Anti-Frostbite Gloves

Mittens are better than gloves with individual fingers at keeping you hand warm. Not so much use with a touch screen.

I just bought some thinsulate-lined leather gloves which keep my hands really warm, even on the coldest of days up here in Canada. The leather takes away the sting of the wind, while the thinsulate helps keep your hands warm as well as being a good liner if you don't like the feel of leather against your skin. The ones I got were fairly cheap Perry Ellis ones, like $35 on sale from The Bay, and the leather feels decently smooth and soft.

I've managed to get by doubling up - cheap (thin) pair of gloves ($1.50 deals from CVS or Walgreens) under heavy knit mittens. Keeps your hands pretty toasty and you can easily rip off the mittens when you need to use your fingers. Might consider cutting the fingertips off the gloves, if you get easily frustrated with trying to grasp anything through the glove material. (As a Bostonian, you may also want to consider these, which seem incredibly handy: http://www.subwayknitter.com/2007/01/commuters_secret_weapon.php)

This may sound idiotic, but...I'm a polar bear. Last week I was out taking pictures and it was 2F. Every part of me was bundled up except my hands, which had some cycling gloves on them. My hands got cold, especially handling the aluminum tubes of my tripod. I discovered that if I windmilled my arms ten or so times, fast, the blood was forced out to my fingertips (in fact I could feel the pressure spike from the centripetal force) and warming occurred. As for gloves proper, loose is better. Get some soft liners made of 200 weight thinsulate, and some heavy-duty outer gloves. The most effective gloves I've found in a consumer setting are made for cyclists, since our hands are in the wind - and that's one hell of a wind chill.

Obviously not sleek, but roomy enough to bring your phone into the mitten along with your hand. :7)

I have a pair of amazing "chopper" mittens made by Mister Henry Held of Ely, Minnesota. I traced my hands and mailed him a check, and I got a pair of killer moosehide mittens in the mail shortly thereafter. He even branded them with a picture of a moose. Kick-ass! http://www.henrysshoerepair.com/moosehide%20chopper%20mittens.html

When it's really cold out, I wear all of these (in order of dressing): Thinsulate glove liners surplus-store wool gloves Outdoor Research Gore-Tex overmitts The overmitts block wind, and are long enough to go over jacket cuffs. This is a bit inconvenient to put on, and I have tried various thick insulated gloves, but I have never ever found a single "pair of gloves" that will actually keep my hands warm. With this outfit, my hands stay warm down to around at least -10 F or so. I've found that many screens don't display well at these temperatures, so you might find that being able to operate a touch screen isn't such a factor.

The warmest gloves I ever had were some down mittens. Mittens aren't so good with doing things with your hands but they are significantly warmer than gloves. Down loses it's effectiveness when wet, much more so than the synthetic materials, but when dry it's still the best, as far as I know, if you routinely avoid situations where your hands could get wet.

Neoprene gloveshttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000HWKO16/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ made my hands sweat in below-zero Canada.