Best Gloves for Paintball?
A commonly overlooked piece of paintball gear are gloves. Obviously, your mask is the most important piece of safety gear, but very few people think about protecting their hands. Your hands make contact with your gear, the environment, an on occasion the paintball flying at you as well.
So, what paintball gloves should you buy? Some of the common gloves people use for paintball are fingerless gloves, shop gloves like Mechanix gloves, and of course paintball specific gloves. If at all possible, grab gloves that are designed for the sport of paintball itself as they have several key benefits that help make them more useful than your general-purpose gloves.
General pros and cons of each type of gloves:
Fingerless and Gauntlet style gloves:
Pros:
- Cheap, they can fit most any budget
- Some come with padding or armor on the back
- Maximum finger dexterity when manipulating your gear.
- Maximum finger dexterity when manipulating your gear.
- Can be found most anywhere and are easily replaceable.
Cons:
- Fingers are exposed to the field and incoming paintballs
- Sometimes are cheaply made and don't last too long
- versions with the elastic around the wrist instead of Velcro can cut off circulation.
Shop Gloves (Mechanix):
Pros:
- Affordable prices
- Different styles with more padding on the back of the hand
- Durable construction
Cons:
- Very little dexterity, especially on the versions with reinforced pointer and thumbs.
- Can get quite hot
Paintball Specific Gloves:
Pros:
- Designed specifically for paintball
- Medium to High dexterity
-
Built in options specifically for paintball like extra grip on the
palms and fingers, microfiber cloth on the thumbs and breathability
- Very comfortable
Cons:
- Can be expensive
- Some versions are not very durable, do some research beforehand.
I have fielded quite a few different gloves, both shop gloves and paintball gloves alike. Some of the shop gloves are more basic but have that added benefit of a very durable glove that can take some abuse over a long period of time. Still, if can get some good pairs of paintball gloves they will provide various benefits over shop gloves at the expense of durability. Not all gloves are made the same, and after destroying quite a few gloves and spending plenty of money, I have found my favorites:
- Some versions are not very durable, do some research beforehand.
I have fielded quite a few different gloves, both shop gloves and paintball gloves alike. Some of the shop gloves are more basic but have that added benefit of a very durable glove that can take some abuse over a long period of time. Still, if can get some good pairs of paintball gloves they will provide various benefits over shop gloves at the expense of durability. Not all gloves are made the same, and after destroying quite a few gloves and spending plenty of money, I have found my favorites:
- HK Army Hardline Gloves - These are currently my workhorse gloves and I absolutely love them. They are comfortable during long term use like 24-hour scenario games and aren't too hot even in the Florida heat. My favorite things about them are that they have sticky grip on the palms and have padding right where you need them so if you get hit in the hand, it won't hurt. They have currently lasted me over a year of play with several 24-hour scenario events and countless recball outings and show no signs of wearing out any time soon. I like them so much that I purchased 5 more as backups for the next several years!
- Mechanix M-Pact Gloves - In terms of durability and hand protection, these are hard to beat. I have been point blanked in the back of the hand and shot between the fingers and all just registered the impact with little to no pain at all. The dexterity and breathability are much lower than that of your standard paintball gloves, but if you get the Tactical M-Pact gloves some of the dexterity loss is reduced.
- 3Skull and Exalt Hardshell Gloves - These aren't the fanciest gloves, but they offer three significant benefits; they have excellent protection on the back of the hand, give great dexterity as they are a half finger glove, and are at an affordable price point. There may be a little bit of stiffness as the back of the hand has a hard plastic shell and isn't very flexible, but isn't painful or uncomfortable. Still at the price that these go for, they are a great option for anyone wanting to get in the game and have some hand protection.
Noted, there are some gloves I have found that you may want to stay away from. I am not too kind to my gear and constantly have to do minor repairs on my soft goods, but some gloves just strait up failed or just are unacceptable.
- Planet Eclipse Distortion Gloves - Starting off, these were by far the most comfortable paintball gloves I have ever used. They were form fitting, ventilation was top notch, ideal padding and the extra grip were great. However, the material they made the glove with on the palms just simply do not hold up to the test of time. I purchased them at a 24-hour scenario event as my pair of discontinued (but excellent) Invert gloves had finally kicked the bucket after the first day I and needed a new pair. After the end of the second day, I was noticing advanced wear on the fingertips. After another two days of general recball play, my fingers were completely exposed from the palm up. Noted, I think PE has fixed this issue on their newer models, but those gloves left a lot to be desired.
- Cheap China knockoff leather like gloves - These gloves that have fake leather are fine at face value, but after using them for a day you get the dyes they used on the pleather rubbing off on to your skin. I personally don't like that the palms of my hands dyed a different color with an unknown dye, so for general health concerns I stay away from them.
If you wish to pick up some gloves shown in the video above, you can purchase them with the Amazon Affiliate links below. Purchases through the links will help support the website and continue to help me continue making cool videos and posts!
Budget friendly Gloves ($12 or less):
Basic anti-slip half finger gloves - https://amzn.to/2MDB82y
3Skull Paintball Half Finger Gloves - https://amzn.to/2MDUwfO
Exalt Paintball Hardshell Gloves - https://amzn.to/2IKtGNR
MAddog Full Finger Tactical Glove - https://amzn.to/2Kak5Dw
Shop Gloves:
Mechanix Original Covert Glove Black - https://amzn.to/2WqMRRW
Mechanix MultiCam Original Tactical Glove - https://amzn.to/2WsIZja
Mechanix M-Pact Covert Tactical Gloves - https://amzn.to/2IA9kXw
Paintball Gloves:
HK Army HSTL Gloves - https://amzn.to/2XDiYiq
HK Army Full Finger Hardline Gloves - https://amzn.to/2MCVetW
Social Paintball Grit Gloves Bones - https://amzn.to/2WDuhL9
Social Paintball Grit Gloves Flag - https://amzn.to/2IzhqQj
Exalt Death Grip Paintball Glove - https://amzn.to/2WyILr2
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