Heavy-Duty Lobster Mittens for Frigid Conditions: KUIU Northstar Glomitt

Crested Butte, Colo., is known for its frigid temps, with entire months below freezing. As someone who spends most of my time outdoors for work and play, keeping my fingers warm is imperative, which is why I need dependable winter mittens. Frozen fingers can end a day.

On a particularly cold morning, when my truck’s display showed -20 degrees, I set off to photograph the sunrise along the Slate River. This spot is where the cold air settles, usually 5 to 10 degrees colder than the surrounding areas. The only mitt that I trusted to keep my hands warm and working in such frigid temps was the KUIU Northstar Glomitt, a lobster-style mitten and glove design.

Despite the incredibly cold temperatures, my digits were warm inside these heavily insulated hand pouches. I had just enough dexterity to work my camera without removing the gloves. When the time came to shoot a video on my iPhone, I quickly slid my hand into the frigid temps, letting the Glomitt hang off my wrist.

After getting the phone shot, my bare fingers started to go numb. The wind chill brought the temps down to -40. Plunging my fingers back inside the warm glove, where the wind and cold couldn’t reach, my hands quickly came back to life.

In short: The lobster-style KUIU Northstar Glomitt ($140) winter mittens are made for below-freezing conditions, blending the line between warmth and dexterity, glove and mitten. Designed to handle the rugged conditions of a cold-weather hunting environment thanks to complete waterproofing, heavy-duty leather palms, the dexterity of a lobster claw, and heavy-duty insulation. These gloves will handle any cold-weather outdoor activity.

See how this pair of mitt-gloves compares to our other top picks for winter gloves in the Best Winter Gloves buyer’s guide, or scope out more mittens in the Best Winter Mittens buyer’s guide. We cover ski options in the Best Ski Gloves buyer’s guide.

Lobster-Style Gloves: KUIU Northstar Glomitt Winter Mittens Review

KUIU is well known throughout the hunting industry for making gear that can withstand some of the most rugged environments. The Northstar Glomitts is its top-of-the-line cold-weather gear.

Despite being designed for hunting, these have quickly become an essential part of all my winter adventures, whether that be over my hands or in my backpack, when things get cold. They pack well in a backpack, easily slide on over jackets thanks to a large, cinchable gauntlet-style cuff, and have removable wrist tethers so you don’t drop them when checking things like your phone.

Most importantly, they are seriously warm gloves. They work very well across a range of activities like skiing, snowboarding, or snowmobiling. They work for dog walking, grabbing a morning coffee around town, or chopping wood. I use them for hooking up trailers or anything in between.

Fitment: Winter Mittens Meet Gloves

The common downfall of heavily insulated winter gloves, is a lack of dexterity. Gloves provide enough dexterity for a range of activities but lack warmth, while mittens provide extra warmth but lack dexterity for individual fingers. KUIU combined the best of both worlds with the Glomitts or Glove-Mitts.

That’s thanks to a lobster claw design. The thumb and index finger get their own insulation like a glove. The middle, ring, and pinky fingers are lumped together like a mitten. This design adds the dexterity you would typically get in a glove while keeping some fingers side by side for extra warmth like a mitten. If your index finger gets cold, just take it out of its pocket and put it with the rest of your fingers on the mitten side to get warm again.

For context, I am 5’9″ and 145 pounds, and I wear a size large glove. I found the mitten pocket large enough to easily fit all my fingers. Also, I felt that the index finger pocket could be slightly larger as my finger felt too tight, not letting warm air circulate it. This narrower fit in the index finger caused me to use the glove as a mitten in super cold weather. I only used the independent index finger when it was necessary.

Additionally, these gloves are only designed for men, with the sizing starting at medium. Those with small hands are out of luck with these, although sizing up wouldn’t hurt.

Insulation: Winter Mittens

When temperatures get cold, these mittens stay warm thanks to fully synthetic PrimaLoft Gold insulation with CrossCore: 340 g in the back and 170 g in the palm. The inside of the glove has a wool liner for added warmth, with the PrimaLoft insulation strategically throughout the palm and back of the hand. 

PrimaLoft Gold has the highest warmth-to-weight ratio of all PrimaLoft insulation styles. This type of insulation uses microfibers that trap body heat, maintain breathability, and repel water, meaning they even provide thermal insulation when wet. Additionally, the microfibers are short fibers, meaning they are the most packable of the PrimaLoft line.

PrimaLoft offers a warmth rating “potentially” down to -58 degrees Fahrenheit for 100 g per square meter. While I didn’t experience those temperatures, I had one day of testing with an outside temperature of -40 degrees Fahrenheit … brrr!

After testing in extreme cold — below 0 degrees — I found the only part of my hand getting cold was my index finger in the individual finger pocket. This is partly because it’s the least insulated part of the glove and because it was too tight to let warm air circulate.

I did find in the extreme cold temperatures, the gloves only maintained warmth in my fingers, meaning if I let them go numb by using my hands outside the gloves, it was hard to rewarm them again, even inside the gloves, through putting them inside my jacket and using circulation to my advantage it was possible. Overall, these are the heaviest insulated and warmest-feeling gloves in my arsenal and the only choice for extreme cold weather environments.

Gauntlets

Gauntlets start at the wrist and extends up the forearm. Having a glove with a gauntlet that goes over a jacket helps in two ways.

First, it makes taking on and off the gloves easier and faster. You don’t have to mess with getting it under a jacket’s arm cuff, which helps expedite things like checking a phone in cold temperatures.

Second, a large gauntlet provides extra warmth by creating an overlap of fabric between the jacket and the glove. That layering system helps to keep snow and wind from entering the glove or going up your sleeve.

The inside of the Northstar’s gauntlet does not have the same wool liner as the hands and fingers; it uses a smooth synthetic fabric. I found that this helped snow that made it into the gauntlet slide out easier, as wool has a tendency to catch and hold onto snowflakes.

Cuffs

Cuffs refer to the open end of the glove where your hand slides inside. On a size large glove, the gauntlet extends 5 inches, and the cuff opening is 5 inches as well.

Moving on to the cuff, the 5-inch opening was easy to slide over most jackets. During testing, I was able to go over a wrist guard, base layer, fleece layer, midweight puffy jacket, and shell all at the same time. However, having the wrist cinch on the outer shell jacket all the way tight was imperative for ease of use.

Inside the cuff is a cinchable, elastic pull cord with a large release tab. This cord let me cinch the outside of the cuff down over my forearms, preventing snow and wind from entering.

I had to have it very tight to keep all the snow out when digging an avalanche pit or rescuing a stuck snowmobile. Even with the gloves on my hands, I could easily operate the cinch system tab and the release tab. 

Another feature of the cuff is removable wrist tethers. These tethers let the glove hang on my wrist. But, while wearing the gloves, I had trouble pulling the donut-shaped cinch that locks the tether to your wrist.

Durability & Tenacious Palm Materials

Over the years, I have used a lot of ski gloves while volunteering with my local search and rescue teams and shooting on-snow content as a professional photographer. I am also an avid backcountry splitboarder and snowmobiler. All to say, I have worn through my fair share of gloves. Most of my gloves have lasted on average of only one winter season.

My original pair of KUIU Northstar Glomitts are in year 4. While I originally used them for hunting only, they quickly became my go-to cold-weather glove. I’ve used these mittens across all my winter activities. They look and perform like the day I first unboxed them. Part of this durability stems from the Pittards Oiltac Leather Palms.

Pittards Leather Company has been making fine leathers since 1826 and has mastered its craft. Using Cabretta skins from Ethiopia, the brand introduces polymers into the leather, enhancing the grip and durability in wet and dry conditions. An Oiltac coating helps to limit the water absorption of the fibers. Meaning the palm won’t wet out or through to your palm, even in the wettest conditions.

During my testing, these gloves got some serious abuse. I used them during fourth season of elk hunting in Colorado and on 40-mile snowmobile excursions with forecasted temps of -20 Fahrenheit. I can confidently say these gloves are seriously durable.

KUIU thinks so, too. That’s why the brand offers a lifetime warranty on all its products for normal wear and tear. So, outside of cutting the palms with a knife, these gloves should last multiple seasons of hard use. If they don’t, send them in for warranty.

Critiques

KUIU has done a great job making this winter mitten. But like all things, it could be a little better.

First, while they offer the glove in noncamouflage patterns, I would have loved to see an all-black color option. Black pairs better with most ski kits.

Next, these mittens were designed with men in mind, and their sizing starts at medium. So, smaller-handed individuals might not be in luck, although I feel that sizing up won’t hurt too much.

My only real gripe with these mittens is the index finger. Mine gets cold and feels too tight when in the individual finger pocket. I would like to see this pocket slightly larger.

I’d also like there to be insulation around the index finger. However, my solution of keeping my index finger in the mitten side and only bumping it over when needed seemed to work okay.

Lastly, I feel it’s important to talk about the price of these gloves. The $140 price tag is pretty steep for gloves. I believe in the saying “buy once, cry once.” Meaning, it’s good to spend more on one piece of gear that lasts compared to buying a lower-quality item that wears out faster, needing to be bought again.

I feel these gloves fit that mantra well. Yes, they are expensive, but that price comes with a high-quality and durable glove.

KUIU Northstar Glomitt Winter and Hunting Gloves: Conclusion

While you might not be a hunter or even be interested in hunting apparel, the KUIU Northstar Glomitt winter mittens are a fantastic option for any kind of cold-weather activity. This lobster-style design is also a great emergency glove to keep in your backcountry pack or car.

These gloves have quickly become a staple of my backcountry kit, hunting kit, car camping kit, and even dog walking and morning coffee outside.

The Northstar Glommit is highly durable and completely wind and waterproof. Ultimately, these mitts are incredibly warm without sacrificing dexterity. The design blends the best of two worlds between a glove and a mitten.