REASONS TO BUY
Incredible warmth
Weather resistant
Durable
Reasonable price
REASONS TO AVOID
Poor dexterity
Could have better features
Black Diamond Mercury Mitt Review
These mitts provide extreme warmth and weather resistance at a good price, nailing the two most important aspects of ski mittens
The Black Diamond Mercury Mitt after two years of use. Still warm and no major wear!
Credit: Chris McNamara
By Jeff Dobronyi ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ December 6, 2021
RELATED: The Best Ski Gloves
Our Verdict
The Black Diamond Mercury Mitt is a warm, roomy mitten that keeps your hands toasty on the coldest days at the ski hill. It packs synthetic insulation and a removable liner into a waterproof package, with huge wrist gauntlets so they fit over any jacket imaginable. These are stormproof to the extreme, and they come at a reasonable price. They have a good slate of useful features, but the main downside is dexterity. Don't expect to use your hands for many tasks while wearing these gloves. They can raise and lower the safety bar and barely buckle ski bindings, but beyond that, you'll have to take them off. Still, if you want mittens to keep you warm and dry, these are the best.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Black Diamond Mercury Mitt is quite warm and water-resistant, and among the most durable. The only drawback? Dexterity, which was pretty much the poorest overall but not too surprising for a bulky, warm mitten.
The Black Diamond Mercury Mitt is perfect for cold days at the resort. Credit: Jackie Kearney
Warmth
The Mercury Mitt uses 340 grams of PrimaLoft Gold insulation, plus a warm-to-the-touch, high-loft fleece. The result is the warmest overall glove or mitten in our review that doesn't use a battery heater.
We have used these mittens down to -10F, and while we wouldn't want to use them in much colder temperatures, they worked as well as you could hope in those conditions. The Mercury Mitts don't offer infinite warmth, but they're warm enough for the slowest, coldest chairlift rides and even for snowmobiling.
The ample fleece backing on the inside of the liner is not only super warm, it's incredibly cozy. Credit: Chris McNamara
Mittens are known for their warmth, and these stick to the pattern by allowing the fingers to touch one another in the roomy palm cavity. There are no small-finger slots, which allow body heat to spread to the fingers that need it, but it also negatively impacts dexterity. But overall, these are the warmest gloves or mittens in our review that don't use batteries, and when the batteries on other options die, these are warmer.
Unconventional, but highly effective testing. The PrimaLoft insulation did a great job of blocking the wind and keeping our hand warm on this dry winter drive. Credit: Jason Wanlass
Dexterity
As you might guess, with all that insulation, the Mercury Mitt has poor dexterity and is one of the worst performers on small-motor tasks. The hand cavity is large and round, with no concessions made in the fingertips for any kind of dexterity. The outer edge of the mitten is round and blunt, covered in thick leather. The construction of these gloves does not prioritize dexterity at all.
In our side-by-side testing, we could perform basic tasks like buckling ski boots and zipping jackets with extra-large zipper pulls. For more complex tasks, these mitts were challenged. If you are the type of skier who likes to do everything with your gloves on, these will be unbearable, but that is par for the course with thick mittens.
Barely enough dexterity to zip up a jacket, but plenty to work a snow shovel.
Water Resistance
Despite scoring well in this metric, the Mercury Mitt did not perform as well in wet conditions. The shell itself is water-resistant even in wet snowstorms; the exception is the leather palm, which doesn't feature a waterproof membrane backing. The leather on the palm is mostly water-resistant at first; however, after a half-season of use on wet storm days, the leather absorbed more water than we liked, and we needed to re-treat it.
This pitfall is somewhat mitigated by a unique feature: the removable inner liner on the Mercury sports a waterproof outer shell. This helped keep our hands drier and kept us from feeling as cold from the potentially wet leather palms.
The liner is wrapped in BD.dry, Black Diamond's proprietary membrane that provides waterproofing for this glove. Note the leather shell's residue on the palm, the result of a well-worn glove over five years old. Credit: Chris McNamara
For most resort-bound skiers and snowboarders who plan to use these mittens in colder conditions, water-resistance issues are less critical, since the Mercury performs fantastically on drier, colder snow. We think the Mercury is a decent, but not perfect, option for conditions closer to freezing, as long as users are willing to treat the Mercury's leather palm a few times each season. Despite the BDdry fabric on the liner, once the palm gets pretty wet, the mitten feels a little colder. For inland skiers who ski in cold temps all the time, this isn't much of an issue at all.
A dunk test highlighted the lack of waterproofing in the overglove, but the waterproof liner kept our hands dry. Credit: Jason Wanlass
Construction Quality
All aspects of the Mercury Mitts' outer shell are bomber, featuring a durable, high-quality yet supple goatskin leather palm sewn with strong Kevlar stitching. The liner is average in toughness for tear resistance, but we found that the PrimaLoft packed out a little quicker than some of the other models we tested. We also noticed a slight decline in warmth after a season and a half of medium-to-heavy use.
Compared to other options on the market, these gloves hold up well, lasting our testers a season and a half of heavy use, which is more than most gloves can claim. Over time, the leather palms get scratched and worn, which is normal, but this allows them to absorb more water. There is a leather reinforcement patch in the webbing between the thumb and forefinger, which adds some toughness in that high-wear area.
Strategically-placed leather reinforcements wrap around the thumb and onto the palm for increased durability.
Features
The Mercury Mitt has a nice feature set that makes it easy to use. It has an easy-to-remove, quick-drying liner with a Velcro ring around the wrist to lock it in place. There is also a small loop at the top to facilitate hanging the mitt open-side down to speed drying; it will also keep snow out if you clip it to your harness for ice climbing or mountaineering. There is no wrist-tightening strap, but an elastic band around the wrist keeps the glove snug in place.
Like other gloves we tested, the Mercury Mitt features a soft fabric on the back of the thumb to make cleaning goggles and wiping noses more effective. In this case, the fabric is very soft and supple, making it more comfortable on the skin than other options. The wrist gauntlet is also huge, making these mittens easy to fit over any jacket.
The Velcro on the cuff of the liner pairs with Velcro on the gauntlet to effectively keep the liner in place, while the oversized gauntlet is easy to pull over a jacket sleeve. A soft goatskin leather pad is minimalist, but comfortable enough as a nose wipe.
Should You Buy the Black Diamond Mercury Mitt?
The Black Diamond Mercury Mitt is a much better deal than many competitors and is also warmer and more water-resistant. These are an excellent option for users on a budget who want warm hands every day of the ski season and who aren't afraid to give up some dexterity. They are also a good insurance policy for ice climbers and mountaineers who wear gloves most of the time but want a safeguard against frostbite.
What Other Ski Gloves Should You Consider?
If you're after the warmest mitten, the Black Diamond Mercury Mitt is in a league of its own. The North Face Montana Ski Mitt, however, is nearly as warm and will save you some serious cash. For the minimalist mitten user, the Flylow Oven Mitt is a good choice for warmer climates. If you want the warmth of a mitten but are willing to try out ski gloves, the Black Diamond Guide is super warm, as are the heated Outdoor Research Prevail gloves.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Black Diamond Mercury Mitt versus top competing products:
| Awards |  Best Overall Mittens |
|---|---|
| Price | $140 List Check Amazon (on sale!) |
Overall Score  |
|
| Star Rating | |
| Bottom Line | These mitts provide extreme warmth and weather resistance at a good price, nailing the two most important aspects of ski mittens |
| Pros | Incredible warmth, weather resistant, durable, reasonable price |
| Cons | Poor dexterity, could have better features |
| Rating Categories | Black Diamond Mercur... |
| Warmth (25%) | |
| Dexterity (25%) | |
| Water Resistance (25%) | |
| Construction Quality (15%) | |
| Features (10%) | |
| Specifications | Black Diamond Mercur... |
| Double or Single Glove | Double |
| Gauntlet or Cuff | Gauntlet |
| Palm Material | Goat leather |
| Inner Glove Material | Recycled fleece |
| Waterproof Material | BD.dry |
| Insulation Type | 340 g PrimaLoft Gold Cross Core, high-loft fleece |
| Special Features | None |
| Nose Wipe | Yes |
—Jeff Dobronyi
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