BY Christopher Gardner—The KemiMoto range of heated gloves does an admirable job of covering most of the demands of a winter/heated motorcycle glove, and at a surprisingly reasonable price. Moreover, you can choose from a few models and variations or buy a couple of pairs without breaking your winter-riding budget.
We test everything we review and recommend to our readers. We participate in several affiliate marketing programs including that of KemiMoto. We earn from qualifying purchases so if you choose to purchase any of our reviewed products by clicking through our links, we may earn a commission, but at no cost to you.
Enjoy an exclusive 18% discount when you purchase any KemiMoto item from their online shop. Simply add discount code “AFF18” to your shopping cart to take advantage of this limited time offer.
These gloves are not armored, but the safety they offer for the price should give a touring rider reassurance that the hands are ready to do their work comfortably through a long cold ride.
Motorcycle gloves have to cover a pretty wide gamut of needs, some of which are in tension with others. They need to keep the hands warm or cool; they need to keep the hands dry, especially in colder seasons; they need to allow ease of movement and clear feedback by touch on levers and switches; and in the rare worst-case scenario, they need to offer sturdy protection on palms and knuckles if the rider has an unplanned dismount. If a heating element is included for riding in still colder/wetter weather, the challenges of covering this range grow still further and the prices rise accordingly.
I had the opportunity to try the Ice Fishing Heated Rechargeable Waterproof Gloves, which are nevertheless listed under KemiMoto’s “Motorcycle Gloves” (SKU: F1109-03401SBK-ZH) through this winter, and I was really impressed by their ability to keep my fingers toasty through a series of environments that no other glove I own could quite measure up. That the gloves could do so for only $89.99 makes them even more attractive for the price-conscious rider. I have only a couple of quibbles, but one is manageable at point of purchase and the other should be reflected upon by any rider before making such a purchase. More on these quibble below, but first the many praises I have for these KemiMoto Heated Gloves.
The gloves are powered by two 7V/2500mAh rechargeable batteries that fit into waterproof pockets on the back/upper gauntlet of the gloves. The batteries take a little while to charge, so plan the night before. They also can seem a bit heavy when plugging each into its glove and sliding them into their respective pouches. Once in and on the hands, though, you’ll forget they are there. Working the gloves is dead simple and really convenient. Push the large button with the KemiMoto logo and hold for a second or two and the button will flash its three colors (red, blue, green), then set to red, which is the highest setting. A quicker press will move the color and temperature to blue (medium), green (low), and back to red. Press and hold again to turn off the heat. Manipulating the buttons with gloves on is no problem at all, and they give a positive tactile response as well as a change in color so you know exactly where you are in the cycle. As the chart below outlines, the batteries will go from 8-to-9 hours on low to about 4 hours on high.
A few words about my testing so you can adequately judge what is best for your habits and planning. I love riding in the winter and on much colder days than many of my peers. That said, I have not wanted to spend the many hundreds of dollars necessary for a set of heated gear, so when my wooly long-johns and protective gear won’t cut it, I’ll take a few days off. Moreover, I don’t have the time to take a multi-day ride on the winter anyway, so if I can get 2-3 hours of comfortable and safe riding in before and after lunch in a warm restaurant, I’m a happy boy. These KemiMoto gloves allow me to go out when a couple of degrees colder still, or for another hour or so on either side of my lunch. I took the gloves out for a few rides on the motorbike with temperatures starting about 45 degrees. I live in the Susquehanna Valley, and as I rode ten or fifteen miles east or west I moved up well over 1000 feet and down into temperatures around freezing—not including the wind chill and the exposure hands endure on a ride! On the first trip of some 3 hours, I didn’t even turn them on because they kept my hands plenty toasty anyway. I pushed them a bit harder and longer on the next ride, and found the medium setting almost too hot—at least hotter than I really needed.
The sense of touch on the handlebars, levers, and switches was good, indeed, better than my go-to double-lined winter gloves. When I needed the heating elements, they came on easily at the press of each button and made a difference within a minute. The gaiters can be cinched-down with easy-to-use cords, which allow the rider to cinch them under a jacket on a rainy day or stretch them over the jacket on cold dry days. The gloves are marketed as touchscreen-compatible, but I never have good luck with this type of technology and that was true for the KemiMotos as well. Besides the obvious safety concerns of fiddling with a touchscreen in/on any moving vehicle, I don’t get on my bike to keep up with the news or my emails, and I have a comms unit to make or answer any calls from my better half, so I don’t find this bad luck much of a concern. And when I had to take off the gloves at any point, they rewarmed my hands plenty quickly.
I won’t ride when this cold if precipitation is called for, because ice patches could form in those shaded hills long before it’s a concern in the valley. So just to make sure, I stuck my heated gloves into tub of water for a few minutes. No seepage, no loss of heat, no problem.
I also got to go on a ski trip in upstate New York and used the opportunity to press the gloves harder still. On one charge the night before we left, I got two and a half days of skiing in at low and medium settings and mountaintop temperatures in the mid-20s. Again, when I was warm at the start of the day or after a break and a meal, my own body heat was plenty for an hour or two because the gloves are so well insulated. I am also one who falls often enough to worry about snow slipping past gloves or under jacket sleeves. These mitts kept everything snow-free. One outdoors mantra I commit to is that it is easier to stay warm than to get warm, but I decided to demand of the KemiMoto gloves to get me back to comfy: I took them off for a few minutes riding up a lift to chill my hands notably. At the top, I put them on and pressed them into heating action. The contrast of cold hand in warming glove was notable for a little while, but by the time I skied to the bottom, my hands were just fine! And the warmth is radiant and general—my hands did not feel like some parts were touching toaster filaments while others awaited the heat to arrive.
The quibbles have little to do with the KemiMoto Heated Gloves themselves, which are well made and offer waterproof and heated protection while still allowing the hands to feel what they need to feel. I have fairly stubby fingers, and usually wear large-size / 8.5-9 motorcycle gloves, but these larges felt a bit snug between the fingers and the webbing did not quite get down to the crotches between my fingers, which-as I say-are fairly short. When ordering online, allow time before your trip to slip then on and perhaps exchange them if the fit isn’t right.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, these specific gloves do not have the sorts of protection most motorcycle riders would want in case of a fall. The ones I got are listed as “Ice Fishing Rechargeable Waterproof Gloves” but I went for them as they were listed under the category of Motorcycle Gloves. They have a reinforced and rubbery palm that might help a bit, but these particular gloves are not likely to hold up to a long slide. Heated gloves with plastic or carbon reinforced plates sell for at least twice as much. I am an ATGATT rider no matter the weather, and I am not saying protected hands aren’t worth some $200. But in my time at a motorcycle dealership, any such gloves on the market also required cables and battery connectors and (at least to keep wiring from dangling between battery and bars) a jacket. So $200 gloves really meant about $600 in gear. I am not an aggressive rider, nor can I take two weeks to ride through Canada in the winter. If I were either, I would pay for the armored gloves and attendant kit—and you should too! Besides, KemiMoto sells 7.4V Heated Motorcycle Gloves Liners (SKU: F1109-07801XXLBK) for the same price as these Ice Fishing Rechargeable Waterproof Gloves. But you’ll need armored winter gloves a bit oversized to make them fit. Personally, I don’t like the lost tactility on the controls that occurs with more than a pair of silk liners under winter glove.
If you are making day moto trips in cold but ice-free conditions, or if you are doing most anything else in the outdoors through winter, these gloves will work great for you and at a price that saves you plenty for the beer or firewood later. As for safety, I would argue that the most important safety features are the ones that keep me out of trouble, not the ones that try to protect me once I am in it. I feel perfectly safe with these gloves in the riding conditions and style that I enjoy because my hands feel warm and ready to respond quickly and surely to brake or clutch needs. That these KemiMoto Heated Gloves will keep me cosy and comfortable on an occasional ski trip or snowy hike as well just adds to the attraction.
Click this link to enjoy an exclusive 18% discount when you purchase any KemiMoto item from their shop. Simply add discount code “AFF18” to your shopping cart to take advantage of this limited time offer.
