KastKing UPF50+ Sun Protection Fishing Gloves

Muy buen producto se ajustan bien y son ligeros

First, the most important thing about any gloves for me: they fit! I have large hands and a lot of L/XL gloves still don’t fit quite right. I think the 3/4 finger design of these helps with that. They’re snug but not too constricting. If you wear XL in most gloves don’t worry about them being too small.

Some other things I like:
– The pattern is nice
– The layout of the reinforcements is well done, feels good with a spinning and baitcasting rod in hand
– On/off pull tabs are pretty convenient, but I end up adjusting the wrist area after pulling them on every time
– The fabric feels great to the touch, it’s very smooth and soft. The faux leather material is supple and kind of thin, which should be good for sensitivity.
– They feel like they have a nice cooling effect just on first try-on, which gives me confidence that they’re going to wick away moisture well, and should be great during warm days.
– They feel amazing with a trekking pole in hand, and I like that I can use a single pair of gloves to hike in to a spot, fish it, and hike out.

Some things I don’t like:
– The print could be better. I haven’t seen the original artwork, so I can’t say for sure, but the print seems a bit dull and washed out. The darkest parts that are probably supposed to be black are more of a charcoal grey.
– The pleather on the index finger is doubled up where one piece meets another, causing seemingly unnecessary bunching when you close your index finger. It’s not uncomfortable, but I could see it being cut and sewn differently so the seams of the two pieces meet and there is no extra fabric. That being said, is does look nice and clean, so I could see why it was constructed this way.
– The middle finger should be shorter. A lot of rods let you feel the blank by positioning a spot on the handle big enough for you to rest your middle and index fingers on. I have multiple rods of this style, and with all the fabric on the middle finger of these gloves I can’t feel the blank at all. Because the pull tab is there as well, it’s actually 3 layers of fabric from my finger to the blank. There’s a very easy solution to this: I folded the middle finger down halfway, so now I can touch the blank with my middle finger and end of my index finger. In future production this could be fixed by just shortening the middle finger and moving the pull tab down lower.

Overall, my first impression of these is great. They’re a new product, so I’m sure any issues will be worked out over time as the reviews come in. Why 4 and not 5 stars? There’s room for improvement. These would be perfect for me with the small fixes I mentioned. I’m becoming a big fan of KastKing and the stuff they’re putting out because they actually listen to their customers and seem to update their products based on feedback. Big brands may do that to some degree, but KastKing is doing it very well right now, and at great prices. If they keep it up I’ll be a fan for a long time.

So yeah, I’d probably recommend these as a good fishing/hiking combo glove based on my first impression of them, but with those changes I mentioned I’d recommend them 100% as a perfect warm weather fishing glove. Thanks for reading my review, and I hope it helped in some way.

Obligatory: This review is unpaid and unsolicited, I have no affiliation with KastKing, and I received no help or discount in buying this product.

I bought these gloves to use when I’m out in the sun. They fit to size. They are comfortable and protect my hands and wrists from the elements. They are perfect for running as well. They are not thick like yard work gloves are. They are also not thin and wimpy. The fit well.

Bought L/XL. Great.

I’m 6’4″, and the XL fits me well. The wife is 5’9, and at a measured L, she was happy with these enough to buy her a set of L/XL. See measurements on the photos.

Rating is for packaging, design, comfortability, and perceived quality. I will update in a week or 2 after actual boat wear. Sure, these are “fishing” gloves, but we will be doing some of that from our new to us ‘classic wakeboat.’ Review will consist of fishing-geared activities, but emphasis on UV and around the boat wear also included. One could argue boating is a complementary activity.

I have vitiligo, so instead of gooing up my boat interior with sun screen, we’ve opted for UPF light clothing on the boat, plus less chemicals for the kids.

Comfortable around the house for an hour. The wrist tab is an easy pull on the glove, we’ll see how long it lasts.
I don’t know how long the palm side stitching will last, or the fabric above the stitching that gets pulled.

Pulling of the middle finger pull tab removes the glove, albeit with the thumb sucking into the glove (which is easily popped back out when redonning). This puts similar stretch on the stitching between finger and palm area (base of finger, both sides). We’ll see how that lasts.

I didn’t overheat in the house. Comfortable. A little pressure, but not tight. A little bit looser than a compression shirt from, say, Under Armour. A bit thicker material, though, perhaps estimating… double thickness from UA style fabric?

I imagine the padding will protect wearing surfaces from foam and such on fishing poles. Thumbpad and the area across all 4 palm points under the fingers (opposite knuckles [metacarpal to phalanges]) is your supporting position for things like poles, are covered in the felty/synthetic leather stuff, kind of like cheap gardening gloves. It won’t protect much from puncture, but repetitive rubbing shouldn’t be a problem.

Cuff length is ok, see photo. Articulating the wrist, there is an overlap that develops a fold about 1/8″, but doesn’t seem to bother anything. This occurs mostly on the outside of the hand (ulnar side), but in the photo you can see it on both sides. A quick tug on the pull tab straightens it out. Wondering if I’ll notice it more, or less, while out doing my activities. We’ll report back.

The pattern between the two gloves is an identical mirror between left and right. I think a random pattern would be neater, but, perhaps that’s a way to keep material cost down. Perhaps they’ll update it later for randomness. It is camouflage, after all.

Label specifies wash inside out. Also, Made in CHINA. 90% poly 10% spandex.

Item had that made in china plastic smell when first opening the package, but I let it air out overnight and its now inoffensive.

What else… I’ll be looking at pilling, like this style fabric can do. Stitching is nice and uniform, no hanging threads… so far.

Stay tuned. I’ll update in a couple weeks.