Warrior Covert QRL Pro Glove Review

[Hills 712]

 

 

Personal Details

Male

6'3”

210 lbs

Forward/Defence

B-D level hockey

Usage time: 10 Skates

Price: $150

Glove History: Mission Fuel, MF2 4 Rolls, Warrior Retro Remix Prototypes, Reebok Sty2, Sherwood N10, Verbero Dextra Pro, Warrior DT1, CCM CL55, Reebok 11K, CCM QLT, Warrior Covert QRL Pro
How I wear gloves: To get a better understanding of fit, I wear my gloves with my hand pushed all the way in. I feel this gives me the most secure feeling and encases my whole hand in the glove. This is also why I can feel the seams of the finger stalls more than most on the webbing of my finger. My statements of fit reflect this so keep that in mind if you wear your gloves a different way.

 

Overview: Very special thanks once again to Warrior for selecting me to be a #WarriorVIP during the #CovertQRL #LightningQuick VIP run. I got selected to get a pair of gloves after some of the initial posts I made about the Warrior Covert QRL stick. I ended up choosing the QRL Pro instead of the QRL gloves for a couple of reasons, mainly I am not a huge fan of the wrap around SmartPalm+ palms and I liked how the QRL Pro gloves have plastic inserts on the outside of the hand for extra protection whereas the QRL is thicker foam but without any plastic. I was also a fan of the all red colourway and must admit I like the more plain nylon vs the Covert Mesh that is on the QRL.

 

Initial Thoughts: Since I thought the Warrior DT1 gloves were fairly mediocre and I haven’t been a fan of the Warrior QR1 or QR Pro gloves, so these Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves had to be pretty good to impress me. Warrior added the AxyFlex cuff that seems to harken back to the Reebok 11K floating cuff, but Warrior has taken it to a different level with the cuff flexing 360 degrees compared to the relatively limited flex in the 11K. One of my issues with the older Covert line of Warrior gloves I have worn was the lacking of premium feel to the gloves when you first put them on, I had no issues with comfort while playing but I never thought they were $170+ gloves compared to the competitors. For the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves this was never the case, and the first time I put them on my hands they truly felt like a top of the line and premium glove. The palm was much softer than the old QR Pro and DT1 gloves and the inner liners feel nicer to the touch (although I still think the Wartech Polygene blue liner isn’t the softest liner on the market, it isn’t bad at all).

 

Fit: My DT1 were 14 inch gloves and I always thought the finger stalls were slightly too short and the joints of the stalls would come in contact with the webbing of my fingers, this made the gloves slightly uncomfortable but made me realize that I needed a 15 inch glove with Warrior. Putting these on I was instantly greeted with a very tight and anatomical fitting glove especially at the wrist area. The fingers and backhand is tight, but just not feeling as tight as the wrist area. With some 15 inch gloves I have found that they are so open they have can be prone to falling off under certain circumstances and I haven’t come close to having that issue with these gloves. I think stretch gussets would help with adjust to finger length and width and would prefer them on these gloves.  9.5/10

 

Comfort: Like stated in the initial impressions Warrior really increased the comfort and feel levels on these gloves compared to what I have worn in the past. The palm is much softer and feels of higher quality without the need for extra layer of material. The Wartech Polygene blue liner is nice but not the most comfortable liner on the market, but I do really like the branding aspect of it. Warrior did an excellent job of covering seams with a soft almost spandex feeling material on the insides where your wrist touches the spaces between the AxyFlex cuff and the rest of the glove. The AxyFlex cuff area is actually my favourite part of the glove in terms of comfort, the Wartech liner here is covering a thick and very soft padded area that feels great on the wrist and adds to comfort and protection with the flexible cuff design. Since these gloves do not have mesh gussets like the Covert QRL gloves do they run a bit hotter without the airflow coming through the fingers. After a game my hands are pretty warm and hotter than when I used other gloves recently, and when shooting outside in the summer I noticed my hands heating up and getting sweaty faster than other gloves I have worn. It isn’t the most comfortable thing but isn’t really a dealbreaker either. I wish the finger gussets were made of spandex like the CCM QLT gloves for added breathability and a softer feel on the fingers while as well allow the finger stalls to stretch with your hands. While these are the most comfortable gloves I’ve worn they are a huge improvement over previous Warrior gloves, and are a nice glove to wear. 8.5/10

 

Weight: Just like most gloves today I don’t feel you ever really notice the weight. These feel slightly heavier than the CCM QLT but only when you really think about it, they never bog down your hands when playing with them or hinder movement at all.  296 grams 9.5/10

 

Mobility: These gloves are yet to be completely broken in and they still feel great on the hands in terms of mobility. Fingers and backhand move well with your hand and the new AxyFlex cuff is fantastic for keeping your wrist protected while still allowing full movement of your hands. Warrior also did an interesting design with a rubber plate on the backhand of the glove that allows the cuff (where Warrior is embroidered) to more easily slide down the face of the glove to allow greater wrist mobility. 3-piece segmented index finger and 2-piece for the remaining feel natural with finger movements. The Axis Flex Thumb is pretty stiff and honestly not that flexible compared to the CCM QLT and Bauer’s 3 piece options. It is a nice improvement over the static thumb piece in the Warrior DT1 gloves I had before. A great design of this glove is how well the glove moves across your hand really giving the feel of a padded extension of your body. Moving my pinkie and thumb together is easy and not hindered by the protection and makeup of the glove.  9/10

 

Break-in: These gloves are still not fully broken in and still feel pretty similar to how they did brand new, which is perfectly fine since they were very mobile out of the box. If the thumb breaks in more and becomes more mobile this score will increase. 9/10

 

Protection: The AxyFlex cuff is an awesome feature I am happy to see return to the glove market. The wrist protection it gives is fantastic and currently unmatched from other retail glove options. The outside hand protection the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves is much improved over the DT1 gloves and my preferred style compared to the more expensive QRL model (since I haven’t tested the QRL model I can’t comment on the protection qualities of it). While this piece is improved over my Warrior Covert DT1 gloves I feel it still could be improved on and my recently reviewed CCM QLT gloves do a better job in this area with a thicker and wider foam piece with a top plastic layer. The plastic outside pinkie finger protection on the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves is lacking and basically non-existent like it was on the DT1 gloves. Warrior does such a fantastic job on the index fingers I wish they could translate that to the outside of the pinkie in some way.

The finger protection is really well done and my fingers never really felt the impact through my testing, but the odd thing to note is how the finger protection would actually rotate around my fingers after being hit with the impact. The rotation of the finger protection is something I’ve been noticing lately on more gloves, the issue goes away once you close your hand and I can’t really see it being an issue while playing since the protection does its job protecting you from impact and your hands will rarely be fully stretched out like I do in my tests (making a fist keeps all of the finger protection in place after being struck). The inside index finger protection is still some of the best (if not the best) on the market today, the thicker protection blocks do a great job of protecting the finger while also ensuring mobility and dexterity is not hindered in anyway. The thicker style blocks ensure your index finger is not exposed and does an excelled job at minimizing gaps in protection.

The backhand of this glove is fantastic and is mostly one of the best I have ever tested besides the very outside of your hand. In my testing the only place I could feel anything was on one of the segmented pieces (watch the video to see), this wasn’t pain but rather more noticeable than the rest of the backhand of the glove.

The Axyflex thumb of the glove is a place I’d like to see some protection improvements, considering how great the backhand of the glove is I wish the thumb felt more protective. All along the whole thumb piece I could feel the impacts more than I was expecting and more than I’d prefer, by no means do I think these gloves leave you exposed but considering how great the backhand feels I believe this is an area for improvement on the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves.

Unlike the DT1 gloves the cuff on these QRL Pro is fantastic and is much improved. I believe this has to do with the Axyflex floating cuff which ends up pushing the wrist away from the main cuff. The Axyflex cuff as well is a huge bonus in protection compared to other gloves on the market. While it isn’t the most protective piece and you can still feel impacts through it, having this extra piece of padding cover what would be completely exposed skin is a huge bonus. I personally wish it was longer (with perhaps a flared lip at the top to go over and around elbow pads) I am very satisfied and believe this feature should push this glove above most others on the market. 8/10

 

Durability: I have not used these enough to comment on this. So this category will be left scoreless for the time being. The one thing I can say is that when brand new the palms were bleeding black onto my orange Tacki-Mac. I haven’t noticed it getting worse after the first 2 skates.

 

Palm: I was not a fan of the palm in the Warrior Covert DT1 and QR1 gloves I tried before and I am happy to say the all black palms on the Warrior Covert QRL Pro and QRL gloves are a big upgrade. The black palm feels much softer than what was previously used and so far doesn’t show (or can you feel) a single spot of wear. I understand it is early in the review, but even after a few games with the older style you could see and feel some pilling on the palm and fingers. This palm isn’t as soft as the CCM QLT gloves but it is still nice to touch and does a decent job gripping the stick. The QRL Pro gloves don’t have the added grip patches the QRL gloves do, so I don’t have any interference with the grip on my sticks and the glove palm themselves. The black residue on my Tacki-Mac is a bit of a worrisome area in regards to longevity of the palm and I will report back how they hold up in the future. 8.5/10

 

Intangibles: Just like on the DT1 gloves the raised index finger protection (even though I think it looks unattractive it certainly does its job) is a nice design feature adding to the protection of the glove, and combined with the fantastic AxyFlex cuff these Covert QRL Pro gloves are a great option. I am curious to see what the new custom gloves options are (if there are any) as actually being able to order a single pair of custom coloured gloves would give a huge benefit to this line. While the design of this glove follows the previous design patterns of the Covert series I think these are the best ones yet. I am still not a fan of the Covert mesh and am happy the QRL Pro use more standard and simple nylon. I do wish the red colourway I chose didn’t have the black outline on the Warrior lettering on the cuff...but that is nitpicking. The fact that Warrior offers their top of the line gloves with the SmartPalm+ and more complex nylons while also offering a more traditional line without really sacrificing protection or performance is a huge bonus to me. 9/10

 

Conclusion: I really think Warrior did an excellent job in the Covert QRL Pro gloves. They made huge improvements over previous iterations while also picking up and improving on a feature that has left the market for a few years. While i think there are some improvements here to be made (perhaps a softer palm and inclusion of spandex gussets) the Warrior Covert QRL Pro glove line is one that I will recommend people looking for a comfortable and protective glove while not sacrificing on mobility. While I stated the CCM QLT gloves feel like an extension of your hand these feel like a padded extension where they feel slightly bulkier and thicker but don’t hinder mobility, they are just a bit more noticeable on your hands. I really cannot give enough praise for the AxyFlex cuff, and between the latest gloves I have reviewed which one becomes my primary is a toss up. I like the feel of the CCM QLT a bit more but the protection with the AxyFlex cuff on the Warrior is fantastic, perhaps a 1A and 1B situation will happen. With the Covert QRL Pro gloves Warrior created an upscale feeling glove with re-innovated features and solid protection without sacrificing mobility, this is a glove that should be on everyone’s radar when looking for a new pair. 9/10

 

 

Glove is light weight.

 

Axyflex 2-piece thumb.

 

Plastic inserts on outside of palm.

 

I'd prefer if these were stretch spandex gussets, these do not allow for a lot of airflow.

 

Palm is greatly improved over Covert DT1 gloves, soft to the touch and doesn't wear as fast.

 

Shows the good use of spandex like material to overlap any seams.

 

Stretch mesh to give the Axyflex cuff great mobility.

 

Showing the mesh under the main cuff.

 

Cuff flexes with your arm movement.

 

Fingers offer great protection.

 

Showing how the cuff slides over the Axyflex plate.

 

Another look at the improved palm.

 

Axyflex thumb doesn't flex much when bent with just your thumb.

 

Full range of thumb's flex.

 

Cuff comparisons to other gloves:

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by Hills