Best Winter Running Gloves: 7 Pairs Our Testers Reach For Year After Year

Introduction

Good winter running gloves are one of those pieces of kit you only notice when they fail: sweaty palms five kilometers in, a glove lost somewhere along the canal, or fingers so cold you cannot work your phone. The picks below come from testers who have run in each pair for years, in many cases choosing them over everything else they have tried. Some are thin and breathable for milder days, others are thick waterproof options built for subzero, wet and windy conditions. Here is why each one earns its place, and the kind of conditions it suits best.

What We Look For in a Good Pair of Running Gloves

Three things matter most. First, gloves should be small and packable, easy to stuff into a jacket pocket or running belt once you warm up a few kilometers in and want them back on at the end. Second, being able to use your phone and your watch through the fabric is a genuine bonus, because taking gloves off constantly gets old fast. Third, warmth has to match the job: a thin breathable glove for tempo work and a thick waterproof mitt for icy hill descents are solving completely different problems, and no single pair does both perfectly.

Tracksmith Inferno Gloves

The Tracksmith Inferno Gloves are one tester’s absolute go-to, worn on every winter run. At £32 or $32, they come in four colorways and two size ranges (small/medium and large/extra large). The magic is in the balance: they are light and breathable enough that you never hit that awful sweaty-palms stage where you have to strip them off and juggle them every time you get your phone out, yet they stay warm when it is properly cold. They are also genuinely soft against the skin, so wiping your nose mid-run does not leave red scratchy marks on your face.

Touch-sensitive fingertips and thumb let you swipe and use a phone or watch screen without removing them, though texting in any gloves remains tricky. The fit is excellent, they survive repeated washing, they look sharp with a small logo on the wrist, and they have proven so popular with this tester that they own two pairs and have bought them as Christmas presents for every runner they know.

New Balance Team Knitted Gloves

There are no bells and whistles here. The New Balance Team Knitted Gloves are a cheap, simple, effective pair of classic woollen-feel gloves, all about that old-school knitted comfort. They are nice and thick yet surprisingly flexible and unrestrictive, and they take the edge nicely off all but the coldest temperatures. This tester would not reach for them close to freezing, or in rain, but for most autumn and winter runs they do a good job.

You can still do useful things while wearing them, like unzipping pockets, and the big thick cuffs sit under a jacket easily. There are textured smartphone pads on the swipe fingers, though screen interaction is a bit hit and miss. Currently often on sale at under a tenner, they are gloves you will not mind too much if you lose them, which makes them a great low-stakes backup pair.

Nathan HyperNight Reflective Convertible Mitts

These are the day-in, day-out winter pick for a tester with chronically cold hands and a tendency toward chilblains. The Nathan HyperNight Reflective Convertible Mitts are pretty warm in glove form, and as temperatures drop below single digits Celsius, or when running into a cold headwind, you can pop the mitten outer layer on top for a serious warmth boost. That convertible ability is the real selling point: the mitten form simply feels so much warmer.

There are classic touchscreen-compatible panels on the fingertips, silicone patches so your phone does not slip out of your hand the moment you pull it from a pocket, a soft patch on the outside of the thumb for nose wiping, and plenty of reflective detailing for low-light visibility. At £30 or $35 they are not cheap, but not crazy either for something used daily for years, and they drop in sales fairly regularly. This tester switches to something heavier only when it drops below or very near zero, or in really wet conditions.

Montane Prism Dryline Waterproof Mitts

Consider these the gloves of last resort, and the price reflects it: £70 or $90. The Montane Prism Dryline Waterproof Mitts are almost more hiking mitts than running gloves in how thick they are, and they exist for the moments when thin running gloves simply stop cutting it. They are waterproof, fleece-lined, and genuinely cozy and comfortable, and this tester, who gets chilblains and very cold hands, rates them as a fantastic option for exactly that reason.

They shine in the worst conditions: subzero temperatures, cold rain, icy wind, or those winter hill runs in Scotland where a steep icy descent slows you down, your body temperature drops, the wind hits, and your hands start to freeze. If you find them too warm mid-run, they pack down easily into a backpack or a generous pocket, and you can even slip them on over a thinner glove like the Nathan pair above as an emergency extra layer. They will not suit runners with warm hands, who will find them sweaty, but for very cold-handed runners they double as everyday winter gloves too, which softens the investment.

Soar Winter Running Gloves

The Soar Winter Running Gloves tick every box on this tester’s checklist. They are small, light, and extremely packable, sliding into jacket pockets or a running belt without bulk. The thickness is just right: enough warmth for winter training without the overly thick feel that gets in the way during harder efforts.

There is a grippier surface on the fingers for interacting with your phone and watch, and while that screen functionality is workable, the real appeal is the combination of low bulk, decent warmth and versatility. These are good enough for long training runs but equally at home during sprint work and speed sessions, making them a genuinely flexible winter option.

The North Face Etip Gloves

The North Face Etip Gloves are a little bigger than the Soar pair and slightly bulkier in a running belt, so this tester tends to stash them in a jacket pocket instead. What they offer in return is a large touchscreen-compatible surface area, which is the whole point of the Etip design, and the best watch interaction of any pair tested. With touchscreen sports watches like the Fenix 965, these are the gloves that consistently work best for tapping and swiping on the move.

A small but genuinely useful detail: like socks, gloves have a habit of getting separated in a drawer. These come with simple clips so you can clip the pair together and actually find them when the cold run arrives. Just about the right size without being bulky, and with strong phone functionality, they are an easy recommendation.

Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Fusion Control Gloves

The Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Fusion Control Gloves, which also carry Fusion Control in the title, are not strictly running gloves, and that is part of their appeal. Most running gloves are thin, and on cold easy runs they simply do not do the job. These are fairly thick but still relatively lean to wear, completely windproof and completely waterproof, which makes them ideal for the British winter when everything gets wet and rainy.

Touch sensitivity on the fingertips and thumb tips works very well, and a small connector keeps the pair together so you do not lose one. This tester would never wear them for an interval session or a race, but for long, slow, easy runs in the cold, especially along a windy, rainy seafront in near-storm conditions, they are fantastic. They also double as genuinely good everyday gloves, which most running-specific pairs cannot claim.

Buying Advice

Match the glove to your hands and your runs. If you run at a decent effort through most of winter and run warm, thin, breathable options like the Tracksmith Inferno, Soar Winter Running Gloves or The North Face Etip Gloves will cover you, with the Etip standing out for watch and phone interaction and the Tracksmith for all-day comfort. If you lose gloves regularly or just want a cheap backup, the New Balance Team Knitted Gloves are hard to argue with at under a tenner. If you have genuinely cold hands, the Nathan HyperNight Convertible Mitts give you a warmth dial you can adjust mid-run, and for the truly brutal days, the Montane Prism Waterproof Mitts and Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather gloves are the nuclear options that keep frost-prone fingers functional. Many cold-handed runners will realistically want two pairs: a daily glove and a worst-weather shield.

Conclusion

There is no single best winter running glove, only the right glove for the right kind of cold. Thin, packable and touchscreen-friendly covers most training; convertible and waterproof designs cover the days that thin gloves cannot. Whichever camp you fall into, every pair here has earned years of regular use from testers who run through the worst of the season, and any of them will keep your hands happier this winter.