REVIEW: Oakley Assault S.I. Gloves

       I've tried quite a few pairs of gloves in the 4 years I've been playing. Winter leather ones, Extreme Rage Half Fingers, BT Sniper Gloves, and a whole slough of other gloves from Empire and I have to say, the life expectancy of gloves designed for paintball is pretty pathetic. The biggest let down came last year with a 50$ pair of fancy new Empire Contact gloves that didn't survive half a season, and I reffed all last year, they barely saw action! Those ones didn't need much abuse to give up on me, so as much as I love other stuff from Empire, I don't think I'd wish a pair of their gloves on any ones wallet, you just don't get what you pay for with them.

       Even though every pair I'd used had been pretty lousy, I fast realized how nice gloves were to have on the field. I don't know if anyone else does this but when I was squirming around behind a bunker I'd often wipe grit off of my hands reflexively and seldom had my marker at the ready while unconsciously cleaning myself. Two great recurring examples: ever played after a night of rain and slid into a bunker where someone accidentally spilled a pod of paint? Pretty gross mess in there right? Ever slid into another which has deer and/or bear droppings in it? With gloves on, my hands didn't feel like they were collecting filth anymore so even the bad pairs were nice to have on hand. Plus the sting they take out of hand and finger shots is lovely. But if you don't buy something of good quality that's going to last right away and go with the budget brand, you end up paying the same amount or more for multiple inferior products instead of one good one. Somewhere along the line, probably around pair number six, I started looking for a pair of real deal gloves meant for operators whose lives might very well depend on the build quality. The realization that I needed something better came to me when I saw a pair of Oakleys on DSTactical.com (New Westminster Store) and it was demonstrated that something better than paintball gloves existed, I'd always been under the impression that gloves designed for sliding into bunkers all day long should be some of the best and didn't look any further that what ANS Gear had to offer.

       I opted to pick up the very same pair of Oakleys I saw online which originally captivated me. Some places call them the Factory Pilot model, others call them the Assault S.I.'s, if there's a differences between the two models I can't see it in the descriptions, pricing (80$ CAD), or aesthetic appearances. I've had them since around Christmas and most of the wear they received before season's start was around the house trying to break them in. If you can't tell yet, I hate reviewing things that only just arrived the mail, I like to beat the stuff I own into submission, then see how it holds up. Since season's beginning however, I've played in them, reffed, filled many many CO2 tanks with them, built on the field, probably moved close to 300 cases of paint, and washed them vigorously while wearing them to clean grit out of them after a long day's work. I'd say that in a pretty short time I've tried to subject them to as much punishment as I could and aside from one broken stitch by the wrist, and some paint taint, they're in great condition.

       I've really only got one peeve with the glove: the palms. They seem sorta tough and are very flexible and haven't taken any wear and tear in the time I've been giving them a beating but something about them doesn't feel right. I pad along the ground on the my fists so I end up subjecting the palms to the least amount of punishment but I'm worried to test them to the fullest extent for fear the palm will end up being the first part of the gloves to give out. There is one place that paintball gloves do out shine these ones and that's in the robust kevlar padding they have there for diving hands first into a bunker. The Other thing about the palm is the underside of the fingers: they have some rubber bits on the finger tips for added grip, the ones on my gloves are falling off without much encouragement. ADDENDUM: when I mentioned washing the gloves earlier, I take it back, these gloves really shouldn't be washed. Ever. And if you get sweaty palms you're going to notice this too: they bleed black dye out of the palms like a stuck pig when they get wet. Ever see the viral video where those guys keep adding shampoo to their buddy's hair and he keeps on washing wondering why he can't lose all the lather? It's exactly like that, dye just keeps coming out of them if you wash them to get soiling out.

       In all other departments the gloves are really great and at my field anyway, they're a real show stopper, everyone is curious about them. The carbon fibre knuckles are brilliant and I have no idea how I got by without them in the past. As mentioned earlier, I crawl along and support my upper body with my fists when I do so, gorilla style, and can't detect any sort of horribleness that might be connecting with my knuckles as I crawl along. I've even had ball breaks on them which I didn't notice which some might think is a problem but people like to light me up usually, so the other 20 balls that make contact inform me I've been tagged. Other parts of the fingers are pretty well padded, and most sections and joints have some rubbery bits for protection, the only area where it needs some more padding would be the finger tips but to add more there would mean sacrificing some of the dexterity these gloves allow for. These are almost on par with mechanics gloves in regards to the fine control they allow your fingers. The gloves also have holes for venting so your hands will be kept cool and are about as effective ventilation wise as anything from Dye or Empire.

       Some things to know if you are going to pick a pair of these up: The gloves don't win any points for flexibility in the trigger walking department. If you're a speedballer who loves tactic-cool gear then looking for a half finger solution might be good for you. I can get up to 17 BPS semi on a really good day without gloves day, with these gloves I'm never that lucky. Also: everyone who's tried these on, myself included agree that these gloves fit a little funny, the solution to this is to wash them while wearing them, and let them dry to your hands. ADDENDUM: Or don't because they'll bleed black dye!

       The gloves are good, a much more durable option for the milsim paintballer than “high end” green speedball gloves but there is a certain something that I can't put my finger on which they leave to be desired. I think it might be the price point, if these were 15-20$ less than what they are, I think they'd be damn near a perfect 10 in my books and I'd wear nothing else, but right now they sit at about an 8 for me.

P.S. I'll try and get some pictures of my particular gloves up shortly