This is the first time I?ve purchased heated gear and only my third time ever using a heated accessory on a motorcycle. That has more to do with the fact that I live in Florida than with me being immune to cold. Here in the Sunshine State we?ve had an unseasonably cold winter, and living so far south, my blood is thin.

Being a compulsive ?farkler,? my inclination would be to add heated grips. But I own more than one motorcycle, so that gets complicated and expensive, especially when I won?t use them much. Heated gloves offer more versatility, but which kind: wired or battery-powered" My bikes have pigtails for maintenance chargers, but wired gloves still require being wired to the motorcycle, and they need to be connected to a heated jacket and a controller. Battery-powered gloves are the easiest and cheapest solution, but they don?t provide as much heat for as long as wired gloves, and having a battery embedded in each gauntlet makes them bulky. Life is about trade-offs.
I ordered a pair of Highway 21 Radiant Heated Gloves, which use 7-volt rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to power the heating elements. I opted for size large based on the sizing chart, but they didn?t fit right so I exchanged them for mediums. As winter gloves, the Radiants are thick and bulky due to a layer of 100G Thinsulate thermal lining and a Hipora waterproof membrane. The fingers are pre-curved and I was able to operate the bike?s controls, but not with the same dexterity as with su...