All posts tagged turtleskin gloves

Turtleskin gloves and how you are suppose to use them

 

 

 

After several years of working in the Private Security field and dealing with Law Enforcement, one thing we have learned it many people don’t understand how to use their products or gear properly.  I’m reminded of a Clint Smith quote in one of of his Rifle Training videos about “not rackin it, and slapping it, Vietnam style” in reference to the proper way to drop a bolt on an AR.   Guys come in here thinking you can use molle pouches on a belt and then come in complaining how it’s not working and we’re like “its for a molle vest not a belt” and we get an “oh”.    Frisk Gloves are meant for frisking,  Turtleskin Gloves are meant for need protection and slash resistance, not shoveling the snow or going to the shooting range.   They should have a shelf life much longer than latex gloves, but don’t expect them to last forever, remember body armor usually is expired in 5yrs for a reason.

The most popular seller in the last 4 years are the Turtleskin Bravo Gloves, these have more of a patrolman’s glove and are very lightweight and easy to shove in your pockets without a lot of bulk.   There are some other gloves out that customers have told us about but we’ve done extremely well with Turtleskin Gloves.   This company makes space suits so puncture resistance is something they really care about.   Just like most Level II and Level IIIA body armor these gloves are resistant, not stab proof.   You still have to know how to search properly and know all of the angles of your hand and they way things can be hidden in pockets.  We offer bulk discounts on these as well as department discounts based on volume

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New Turtleskin Delta Police Glove

We wTurtleskin Glovesere one of the first dealers here in Pennsylvania to carry Turtleskin gloves and when we got them in, we really didn’t know the market all that well but we knew we had to get something in.   Once we found out that Warwick Mills has a relationship with NASA on building Astronaut Suits, there really wasn’t much more we needed to know about them than that.   We do know more about what the frisk glove market is and how important these days that Police, Security and EMS have something like this on them, one word, heroin.  Bloodborne pathogens are common and having needle and slash protection is as necessary as having a bullet in the chamber of your duty weapon.

We have been selling the Alpha and Bravo Gloves for several years now and they have sold well, but the new Turtleskin Gloves that we just added to our inventory are the Turtleskin Delta Police Gloves which are very different.  You are never going to get all of the dexterity you want in a glove like this but there are variables.   With the Alpha and the Bravo, there is a stiffer feel to the palms of the hand that kind of feel like a thin layer of cardboard even though they are puncture resistant.   With the Delta Glove, this is an all leather police glove and you can definitely feel the difference.  I would have to say that I feel as though there is more dexterity with this glove and a more normal glove feel.  It’s a few bucks more than the Bravo and Alpha but if feel and dexterity and it’s not just about protection, you might want to go with the Delta instead.

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Turtleskin Gloves vs. a Baseball Glove

Turtleskin glovesSounds like it might be a joke blog post today, but it’s not.   After spending years reading and interactive on several firearm forums, there’s always somebody that comes up with information that is so basic, it’s extremely useful.   In our business there are all kinds of bells and whistles to put on a firearm or dress up in, but so many of the times, the guys that actually have to use the stuff end up stripping gear down the more they are in the field.   I’ve seen plenty of Special Ops guys that don’t wear helmets and limit armor because it restricts mobility and a slow moving person is a much easier target than a fast moving one.   It’s always a good idea to have gloves available to you even if it’s something lightweight and is basically for heat protection.  I have seen plenty of Operators using something as simple as a baseball glove in the field.   We are often asked about the dexterity of a glove but just like footwear, the customer has to try it on and see how it works for them, finger lengths between digits and hand sizes are as diverse as inseams are on pants so it’s yet another one of those things you have to slip over your hand to see how you can move and feel in them.

One thing to consider in this day and age is to make sure you have a cell phone that has a “glove mode” or that you have your text size large enough, and that you can type with them on.   Even our Turtleskin gloves like the Alpha Gloves and the Bravo Gloves have little circles on the index fingers and palm of the hand so that you can type with them.   Although cell phones aren’t as reliable as radios, knowing you can keep your gloves on and still call 911 or type on a computer without going back and forth between putting the gloves on and taking them off is not an easy task.   You are always going to trade safety for comfort in varying degrees and preference and customization can’t be ruled  out.   There are plenty of people that have taken $80 gloves and cut the trigger finger off just because they don’t need any protection for possible their most important finger.

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Heroin it’s all over the place, and our sales for frisk gloves are up

turtleskin glovesThis is one of those things that really bothers us when we get phone calls from Police and our sales for certain products go up, it’s good for us from a sales point of view, but it’s incredible disturbing when we hear from Police that “heroin is everywhere”.    I  had a friend that was in our store last year that told me he’s never seen it like this before and aside from the Celebrity overdose stories (that happen every year) everyone in the medical industry from ambulance drivers to hospitals, all know when the bad batch of heroin is in the area.   I have some harsh opinions about people that are willing to risk in-taking someone elses chemistry skills.  Sure it’s somebody’s son or somebody’s daughter, but it’s also somebody’s son or daughter that has to risk getting stuck with a needle every time they frisk someone or have to look through a bag.

There are big differences between all of the protective gloves and we always know that people want dexterity because now that I-Pads, I-Phones and keyboards are an everyday thing, you need to be able to function with your gear.   We deal with a lot of glove manufacturers from Hatch to Damascus to Warwick Mills, and the Turtleskin gloves seem to be the product line that has gained the most in the last 3 years.   Corrections departments have been calling  us all the time because every other dealer seems to  be out of stock of these and the production never seems to keep up.   It’s rare to have  a product take off like this but has recently been very well deserving of a top seller.

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More customer feedback about the Turtleskin gloves

turtleskin glovesWe added several more products to our Turtleskin glove product line after hearing a lot of positive feedback from the Pennsylvania State Police.   Apparently, Turtleskin has been doing a lot of demonstrations and since Heroine use seems to be way up more and more Police Officers are running the risk of being exposed to HIV and HEP C and all the other crap that exists.   It’s almost part of the uniform for any Police Officer within 25miles of a major City, especially Philadelphia to have to keep frisk gloves on them or in their patrol vehicle.  There is always a balance and limit to using various types of Law Enforcement Gear, and it’s almost best to keep the limits to a reasonable level.   Being able to feel something like needle or a pipe yet also have protection and still be able to draw an proficiently use a firearm or use a radio under stress is important.

Much of this is about preference and the environment you are working in but there are new gloves on our inventory like the Patrol Gloves, NYDOCS Glove and the Turtleskin search gloves.   These gloves are either lighter or heavier than the Turtleskin gloves we had like the Algha and Bravo gloves.   Those are really more street patrol gloves and some of the others are probable more for prison, crime scene or major incidents.   Being able to have a glove like this in the $50 price range is about what most police officers want and having something that holds up after being washed is also important to the consumer.

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Dealing with Narcotics and the ever changing environment Police are subjected to

Turtleskin glovesWhen we first heard about the Turtleskin product line it was when they actually called us up and asked us if we wanted to be a dealer for their products.  We knew this was a niche market when we first got into it, but frisk gloves like this are something that nobody really deals with and everyone wants to walk into a store and try them out before they drop $65 on a pair of gloves.  Sure you can get kevlar gloves or something possible less expensive, but the dexterity on these gloves especially the Turtleskin Duty Gloves and the Turtleskin Alpha gloves give  you much more.   There is a level of puncture resistances as well as slash resistances and both gloves will not interfer very much with your ability to use a firearm if need be.

These gloves have been hard to keep in stock because many corrections officers have been finding out about them from the various demonstrations and trade shows that the Warwick Mills reps have been giving.   We deal with a lot of new hire Police officers and Turtleskin gloves  are  something that is usually on their list of things that they need before they hit the streets.   With all of the crap out there that EMS and Police have to deal with like HIV or HEP C and God knows what else.  Some people are really just dirty according to some of our Police.   You have to have the protection on your hands just like you need body armor that can protect you from knives or bullets.

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Frisk gloves, are their any new options?

Turtleskin glovesWe started out selling tactical apparel and tactical gear about 9yrs ago and much has changed since we first started.  Their were XENON bulbs in just about all of  our Streamlight Flashlights and now there are LED lights everywhere and XENON is a thing of the past.  The technology has so dramatically improved in the flashlight industry but now body armor and protective clothing has also.   Turtleskin gloves are made by a company called Warwick mills, they have a long history working for the Space Program and making Astronaut suits, so dealing with protective clothing and puncture resistant materials.  They make all sorts of gloves and not all of them are big and clunky like lab gloves or things that Apollo 11 had on.

Many working in the EMS world are very much aware of Hepatitis C and HIV, and sadly there have been a lot of Police and Ambulance personnel that have lost their lives or had life altering things happen when contracting these.    There are 2 styles of Turtleskin gloves that we are selling and they have quickly outsold the Hatch gloves that we were selling a few years ago.  The Alpha and Bravo gloves do feel very different and they are almost a 2 type of season glove.   We realize nobody is going to wear these all  year long but it’s nice to know that the Bravo Turtleskin gloves have a much more comfortable feel in hot weather and Alpha is better suited for colder weather.  See our online store for sale, discounts and promos on these items.

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Gloves that do more than keep you warm

I’ve been trying to learn about some of the tactical gloves and the gloves that Law Enforcement Officials use daily and the spectrum is very broad.  The first thing I usually want to do with gloves is cut the fingers off which is why I actually prefer to use fingerless gloves with some type of re-enforcement around the thumb area.  I’ve had my bad experiences with winter gloves that just got ruined in a day of range use and it was usually the thumb area that got ruined first.   Hatch gloves and sometimes even just baseball gloves get the job done, but the Turtleskin gloves were something we wanted to try out.

We only brought in the Alpha and the Bravo gloves and although I find the Bravo gloves to be the most comfortable to use, there seems to be more customer reviews referencing the Alpha.   The real difference between these two Turtleskin gloves is that the Turtleskin Alpha gloves  are a cold weather glove and according to customer feedback a good winter frisk glove, the Turtleskin Bravo gloves are a lightweight version with more breath ability.  We have some promos running inside our store for the Turtleskin gloves

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Search gloves from Turtleskin

I do not have much experience with needing to use search gloves, but the liabilities of not using search gloves like the Turtlskin gloves are life altering.  Years ago I remember seeing a few fundraisers for emergency response individuals that all got Hepatitis C while working on the job.   You can spend your life trying to save other people’s lives and then find out you just shortened your life because you were exposed to the scum element of society and got HIV or Hepatitis C from a needle user because you got stabbed by a needle.

Blood splatter can occur just from someone spitting on you and that is one reason even the clear eyewear we sell from Smith Optics Elite is so popular.  It’s  not just about sunlight getting in  your eyes, but products like the Turtleskin gloves like the Bravo and Alpha gloves are what you are going to want to stow in your car if you are dealing with this type of environment.   Skipping this step can be easier but all you have to do is look at all of the beef and beer fundraisers for so many in the emergency response community and you’ll see why protective gear is so important.

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