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- Jun 2, 2016
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I've had these gloves for a while actually, and they have rapidly become my absolute favorite sparring gloves to use. I'll go on to explain why that is, and the things that I feel could be improved upon. Also I should mention I've had these gloves for a while before posting the review. If you're at all like me with new gear, It's easy to get enamored with any new piece of gear and then a couple months later you find yourself not wanting to use it or finding out all of the little things you don't want.
Also as this is my first review i'm just going to blatantly copy other people's review formats.
The Looks: It's been said before about the triumph death adders but... this glove is absolutely gorgeous. It's the black red and white grant clone from triumph. It has a gorgeous split thumb, and the gloves just look amazing. Asthetics can be a bit person to person, if you think it doesn't look great that's cool, but in terms of effort into the design you can't really argue that these aren't lazily done gloves.
Compared to
I'll definitely call it inspiration and not some sort of design theft.
Quality / Construction: Alright so this is probably the one sticking point / concern I have with these gloves. And don't get me wrong. These aren't low quality gloves. However virtually all of the issues that I have with the glove have been construction concerns. Keep in mind... None of my concerns have really manifested into something practical. Yet... But they remain as concerns
On parts of the glove the trimmed leather is frequently uneven. If you look at the above picture the piping around the laces the leather breaks pretty roughly. On both gloves there's a concern above the piping I have... I already have a LOT of rounds with these gloves, they're still my favorite sparring gloves but a little concern area I have is this...
and on the other glove
Those are definitely concerns I have, I don't know how broadly it speaks to the quality of the glove but... It's just a big concern factor for me.
Also for an example of the slightly, uneven / rough leather cuts, the cuff of the glove shows this pretty well.
The leather doesn't bother me too much, the split thumb and anything that comes near the face of my opponent is flush and there are no issues there. But here's kind of my issue, I've used these gloves a LOT, and nothing has actually become a problem yet. And when I get to function I'll kind of explain why I still strongly recommend these gloves.
Padding / protection: The padding is great, it does need to be broken in a bit for sure, just crush the padding by hand for 30 seconds at a time and it gets pretty soft. These aren't Sabas Supersofts, but even with the more pillowey gloves they can sometimes leave you wishing for a slightly firmer foam rather than one that compresses the second your opponent hits you. This glove is on the slightly firmer side of sparring gloves, but I've been hit by these and hit by these. Definitely good for sparring. Protection for the user is great. Padding is perfectly placed and REALLY not wasted. One of my favorite things about these gloves is how the hand compartment is, I won't call it 'tight' because that implies that it doesn't fit, I would say it's just VERY well defined where your hand should be. They don't waste padding. I feel comfortable blocking hard hooks and head kicks with these gloves against the back of my hand.
Performance: This is why these gloves are awesome... I don't know how they do it but it feels like black magic. These are 16 oz gloves that, when I used them they're so well balanced and tight to your hands they do REALLY feel like 12 oz thai gloves. I have a pair of 12 oz twin specials that I use and that's the closest comparison in feeling that these gloves have. The form factor on a closed fist is just so tight and compact that you feel like you're training with fight gloves. I do actually spar better with these gloves than with a lot of my other gloves. Maybe it's mental? But just the way I feel like I can move with these always feels different. I think with a lot of other 16 ounce gloves when the padding is floating further from your hand / knuckles / fingers. Also sometimes the lack of a really really firm controllable grip bar in some gloves that really pulls the ENTIRE glove into a tight fist makes these feel lighter.
I actually even weighed these to be sure they weren't like... 15 or 14 oz gloves. Weights were 16.5 and 16.85. So a little bit over on weight but they feel so much lighter. Also the pop that these gloves have, I think it does have to do with just the compact, close to your fist feeling that you get with these on makes them really kind of snap out better. That's also a feeling I don't get as much when I use the super soft pillowey sparring gloves. Again I draw the comparison to twin specials, but with a little bit more tightness / firmness to them.
Cost: This is another big thing, technically these gloves are $90 on their website, but they go on sale for $50 pretty frequently. At $90 I would say you're getting a solid quality glove for your money. At $50... It's a steal. Like... easily the best value for money you're going to get.
Also while I was pulling up some images / checking their site I saw that they do have a sale for the hook and loop version of this glove for $50, which I would have gone for the hook and loop version of this glove if it was on sale when I bought it.
http://www.triumphunited.com/equipm...oves-1/death-adder-velcro-sparring-glove.html
Not shilling for them or anything, if I was I wouldn't have pointed out all of my serious quality concerns.
Oh and note before rating: I don't love that they don't have palm vent holes. But it's a small concern.
Price: 10/10 (while on sale for $50)
Quality / construction: 7/10
Performance: 10/10
Wrist protection: 9/10
Padding (user protection): 10/10
Padding (sparring partner protection): 8/10
Looks: 10/10 (even quality issues aside you have to look really close to notice those details and the gloves are gorgeous)
Weight: 8/10 (Half an ounce up on one and .85 of an ounce higher on another, not a big deal if you ask me but it's not perfect.)
Overall rating: 9/10
It's VERY hard to not love these gloves just using them. Every other issue aside even if I had paid $90 / full price for the gloves I like using these over a LOT of other options that I have. When you have the option of using a lot of gloves and you find yourself wanting to use just this glove, that's what makes me recommend it so highly.
I'd definitely highly recommend these gloves despite quality concerns. I will come back and edit if something ever goes wrong with these gloves. And I have used them for months before I decided to post this review so... hopefully nothing does go wrong.
Also as this is my first review i'm just going to blatantly copy other people's review formats.
The Looks: It's been said before about the triumph death adders but... this glove is absolutely gorgeous. It's the black red and white grant clone from triumph. It has a gorgeous split thumb, and the gloves just look amazing. Asthetics can be a bit person to person, if you think it doesn't look great that's cool, but in terms of effort into the design you can't really argue that these aren't lazily done gloves.
Compared to
I'll definitely call it inspiration and not some sort of design theft.
Quality / Construction: Alright so this is probably the one sticking point / concern I have with these gloves. And don't get me wrong. These aren't low quality gloves. However virtually all of the issues that I have with the glove have been construction concerns. Keep in mind... None of my concerns have really manifested into something practical. Yet... But they remain as concerns
On parts of the glove the trimmed leather is frequently uneven. If you look at the above picture the piping around the laces the leather breaks pretty roughly. On both gloves there's a concern above the piping I have... I already have a LOT of rounds with these gloves, they're still my favorite sparring gloves but a little concern area I have is this...
and on the other glove
Those are definitely concerns I have, I don't know how broadly it speaks to the quality of the glove but... It's just a big concern factor for me.
Also for an example of the slightly, uneven / rough leather cuts, the cuff of the glove shows this pretty well.
The leather doesn't bother me too much, the split thumb and anything that comes near the face of my opponent is flush and there are no issues there. But here's kind of my issue, I've used these gloves a LOT, and nothing has actually become a problem yet. And when I get to function I'll kind of explain why I still strongly recommend these gloves.
Padding / protection: The padding is great, it does need to be broken in a bit for sure, just crush the padding by hand for 30 seconds at a time and it gets pretty soft. These aren't Sabas Supersofts, but even with the more pillowey gloves they can sometimes leave you wishing for a slightly firmer foam rather than one that compresses the second your opponent hits you. This glove is on the slightly firmer side of sparring gloves, but I've been hit by these and hit by these. Definitely good for sparring. Protection for the user is great. Padding is perfectly placed and REALLY not wasted. One of my favorite things about these gloves is how the hand compartment is, I won't call it 'tight' because that implies that it doesn't fit, I would say it's just VERY well defined where your hand should be. They don't waste padding. I feel comfortable blocking hard hooks and head kicks with these gloves against the back of my hand.
Performance: This is why these gloves are awesome... I don't know how they do it but it feels like black magic. These are 16 oz gloves that, when I used them they're so well balanced and tight to your hands they do REALLY feel like 12 oz thai gloves. I have a pair of 12 oz twin specials that I use and that's the closest comparison in feeling that these gloves have. The form factor on a closed fist is just so tight and compact that you feel like you're training with fight gloves. I do actually spar better with these gloves than with a lot of my other gloves. Maybe it's mental? But just the way I feel like I can move with these always feels different. I think with a lot of other 16 ounce gloves when the padding is floating further from your hand / knuckles / fingers. Also sometimes the lack of a really really firm controllable grip bar in some gloves that really pulls the ENTIRE glove into a tight fist makes these feel lighter.
I actually even weighed these to be sure they weren't like... 15 or 14 oz gloves. Weights were 16.5 and 16.85. So a little bit over on weight but they feel so much lighter. Also the pop that these gloves have, I think it does have to do with just the compact, close to your fist feeling that you get with these on makes them really kind of snap out better. That's also a feeling I don't get as much when I use the super soft pillowey sparring gloves. Again I draw the comparison to twin specials, but with a little bit more tightness / firmness to them.
Cost: This is another big thing, technically these gloves are $90 on their website, but they go on sale for $50 pretty frequently. At $90 I would say you're getting a solid quality glove for your money. At $50... It's a steal. Like... easily the best value for money you're going to get.
Also while I was pulling up some images / checking their site I saw that they do have a sale for the hook and loop version of this glove for $50, which I would have gone for the hook and loop version of this glove if it was on sale when I bought it.
http://www.triumphunited.com/equipm...oves-1/death-adder-velcro-sparring-glove.html
Not shilling for them or anything, if I was I wouldn't have pointed out all of my serious quality concerns.
Oh and note before rating: I don't love that they don't have palm vent holes. But it's a small concern.
Price: 10/10 (while on sale for $50)
Quality / construction: 7/10
Performance: 10/10
Wrist protection: 9/10
Padding (user protection): 10/10
Padding (sparring partner protection): 8/10
Looks: 10/10 (even quality issues aside you have to look really close to notice those details and the gloves are gorgeous)
Weight: 8/10 (Half an ounce up on one and .85 of an ounce higher on another, not a big deal if you ask me but it's not perfect.)
Overall rating: 9/10
It's VERY hard to not love these gloves just using them. Every other issue aside even if I had paid $90 / full price for the gloves I like using these over a LOT of other options that I have. When you have the option of using a lot of gloves and you find yourself wanting to use just this glove, that's what makes me recommend it so highly.
I'd definitely highly recommend these gloves despite quality concerns. I will come back and edit if something ever goes wrong with these gloves. And I have used them for months before I decided to post this review so... hopefully nothing does go wrong.
