SKD Patrol Incident Gear Delta Gloves Review

I’ve been sitting on this write-up for a few months now (and by sitting on I mean forgetting, and by few months I mean over a year), but I think it has given me a good knowledge of the SKD PIG Delta gloves.

How did I end up with PIGs?

The first pair of tactical gloves I ever bought was the then standard pair of tan Mechanix Originals, and I used them for a fair amount of time, several pairs over several years in fact. My experience with them taught me two things: they are a really good, inexpensive option that stand up to a good amount of punishment, and they have little by way of articulation. Barring a pair of old gen woodland and thermal insulated originals, I gave up on Mechanix in 2017.

Just before my deployment to Sudan, a few in my platoon got very excited about going “on tour”. We started buying all the gucci gear and winding up our platoon Sergeant by running around Brecon in Haley D3’s and Crye. In 2017 SKD PIG Alphas were firmly in Vogue, so naturally a few of us bought them. While they were very comfy, they soon showed signs of wear, and fell apart. Luckily our tour in Sudan was more like a 6 month stay in the shittest Butlins on the planet, so it wasn’t a huge drama.

It did make me weary of PIG Gloves though, and so it took a lot of internal arguments not to buy the new Multicam Alphas when they appeared, even more so when the theatrically talentless but nonetheless cool as fuck Max Theriot started rocking them in Seal Team. I crumbled in a matter of weeks.

The Fit

The best thing about the PIG Deltas are the fit. They’re tight, really fucking tight, buy a size up tight. If like me you got lucky and bought them the right size first time, then you won’t be disappointed while wearing them. The hand condom style means that they never get in the way, and you can perform most tasks totally normally. This is surprising as they have no more sculpting than the Mechanix, they are just simply made of nicer materials to better tolerances.

While the fit is what makes me love the Deltas, the magic comes from the materials. The palms are made from an uber soft suede leathertte, that fits itself into your hand and gives really good tactile feedback to whatever your holding. The backs of the gloves are made from the same wicking Multicam fabric seen on the Mechanix, but don’t seem to have the same desire to rip themselves at short notice, with a really short elastic wrist keeping the gloves away from anything on your wrists (watch, GPS etc).

Lastly, there are some really nice features in the Deltas that make them feel like the premium that the price demands. PIG gloves always have really good branding, but that went to the next level on the Deltas with the large printed swine on the back, branded rubber bevel holding the carrying loops on at the wrists, and PIG scrawled all over the palm providing some more grip. While this makes next to no difference on a practical level, the attention to detail makes them feel more like a luxury item, especially when combined with the incredible suede palms.

 

Downsides

While Deltas are awesome, they are more expensive than Mechanix. They have held up to over a year of regular use without showing any sign of giving up, but I am still horribly aware of their value. For me this is not the biggest issue as I now command a desk and so am not likely to burn my gloves out too soon, but as all gloves do, I’m sure the Deltas would eventually wear out if used strenuously every day. I believe in investing in things that make your life easier, so would still recommend to spend the extra cash and give your hands the gloves they want.

The tight fit is also a double edged sword, while it makes the Deltas great while they’re on, getting them there at speed can be a challenge. I’m 100% certain that the first thing to fail on my Deltas will be the paracord loop, as I always use this to wrench the gloves onto my hands.

Finally, the 1st gen Deltas had the word PIG printed all over the palm in a rubber laminate to aid grip, it wasn’t long until these had all but rubbed off as they are small and peel easily. This isn’t much of a downside as SKD responded by flipping the print over, so on the current models PIG is written in the gaps of the well sealed rubber and I believe these will last much longer.

Final Thoughts

 

I have been recommending PIGs to anyone who’ll listen since I got my Deltas, and as a result there’s quite a few members of 2 Mercian cursing me for making them spend money, but we all agree that they are excellent. For airsoft, these will last forever unless you try juggling TLDs or something else mental. For real life, they’ll probably last you a couple of years at a time, although you’ll probably lose them before you need to replace them. I would definitely urge anyone looking to get some new gloves to give these serious thought.

Thanks for reading through my ramblings on the SKD PIG Deltas, if you have any questions you can get a hold of me on Instagram on @thegeardocrow.