Top 3 Most Wanted and Most Owned Crack Gloves

So it turns out that this year the top three gloves in both categories are the same, though a slightly different order. Below we dive into why these are the most wanted and owned crack gloves from WeighMyRack users.

Wide Boyz Crack Gloves – #1 Most Wanted, #3 Most Owned

Last year around this time we had JUST gotten our hands on a couple of pairs of WideBoyz Crack Gloves. Thanks to supply chain issues and a few manufacturing stumbles out of the gate, those cheeky British crack aficionados were having a tough time getting them out onto the hands of the climbing populace. Because of this, they were also last years most wanted glove. Fast forward a year and things have gotten smoothed over, their made-for-the-wide gloves have been on the fists and jams of tons of folks (including us); so much so that they have snuck onto the #3 most owned glove by WeighMyRack users.

Owing partially from their antics on Reel Rock and their Youtube and Instagram posts the Wide Boyz gloves have quite a bit of brand recognition, which likely helps them top this Most Wanted list. But there are a few key features where they still stand out from the crowd, namely their thickness and thumb coverage. Though we’re still working on writing a full review on the gloves after a year with them, we can say definitively that no glove out there has this much padding and coverage over so much of the glove. For those looking to build fat stacks, jam fists, or simply to add a ton of volume to their hand, these babies definitely seem to have a place on ‘the list’.

They have so far held up decently, though the rubber might be starting to thin out on the sizes we see get the most use when we demo, and some stitching is starting to get a bit threadbare, owing to the amount of wear they’ve gotten from folks we’ve run into who are excited to try them out. We still stand behind our statement from last year that the WideBoyz gloves DO seem to be best as one of the two pairs you own (along with a thinner set like from BD, Red Chili, or Ocún, or just tape in general) versus an all-arounder glove.

Where to buy Wide Boyz Crack Gloves

As of this writing, they appear to mostly be in stock on the Wide Boyz website.

Protip: They do run a bit small compared to the brand’s measurement recommendations. ex: I measure a 21.5mm– Wideboyz recommend a Medium, but I am most definitely a Large.

Ocún Crack Glove Lite – #3 Most Wanted

Rounding out the #3 slot in most wanted gloves among WeighMyRack users is the Crack Glove Lite from Ocún. (Pronounced like: Oat-Soon, btw.)

The Crack Glove Lite is actually the 3rd iteration of this particular glove in a long-running pedigree at Ocún. Though many in North America may not be familiar, folks have been climbing cracks in the Czech Republic for a long time, and Ocún has been there developing tools for crack climbing their delicate sandstone. In fact, the previous version from Ocún happens to sit tied at #2 on our most owned list.

As crack mania has swept over the globe, Ocún have definitely adapted the Lite version of these gloves to accommodate the way the rest of the world climbs– namely larger fingers, slightly more wrist coverage, wider thumb holes, and softer, stickier rubber. These changes have taken an already well-liked glove and made a stickier, less bulky, all-around glove for jamming splitters and stacks alike.

Chances are if you already have owned a pair of Ocún Crack Gloves, you have added this update to your Want It List, which we think is the best explanation for why we see it on this list.

Buying Options for the Ocún Crack Gloves Lite

Ocún Crack Glove – #3 Most Wanted & #2 Most Owned

Perhaps the biggest surprise this year is the movement of the Ocún Crack glove up both lists. This year they’ve replaced the newer Lite version from Ocún as the #3 Most Wanted, and moved from #3 to #2 Most Owned. The Lite model had a bit of buzz behind it as a thinner, larger finger holed, updated version of the already prolific Original glove, but that buzz seems to have relaxed a bit. We hear from lots of folks that they just really like how the Originals fit and pad their hands out.

It is also likely that the older models have been on sale a bit more to make room for the updated models, and of course climbers are always searching for a deal.

Just because they are an older design, doesn’t mean that the Ocún Crack Glove is outdated. One thing we’ve found in our testing is that they are great at building big, solid hand stacks. They perform quite well in offwidths and when worn slightly oversized, they handle a good amount of under-taping to supplement additional thumb and wrist coverage. (Our full review goes into all this deeper.)

Their balance of stiffness and flexibility makes them one of our particular favorites if you are looking for a single ‘one glove to rule them all’ scenario, though they can often be a bit too chunky for thinner jams, especially if you have thicker hands.

We should also mention that because their thumb and finger holes are smaller and closer together, they have been known to tear out a bit, especially if they are being wrenched on in stacks. Some extra care and even a bit of overtaping has become commonplace for those really putting them through it.

A bit of exciting news: We also did a great interview with Ocún about their newest version coming out in the spring, that seems to really be addressing every issue anyone has had with the both current models of from Ocún. They really seem to be from the future.

Bottom Line

There have suddenly been a lot of gloves to choose from in the past few years, which we think is great for climbers. Because they are all around the same price, the options that most people tend to go for are the gloves that are the easiest to find from brands they see the most in the wild. For those who have already tried a particular glove, we find the most wanted gloves are the ones that people already know and trust as a name like the offering from Ocún, or that are pointed at more specific uses with more wrist and thumb coverage which are found in both the Wide Boyz and Black Diamond models.