Rechargeable hand warmers or heated gloves?

How a rechargeable hand warmer works

Inside the case are a lithium battery, a heating plate and a simple controller. You switch it on, choose a setting if it has one, and the case warms up. When it runs down, you charge it, often over USB like a phone.

Hand warmers are flexible. You can hold one, drop it in a coat pocket and slip your hand in when you stop, or tuck it into an ordinary glove. Many double as a small power bank, though you should check that on the listing rather than assume it.

Where a hand warmer wins

• Price: a hand warmer usually costs much less than a pair of heated gloves.
• Flexibility: it works with the gloves you already own, and in a pocket when your hands are bare.
• Bare-handed jobs: when you need your fingers free, you can warm them between tasks.
• Sharing: one warmer can be passed around at a game or on a walk.

The catch is that it warms one hand at a time, or one spot, and only while you are holding it or it is in the pocket with your hand.

Where heated gloves win

• Both hands at once, all the time you are wearing them.
• Hands free: you can carry bags, hold a dog lead, grip handlebars or a ski pole and stay warm.
• Warmth spread through the glove rather than in one hot spot.
• No juggling: nothing to hold, drop or lose.

Against that, heated gloves cost more and are thicker than ordinary gloves. If you need warm hands while you are moving or using them, gloves are the better tool. If you mostly need a warm-up while standing around, a hand warmer may be enough. Our page on whether heated gloves are worth it goes through that choice in more detail.

Using both together

Plenty of people carry both: heated gloves on, and a hand warmer in a pocket for when they take a glove off to do something fiddly. That is why we offer one as an extra.

When you order our Rechargeable Heated Gloves, you can add our rechargeable hand warmer for $19.99. It is sold as an add-on to a glove order, not on its own. The supplier's listing describes it as double-sided heating with a digital display and USB charging. The supplier gives no battery capacity, run time or temperature for it, so we do not state them.

Charging and using any battery warmer safely

Rechargeable warmers and heated gloves both use lithium batteries, so the same common-sense habits apply:

• Charge with the method the maker gives, on a hard surface, and do not leave it charging unattended.
• Do not charge it under a pillow, in a bag or anywhere heat cannot escape.
• Do not hold a hot warmer directly against bare skin for long, and do not sleep with one on.
• Stop using any device that is damaged, swollen, leaking or unusually hot.
• Check your airline's rules before flying with lithium batteries.

If you want to know whether a particular warmer has been recalled, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission publishes recalls at cpsc.gov, and you can search there by product name or brand.