Fourth Element Xerotherm Wrist Warmers (review)

[stuartv]

I got these from Dive Right In Scuba a couple of weeks ago.

4th Element Xerotherm Wrist Warmer | Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL - Dive Right in Scuba

I finally got to try them last weekend. 2 dives in the quarry, where water temp on the bottom was 37F.

I put these on before donning the top part of my dry suit. That leaves a good bit of the wrist warmer under the wrist seal of my suit. My theory was that that would save me from needing to use a tube or some other doodad to let my dry gloves equalize with my suit. Sure enough, it did. And it let me finish suiting up all the way, leaving dry gloves to last, while still having bare fingers to manipulate zippers and clips. I used to put on the Merino liners before my suit top, so that they would be trapped in the wrist seals to allow equalization. But, that always meant I had gloved fingers for everything after donning my suit top. Kinduva PITA.

I put my Pinnacle Merino glove liners (super thin, but Merino wool) on over the wrist warmers and outside my wrist seals. Then my Kubi system dry gloves on over that.

The result was that the wrist warmers kept my hands significantly warmer than they have been previously with only the Merino liners. The Merino liners are awesome. But, in water that cold, after a while my hands would start to get cold. Now, the wrist warmers don't reduce my finger dexterity at all. With the thin Merino liners plus the thin, black rubber gloves (over a year now, still on the original pair) that came with my Kubi system, I still have EXCELLENT dexterity. And my hands never even felt cool.

I wish I would have gotten these wrist warmers a long time ago! 5 Stars!

 

[maj2]

I love my Xerotherm wrist warmers as well for all the reasons that you laid out.
When it gets really cold, I use the fourth element glove liners (thicker and neoprene). I lose a bit of dexterity, but keeps the fingers even warmer!

 

[KevinNM]

Apparently the NSF has a policy that their Antarctic ice divers have no wrist seals, they just wear dry gloves. They found that that was the best way to keep their science divers able to use their hands during the dive. They are diving fairly short dives and are tethered, so their experience might not apply to you.

 

[Marie13]

Thanks for the review. I've had my eyes on these.

 

[stuartv]

Apparently the NSF has a policy that their Antarctic ice divers have no wrist seals, they just wear dry gloves. They found that that was the best way to keep their science divers able to use their hands during the dive. They are diving fairly short dives and are tethered, so their experience might not apply to you.

Interesting. Why do you suppose that is? Does it allow warm air from the rest of the suit to circulate through the gloves more freely and that keeps the divers' hands warmer?

 

[KevinNM]

Apparently the blood flow restriction from the seals is the issue.

 

[Aquavelvet]

I use the same combination of Xerotherm wrist warmers and merino glove liners, but I've been putting the merino liners underneath the wrist warmers. I think I'll try the glove liners outside of the wrist seals as mentioned in the OP. That sounds like it will be easier to work with.
I also find that my hands are kept warm from the air inside the rest of my suit, along with keeping the gloves equalized.

 

[Marie13]

I just brought these home from DRIS tonight myself. Can't wait to try them out at the quarry on Sunday. I'm going to be nice and toasty.

 

[AJ]

They're really nice when the water gets cold. Keeps your wrists warm.

 

[rootshell73]

The product listing on the Fourth Element website says “Low bulk prevents water flooding in a dryglove failure.” I imagine this will still leak if your glove fails though right? Anyone here have some real world experience with this?