Black Diamond Mercury Mitt - Women's Review

The Mercury Mitt is one of the warmest options we tested in this review. Updated with a full mitten removable liner, this insulated mitten will keep your fingers warm and dry all day long. We love how lofty the insulation is soft and effective, and how the liner was removable for fast drying. We also like the tall, wide gauntlet and how it can cinch down to lock out weather. This mitten is well constructed and the leather palm is reinforced in all of the highuse areas. This mitt will keep your fingers warm and dry all season long.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

With 133-170g Primaloft Gold insulation, it's not surprising that this mitt kept our fingers warm all day long. In our experience with many products that utilize this specific insulation, it performs extremely well, providing excellent warmth to weight ratio. The fluffy pile provides ample space to amplify the heat of our hands. The added mitten design (i.e., the fact that all of your fingers are touching inside the mitten liner) contributes heavily to this warmth. Black Diamond updated the liner of these gloves to omit the split-finger design or previous iterations and go back to a full mitten liner. We found that even on the coldest, iciest days our fingers didn't feel the slightest chill.

Adding to the warmth of the Mercury Mitt is the breathability of the BD.dry exterior. We noticed that during downhill ski testing and hiking, our hands stayed dry even though they were working up heat and condensation. As we often emphasize, this is key to all-day warmth. The dry heat of these mitts can't be beat.

Water Resistance

As previously mentioned, a key factor for long-term glove performance is its resistance to precipitation and other weather. The Mercury Mitt excels here. The BD.dry exterior shell is treated with an Empel DWR coating. This material beads water extremely well. The insulated liner is also water-resistant, although unsurprisingly it is far more susceptible to moisture than when combined with its shell. Throughout heavy use, we did notice that the leather portions of this glove had to be retreated to boost performance again, as with all leather gloves and mittens.

Upon inspection of the inner part of the shell, we noticed the fully taped seams of the cuff. This helps to keep water from seeping in on even the slushiest and most frozen days. The additional feature of an elastic drawcord on the cuff seals the mitten to your jacket. This feature is key on deep powder days, or when performing heavy shoveling and snow removal. We also remarked that these shells have a wind-breaking quality. On ridgeline hikes and windy chairlift rides, we couldn't feel any drafts. These mittens felt nearly impervious to water and weather.

Dexterity

Like most mittens, if there is one weak point of the Mercury Mitt, it's dexterity. The warm insulation and packaging of fingers together come at a cost. The rounded and well-insulated fingertip portion of the mittens makes grasping objects considerably more challenging than when wearing gloves. It works well for simple tasks like grasping ski poles, but not more complex ones like tying knots.

It was consistently challenging to zip jackets or buckle boots while wearing this mitten, and we had a hard time even knowing what we were grabbing. We attribute this to the loft of the insulation. The trade-off in warmth might be worth it if you're priority is warmth and you don't necessarily need technical performance from this mitten.

Durability

We really like how this mitten's materials are reinforced in high-use areas. The palm of this mitten is constructed of goat leather treated with a DWR finish. The DWR finish helps to maintain the integrity of the leather, as soaking through leather consistently chips away at its strength.

The palm of the mitten is also constructed to increase durability. The leather is reinforced with an additional patch in high-use areas like the meeting of the thumb and palm. This helps the mitten hold up to consistent ski pole or rope use. The leather also wraps around the thumb and back of fingers to protect the seams of the mitten. This treatment and construction lead us to believe these mittens are quite hardy.

Features

The Mercury Mitt is fully equipped with features for any winter adventure. The long wrist gauntlets are comfortable and do a great job of keeping snow and ice out. We love the new addition of an adjustable cuff on this model to truly cinch down and keep snow from collecting inside the gauntlet. These also feature a carabiner loop on the first finger that allows one to hang them opening side down on a harness or backpack.

The only suggestion we have for this mitten is to add an adjustable leash. Due to their poor dexterity, we think it would be convenient to keep them connected during a quick phone use or gear adjustment. If you are someone who likes to carry hand warmers, these mittens also do not have a separate pocket for those, but these are unlikely to be necessary to keep hands toasty warm in these mittens. Overall, we find these mitts to be well-equipped.

Should You Buy the Black Diamond Mercury Mitts?

One of the warmest contenders in this review, the Mercury Mitt is our choice for best mittens overall. Its warmth competes with the best, and its construction will hold up day in and day out. Add this a great level of water and weather resistance, and you have our favorite mittens on the market. If you don't necessarily need much dexterity and your top priority is finger warmth, then this is the pick for you. Their durable construction should also help them last for several seasons.

What Other Women's Ski Gloves Should You Consider?

If you need more dexterity than the bulky Mercury Mitts afford, the Arc'teryx Fission SV tops the charts for its impressive warmth and the ability to still use your fingers for fine motor tasks. They cost quite a bit more, but we feel they are the best gloves on the market. If you definitely want mittens but would prefer to spend a bit less, the Burton Gore-Tex Mittens offer warmth and weather protection at a lower price.