This is a review update* of the Santic Dorin Cycling Liner Gloves, lightweight multi-purpose gloves that work best on chilly spring or autumn days. Santic, a company specialized in making professional cycling wear and shoes, markets those as cycling gloves. However, these budget-friendly liners are much more. The bulk-free construction fits snug and can be used as standalone or as an underlayer in combination with heavier gloves or mitts. Additionally, it works well in a large temperature spectrum i.e. in most weather conditions. Versatile and flexible, the Santic Dorin glove has a nice set of functional features that make it an effective piece of gear for adventures in the great outdoors as well as everyday activities.
Interested to learn more? Read on and you will find out what else did we find testing these liner gloves.
Table of Contents
Quick specs: Santic Dorin Cycling Liner Gloves
Price: $20.99
Weight: 56 g (2 oz)
Material: 87% Polyester, 13% spandex
Where to get it: Amazon
Notable features:
- Wind-stopper fabric cuts the wind and reduces the amount of wind chill; the palm and fingers are silicone-coated for better grip in wet and dry conditions
- Soft microfleece lining inside for added comfort and warmth
- Abrasion-resistant fabric between the thumb and the index finger for added wear resistance
- Touchscreen capability on the thumb and index finger allows the user to use devices without removing the gloves
Pros:
- Multi-purpose: though called Santic Dorin Cycling Liner Gloves, these are suitable for various sports and activities. They can be worn by themselves in warmer conditions as well as can be used for layering underneath a more solid pair of gloves or mitts in cold weather.
- Grippy: thanks to the silicone elements covering the palm and fingers, these liner gloves provide excellent grip for easy handling of tools, phones, cameras, and zippers.
- Dexterity: a snug fit, good stretch, easy on and off, work well when finger finesse is needed. This means that you can use tools, trekking poles, cameras, and zip/unzip your jacket or backpack with ease.
- Wind-resistant: thanks to the wind-stopper fabric they will keep you comfortable in windy weather. Additionally, they feel warm enough down to about 0°C (32°F) or even less than that (the microfleece lining inside is thin but will keep your hands warm while staying active in cool-to-cold weather).
- Screen-friendly: the touch finger pads are responsive and work reasonably well with touchscreen devices and phones. For more on this, see the detailed review below.
Cons:
- Lightweight and not very warm especially if you have poor circulation. Moreover, these gloves would need half an hour or so to warm cold hands (even if the weather is not very cold).
- Run small plus the manufacturer offers a too-small range of size options. Basically, there are no sizes for people with larger hands.
- Inside seams can cause unwanted friction against the fingertips.
Women’s Version: Unisex
Find the latest price:
Summary
The Santic Dorin are advertised as cycling gloves suitable for various sports and activities in temps between 6°C (43°F) and 14°C (57°F). Crafted from a stretch wind-stopper fabric (a nice blend of polyester and elastane) with a microfleece lining, these gloves provide a lot of dexterity and offer all-around functionality.
These liner gloves by Santic have been worn for about three years now and we can say that they are definitely a high-quality pair of gloves given their budget-friendly price. They’ve been used during hiking trips in various climates and environments as well as for everyday use.
Detailed review
Material, construction & durability
The main material is a blend of polyester and spandex. It’s soft to the touch and stretchy (maybe a bit more than necessary). Palms and fingers are silicone-coated for non-slip gripping so that you can work with any kind of tool, without worrying that it could be slipping off your grasp.
There’s a soft microfleece lining inside. It’s thin but if you have good circulation in your hands, it will keep your hands warm down to temperatures much lower than the 6-14°C (43-57°F) range indicated by the manufacturer (read the section about ‘thermal insulation’ below to learn what’s our experience wearing these gloves in cold weather).
The touchscreen feature (the fingertips are made with abrasion-resistant material) works well most of the time and we can’t complain about its touch response or functionality. Actually, the interaction with touchscreen devices in general, and phones, in particular, is easy and intuitive. The only problem is that the ability to use a touch screen effectively decreases over time. It seems that as the material rubs, it gradually loses its touchscreen capabilities. The same abrasion-resistant material is used for reinforcing the area between the thumb and the index finger. The added wear resistance increases the expected lifetime of the glove, enhances control, and improves handling with bike grips, trekking poles, ice tools, etc.
The construction is well-made and we’ve never had any problems with these lightweight gloves after acquiring them three years ago. So, there’s no doubt that they are fairly durable and could serve you well for a couple of seasons or more. The only thing that stops us from saying that the Santic Dorin are really hard-wearing gloves is that they’ve been used for hiking and everyday wear so we can’t be sure if they can withstand extreme wear and tear or not.
Weather protection and thermal insulation
The gloves are crafted from wind-resistant fabric (the back of the gloves is made from wind-stopper fabric). While knowing that the Santic Liner Gloves are lightweight and not winter gloves at all (remember – the manufacturer recommended these for temps no lower than 6°C) we decided to test them at lower temps in different situations. The lowest temperature at which these Santic liner gloves were tested was -5°C or 23°F (but with the wind, it felt like -10°C or 14°F) in dry cold, snowy, and windy weather. Surprisingly, everything was all right during the trip and they kept our hands warm. Actually, the hands stayed much warmer than the rest of the body. We also tested these liners in similar temperatures (2°C or 36°F but with the wind, it felt like -5°C or 23°F) during a snowfall (heavy, wet snow) and the hands definitely felt cold for the first twenty minutes. We noticed something interesting that’s worth noting – in cold weather, our hands always felt cold for the first 10-15 minutes but later on, they got warm and stayed like this for hours. Also, as these are not waterproof, wetting from the outside will definitely be felt. Moreover, wet gloves usually lead to cold hands ruining the whole experience. This is the most plausible explanation why our hands felt differently in dry and cold as opposed to wet and cold weather.
Another good point for these liner gloves is the protection from the wind they offer. The liner gloves are wind-resistant and keep hands relatively warm without letting wind in. Note that they work pretty well for high-exertion cold-weather activities. The main trick is to stay active. As long as you stay active, the thin material insulates well in a wide range of conditions. Even then, don’t expect them to keep your hands super warm. But if you are among those who have good circulation in your hands, these gloves work well at 0°C (32°F) or even below. Note that once you stop moving vigorously, the result would be very different and you’d need to add another layer of warmth.
You should also know that it takes much more time to get warm hands if you put these gloves on when your hands are cold initially. In such a case, you may need to wait for 20-30 minutes until your hands start to get warm. This isn’t good news, especially for those with bad circulation.
The gloves are not waterproof or water-repellent but as the fabric is made from polyester, they could resist light rain for a while. The main problem with wearing such gloves in rainy weather is that if the exterior gets wet, they will fail to keep your hands warm. So we don’t recommend using them alone in wet conditions unless it’s really unavoidable. Their best use in cold and wet weather would be as a liner underneath waterproof shells.
Weight and packability
There’s a huge difference between the lightest and heaviest designs of liner gloves. The main difference comes from the number of features as well as the quantity and quality of lining/insulation they utilize (high-quality linings and insulation are often lighter). The weight of the pair tested (the largest size – XL) for this review is 56 g or 2 oz. This ranks the Santic Dorin Cycling Liner among the lighter midweight liner gloves. Additionally, they’re compact and easy to pack and store in a jacket’s pocket or a backcountry pack.
Fit, dexterity & comfort
The fact that these liners are bulk-free fit is a very important factor in keeping the dexterity of the fingers. The gloves are lightweight and easy to put on and take off thanks to the elastic cuff around the wrist. The fit is snug allowing for excellent fine motor dexterity. Zipping and unzipping your jacket, pants, backpack, etc. is easy. It’s also easy to open and close hook-and-loop fasteners (see the image below). The touchscreen-compatible fingertips also do their job well.
The gloves run small and what’s more, there are only four sizes available. This is a huge minus, especially for those with larger hands as there are no sizes that would fit such people.
Comfort is strictly personal but there are still some things that make a garment more or less comfortable to most people. For example, flat and minimum seams cause less rubbing against the skin in comparison to ordinary inside seams. Unfortunately, the inner seams of the Santic Dorin Gloves are noticeable and can cause unwanted friction against the fingertips. Labels inside a garment can also cause friction. If you’re one of those whose skin does not tolerate any kind of touch or friction, you might wish to remove the inside label of all the garments you wear including your gloves (we’ve done that with the Santic Liner Gloves as seen on the image below).
We like the soft and smooth material as well as the overall feel when wearing these gloves. Most of the time while walking or backpacking, we don’t even notice that they’re on. In addition, the excellent dexterity they offer allows for doing so many things without having to take off the gloves.
Price
The Santic Dorin Liner Gloves usually come at around $20, which is about half of what you’d pay for other comparable models such as the REI Co-op Polartec Power Stretch 2.0 or Patagonia Capilene Midweight. Certainly, there are better designs ensuring more warmth, dexterity or comfort, however, as long as the pricing and objective quality are important, these liner gloves by Santic are still among our favorites.
Conclusion
Among the best budget liner gloves for multipurpose use, the Santic Dorin Cycling Liner Glove is a good option for an active lifestyle because of its distinguishing features and characteristics.
As to our final verdict: in spite of some minor issues, these gloves by Santic are definitely high on our list of inexpensive gloves that are functional and comfortable enough to be worn on the trail or in town in cool-to-cold weather.
* The original post was published in January 2021
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