 degrees Fahrenheit | Up to 8 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Water-resistant

They’re machine-washable and lined with soft fleece.

It was a bit hard to fully close our hands.

Even without turning the heat on, these layered ski gloves are cozy and warm on the hands, with a soft fleece lining and a windproof and waterproof exterior. They’re easy to set up, use, and recharge, and are a great value for the price. While they are a bit bulky, the touchscreen compatible index finger and thumb works well enough to do everything we need to do on our phone. And for added convenience, they’re machine-washable.

The Details: Size XS-3XL unisex | Lambskin and polyester | 100-150 degrees Fahrenheit | Up to 6.5 hours | Touchscreen compatible | Waterproof

There were a few other heated gloves we tested that we liked, but have a few components we didn't love.

Savior Heat Rechargeable Electric Heated Gloves for Men and Women: We were very impressed by how quickly (and evenly) these heated up, but our hands got pretty sweaty while wearing them, so we would have liked more breathability.

Outdoor Research AltiHeat Lucent Heated Sensor Gloves: These gloves are well-designed and easy to use, but are steeply priced. We tested them by submerging our hands in an ice bucket and they stayed warm for eight minutes, but they started to get cold after that.

Travel + Leisure / Jessica Juliao

We tested 21 pairs of heated gloves over a two-year period, simulating wintery, icy conditions to see what gloves offered the best protection from the elements. In warmer climates, we wore the gloves into walk-in freezers, dunked our hands in ice, and even carried frozen food around. We also wore them throughout the winter months during walks, hikes, and days skiing.

We made sure to wear them while doing simple everyday tasks like putting on our winter coats, grabbing objects, and tying our shoelaces, testing for comfort and ease of motion. We noted how quickly and evenly the gloves heated up, as well as whether the outer materials were truly touchscreen compatible. Testers will continue wearing these gloves and collecting insights for six months after this initial test.

Travel + Leisure / Jessica Juliao

Heated gloves should have slightly different features depending on the activity you plan to do while wearing them. Skiers need to be able to comfortably and securely grip their poles and any other gear and count on more hand protection, so they should look for more padding but also enough flexibility to comfortably move their hands. Hikers and runners, on the other hand, mostly need evenly distributed warmth and excellent breathability, so they don’t sweat too much.

If it’s cold enough for heated gloves, chances are there is some snow and ice in the picture. If you’re planning on spending a long day outside in wintery conditions, keeping your hands dry is incredibly important to preserve their warmth. Most of the gloves we loved are highly water-resistant, rather than fully waterproof, which allows for good breathability: think materials like polyester, nylon, and Gore-tex.

If you need to grip a shovel, ski pole, or steering wheel, make sure that you can get a really accurate glove fit by measuring your hand and referring to the glove’s sizing chart. Ideally, you can try the gloves on in person and test motions like opening doors and grabbing your phone. Leather is a great fabric for a steady grip.

After charging completely, most heated glove models will stay warm for two to eight hours, depending on what heat settings you use (low, medium, or high). If you’re using the high heat, you’ll probably get two hours of use.

If you properly take care of your heated gloves and store them carefully, they can last for multiple seasons.

It is not a good idea to put heated gloves or heated apparel into the dryer, which can damage them. Unless otherwise specified, you should naturally dry heated gloves in a cool, airy location.

You want a little bit of space between your fingertips and the glove, both for comfort and because too tight gloves can cut down on circulation and make your hands feel even colder.

Commerce writer Maria Yagoda combed through T+L testing insights to create a comprehensive roundup of the best heated gloves on the market today. Our team personally tested these products in our New York City lab and in the real world over a two-year period, looking for comfort, durability, battery strength, ease of use, water-resistance, and value. Yagoda has extensive experience reviewing and writing about outdoors products.

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