OR Splitter crack gloves: anyone tried them yet?

CJC wrote:is it primarily old people that use these or is it just this thread?

Where did you get that from? Of the people who either use them or are interested in them and who have listed their ages in the profiles or otherwise disclosed them the ages are 28, 28, 30, and then there's me at 71, the only admittedly old one of the lot.

Another option - I've put lots of mileage on these and they work. Cheap and easy to make, too. Leather and scissors are the only necessary tools. Measuring takes a little trial and error.

Gregger Man wrote:Another option - I've put lots of mileage on these and they work. Cheap and easy to make, too. Leather and scissors are the only necessary tools. Measuring takes a little trial and error.

Nice idea, do they stretch as they get saturated with sweat?

They stretch a little.
I'm a bad test case for that since my hands really don't sweat much.

Brian Scoggins wrote: I could buy like a... season's worth, if it was a slow season for $50.

Ok, maybe not a lifetime worth but at least 2-3 seasons, which is probably how long those crack gloves would last anyway. Eurotape is around $2 in Moab. The taping method I use doesn't use that much tape and doesn't roll, and I don't even reuse my tape gloves like some people do. Sometimes I re-tape in one day as well. Even with that a roll of tape lasts me a couple of weeks. Seems to me that crack gloves have a very limited use - only maybe hand or big hand size cracks. They wouldn't even be very useful on fist sized cracks since they don't cover the thumb, and forget about thin hands.

It's unfortunate that there are so many replies and so few have actually answered your question.
Yes, I've used the OR crack gloves quite a bit, so I'm going to answer your question. Imagine that, sigh...
I've used the OR gloves at Red Rocks, Zion, Indian Creek and the Black Canyon. In general, I'd consider myself a non-tape guy, partially because I don't like the hassle of putting the on, and my hands are big already so anything more than a quick wrap makes my hands too fat for most "harder/thinner" climbs.
As much as I don't like using tape, 15 years of avid Indian Creek climbing has taught me that it takes 2 weeks for gobi's to heal and if you blow out all the skin on your hands for the first day, you're screwed. I've seen some nasty swollen hand infections out at the creek. No need for that!
I've used the Climb X gloves and found that they are too thick (for thin cracks) and the rubber makes my hands sweat and thus they become slippery and soapy. Stick them over a pair of tape gloves and you have some nice sticky meat hooks for wide cracks though.
The OR gloves however are as thin as you'll get a tape job and are pretty sticky. I find I put them on, with the thought I would take them off for thin cracks, but instead they stay on my hands all day long. So, I think they work great and I think you should try them. A lot of great climbers (Hans Florine, Blake, Nik Berry, and myself ;-) ), and new climbers alike provided feedback on the OR glove development. The only drawback I found was the shape of the thumb loop, and hopefully this has been fixed on the production model. Regardless of the thumb loop, they preformed great, and did not slip around with sweaty hands. I think they have a number of advantages over tape; reusable, easy on and off, and would be cheaper after a few weeks of heavy crack climbing. The finger loops did not wear out as visually, this might be a concern to some.

I haven't tried the Ocun gloves myself, but did compare them side by side on a climb in Zion with Steffan Gregory (a local Zion rock guide) and we both felt the OR gloves were a better design. I forget the details of the comparison beyond that. I think the OR ones might be a little thinner and handle sweat better.
Anyway, try them for yourself. I hope this helps!

rgold wrote:When you get really old like me, your skin spontaneously splits at the sight of a hand jam, before you even put your hand in the crack. And if you are in a face-climbing area like my home area the Gunks, you will definitely want to use hand jams, but only intermittently. (I'm always amused to watch narrowly-experienced climbers struggling to rest holding on to a horizontal that is perfect for jamming.) But these jams are often in pebbly cracks that will exact a toll on even the toughest skin, not to mention my delicate parchment-backed hands.

Being 84, I have to agree with Rich's comment about thinning skin in old people. Some years ago, I had the idea that gently sandpapering the back of my hand would toughen the skin. It only made it red and rough.

rob.calm

Have both now and am putting them through their paces. I was a doubter being a big tape fan for the better part of two decades but my initial outings with these "new gen gloves" have proved positive.

Quick initial thoughts:

Ocun: Run a bit smaller than size chart. I was between a L and XL and feel the XL is the better fit. These are a bit thicker/stiffer than the OR. They seem to provide a bit more protection in really coarse/crystalline rock (Think Gunks or the Voo) Tight/Thin hands for me is .75/1 camalot I right now I don't feel like they're terrible in that size range. Need more milage though to really see. The velcro wrist strap closes on the back of your wrist and in certain jams the strap tab can get pushed/bent back a bit by the crack edge. Doesn't loosen the fit but is slightly annoying. The rubber is not super sticky but does provide a bit of stick. akin to hard rand rubber I'd guess.

ORs - The wrist closure on these are spot on as they fix in the front (palm side) and the strap is much lower profile. Can't speak to the durability but I like this setup better. The gloves themselves (L/XL size) are noticeably softer than the Ocuns as well as thinner. They lack the slight padding the Ocun puts over knuckle area and the "rubber", really a synthetic leather, is thiner than the Ocun rubber. This makes for a thiner profile glove. I have a bit less mileage on these but for coarse rock I don't like them as much. The really soft nature means the sharp rock bites your hand. (Tape is actually fairly stiff and provides more protection). In smooth, perfect hands these things were very comfortable so I can see them being nice for smoother rock (as people have noted, they were developed in RR, Index and Yos which is pretty darn smooth rock IMO. Index in particular) I haven't had a chance to really test them in thin hands yet aside from the local gym crack. There, they seemed slightly too soft where the layers would "fold" rather than adhere to that fatty part of the hand below the pinky. It was my first time with them though so I need to continue testing.

Thoughts so far. Right now, I lean slightly towards the Ocuns. If the Ocun had the wrist closure of the OR I might never look back. I want some more time on smoother rock (mostly rough cracks in TX) to give the ORs a fair shake. Ocuns need more time too to really get a feel.

As others have said, the big advantage is how fast you can don /doff them. You don't really think about how nice that option is until you can do it. Belays can have gloves easily, face pitches they're stashed. Gym sessions are easy to run laps and then change it up. Really demanding cracks will still require a custom tape job (don't they anyway? ) but for most, I think these will be just fine. These are NOT Hand Jammies.

doligo wrote: Even with that a roll of tape lasts me a couple of weeks.

That's cause you have tiny hands!

Jon H wrote: That's cause you have tiny hands!

I wish!

well I've ended up with a pair of both for a good price, and spent a couple days comparing them. Jason and Matt, thanks for your thoughts, and for actually addressing my question ;)

Initial impressions:

rock climbed was gneiss and granite in WNC, at rumbling bald and looking glass if anyone cares. cracks ranged in size from thin hands to off width, rock texture generally fairly coarse, not as smooth as desert sandstone but not as rough as say, Joshua tree. I did a couple climbs with one of each glove on either hand. Pretty much immediately preferred the OR's. They are definitely thinner, more sensitive, lower profile, which for the rock I was climbing, I much preferred. I can see how on really gnarly coarse it might be nice to have the extra padding and stiffness of the Ocuns, but I purposely tried some more numbly and awkward jams just to see how it would feel, and the OR's felt just fine, no pain or bruising.

One thing I disliked about the Ocuns was the thick seam that runs across the back of the hand (under the rubber). In a totally smooth jam I could feel this pressing annoyingly into my hand, not sure how bothersome that would be over the long haul. The ORs did fold up a bit a couple times when I was really sloppy with chucking my hands in the crack, but as long as I actually used some technique they stayed in place fine. No tape gloves I've made would fair too well with that kind of hamfisted climbing either, and they certainly wouldn't return to shape afterward like these do.

As one poster noted, the Ocuns are definitely going to keep your hands a little warmer, which of course could be good or bad depending on the temps.

I do have a concern about durability with the OR's however: after 1 day, the velcro on both gloves was coming unglued where it wraps around the inside of the wrist. OR is sending me a new pair, so we'll see if it was just bad glue or something. It would be weird if through all that testing no one noticed this flaw. None of the fuax-leather padding was coming off at all, just the velcro.

So, I'll be headed to Red Rocks for 10 days in Jan, and will be able to do some more thorough testing (all be it on smoother rock). For now I'd say (as long as long as the velcro de-laminate again) the OR's are where it's at, unless perhaps all the cracks are bit wide for you, it's freezing cold, and the rock is coarse as hell.

I have experienced the same disconcerting delamination issues as Daniel has. I am trying to use Loctite to keep them held together, and it seems to be working decently thus far. They climb fantastic, but OR really blew it on the durability on these. Second day out and I had delamination occuring already.

Rock climbed so far in them has been basalt, Zion sandstone and Red Rock sandstone. They are sensitive and climb quite well, but I am very glad I wasn't climbing something long when these issues started occurring.

I've never used the OR gloves, but a friend of mine has a pair. I have the Ocuns. The OR's seemed less durable upon a cursory exam. I have now used my Ocun gloves on three trips to J-Tree and no signs of wear or tearing after sticking my mitts into some coarse-grained cracks. So far, so good, with the Ocun gloves.

Weston L wrote:I have experienced the same disconcerting delamination issues as Daniel has. I am trying to use Loctite to keep them held together, and it seems to be working decently thus far. They climb fantastic, but OR really blew it on the durability on these.

My velcro tabs came unglued in the same way on day #8 or so, and I passed along some info to someone at OR who designs gloves. They said that each pair is made on demand by an employee in the Seattle factory, and the design had included stitching the velcro, so not stitching it was simply a human error, and every pair going forward is getting sticthed. I know that they'll warranty anything for free if you got a glued pair. FWIW I had a tube of contact cement sitting around from when I'd built a kneebar sleeve, and I re-glued mine on with the contact cement and it's been bomber. No problems since then, but obviously getting them stitched for free would work too.

So here's my update about the OR gloves. I received a new pair from them which I took on a trip to j tree and red rocks for 10 days. They performed awesomely the whole time, and even in gnarly j tree cracks I didn't feel the need for more padding/protection. However, towards the end of the trip the Velcro started to delam again, and actually kind of messed me up on the last pitch of cloud tower, when one of the Velcro tabs came off completely. Needless to say I was not pleased, and also confused as to why this is only happening on the Velcro, while the faux leather parts remained rock solid. Also of note is that my girlfriends pair (XS) had no delam issues, and we're used just as much as mine. I called OR again, and here's what they said to me "we've been getting a lot delam on the Velcro on certain size runs, mostly s/m. We're reworking the design and it should be done sometime in March, at which time we'll send you a new pair. In the meantime feel free to stitch, glue or tape the ones you have to keep them going". I ended up sewing on the Velcro, which seems great so far, though Inhavent used them much since then. I guess we'll see in the spring what OR comes up with.

"Needless to say I was not pleased, and also confused as to why this is only happening on the Velcro, while the faux leather parts remained rock solid"

It has to do with what's called a glass rating. Every fabric/ textile has a different glass rating which tells you how well it holds onto glue. Suede has a damn high glass rating (one of the reasons you see it in tons of shoes) but the back of Velcro is super low.

Think about it like this. Which would be easier to get spilled glue off/out of, a polished stone floor or a shag carpet. Velcro = stone floor Carpet = suede

Resurrecting this thread... Anybody tried the NEW OR Splitter glove? I liked the old version better than the Ocun's. New version seems like it might be stickier.  

I have the Ocun.

I feel like superclimber with them on.

Are the new OR’s made with different matierials?  They look the same on the website....after having more Delam and durability issues with the OR’s, I went to the new style Ocun, and haven’t looked back.  They are much more reliable, durable, and stay locked on to my hands better than the or’s.  The added bit of thickness hasn’t really been an issue.

I like the OR gloves.  I use them in combination with my PAS when doing multipitch at Tahquitz.  The function is fine, but the reactions and hate it gets from the older crowd is priceless.