Garrett Metal Detecting Gloves with Touchscreen Fingertips and Foam Padded Palms, Medium, Large, XL

Garrett's detecting gloves are a light digging glove with foam padding over the palm and knuckles, touchscreen-capable thumb, index and middle fingers, and a Garrett-branded hook-and-loop wrist closure. Garrett makes them in three sizes: Medium (part 1628101), Large (1628102) and Extra Large (1628103). They suit any detectorist who digs by hand or with a trowel and wants to keep fingers clear of cuts and scratches without taking the gloves off to use a phone.

Who the Garrett detecting gloves are for

Buy these if you hunt parks, fields and woods, dig a lot of plugs, and use your phone in the field for mapping, photos or the detector app. They are sized gloves, so they fit better than a one-size pair; Garrett's separate one-size-fits-most glove (part 1635900) is the pick if you want a cheaper spare to leave in the bag. They are not an insulated winter glove: Garrett says they offer some warmth but are not designed for very cold weather, so for a Michigan November you want a lined glove over or instead of these. For wet beach and water hunting a neoprene glove holds up better; see our metal detecting clothing and apparel collection for the alternatives.

Key features and what they mean in use

• Foam padding on palm and knuckles: Garrett adds it to reduce impact, which you feel most when prying a plug in hard ground with a hand digger or knocking knuckles on rock. It also takes some of the strain out of repeated digging.
• Touchscreen thumb, index and middle finger on each hand: enough fingers to type, pinch-zoom a map and take a photo without pulling a glove off and getting dirt on the phone. The ring and little fingers are plain.
• Hook-and-loop wrist closure: snugs the cuff so grit does not work in, and keeps the glove on when you pull a hand out of a muddy hole.
• Cut and scratch protection for the fingers: the fabric keeps thorns, glass and sharp can edges off the skin. This is a general-purpose glove, not a rated cut-resistant work glove, so treat a broken bottle in a hole with a digger, not a gloved hand.
• Three sizes: Medium, Large and Extra Large, with the part number on the tag so you can reorder the same size.

What is in the box

• One pair of Garrett detecting gloves in the size selected

Color may vary with Garrett's current production run.

Compatibility

The touchscreen fingertips work with capacitive phone and tablet screens, which covers every current smartphone. They do not operate the buttons on a detector any differently from a bare hand, and they are not needed for the Garrett Vortex or Axiom screens, which are button-driven. They fit any brand of detector, pinpointer and digger; nothing about them is Garrett-specific beyond the logo and closure.

Where they work well and where they do not

Dry and damp ground, parks, fields, woods and dry sand: the padding and finger protection do their job and the gloves dry quickly. Rocky ground and old foundations: the knuckle padding earns its keep. Wet sand, surf and rain: the fabric soaks through, and a wet glove with a touchscreen fingertip stops registering on the phone until it dries. Cold weather: some warmth, not enough for winter hunts. Heavy digging with a shovel all day: a thicker leather-palm work glove lasts longer, at the cost of the touchscreen fingers.

How they differ from Garrett's other glove

Garrett sells two gloves. This pair is the sized detecting glove with foam padding, touchscreen fingers and the hook-and-loop closure. The other is a one-size-fits-most glove (part 1635900) described only as durable finger protection for digging, with no padding or touchscreen fingertips listed. Both are in our Garrett collection.