Koho 4440 Gloves - A standout on the infamous Wall-o-gloves
Written: Jun 07 '04 (Updated Jun 07 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Look great, very comfortable, quality materials
Cons: Might be too "shiny" for some player's tastes
The Bottom Line: Among the lower priced gloves on the market, the 4440 is tops in my book.
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Koho 4440 Gloves |
You’ve probably never seen as many gloves in one place as the infamous wall-o-gloves in the shop that I worked in. People coming into the shop for the first time would often point, mouth agape and say, “Wow, look at all those gloves.”
I work here, I’ve seen them, thanks.
The glove wall had a good 200 pair at any given time. If that wasn’t enough to make you happy, we had that number again hanging in the rafters. This in mind, I’ve tried on just about every pair of hockey gloves that was on the market for the last few years. Only a few of them made an impression, some good, some bad.
▪ The Koho 4440
Koho is a company that I’ve had a love hate relationship with since I started playing hockey. When I was ten I bought my first hockey stick to use on the pond. It was a Koho and I loved it. When I started playing again in my thirties, I fondly remembered that brand and picked up a lot of Koho gear. Some of it I loved some I hated. Koho wasn’t on the top of my list when I picked up a pair of newly arrived 4440 gloves to try on.
The 4440 is a pretty slick looking glove, especially for its modest price. It utilizes the new technoweave material along with synthetic leather making it similar in appearance to gloves costing $75-$100 rather than its $50ish competition. I love the look of technoweave, but more conservative players might find it too bold.
The two-piece fingers, unique design of the back of the hand rolls make it a comfortable glove as well. One thing that I’ve found in gloves is some of them have joints that seem to twist my fingers in directions that they don’t want to go. The 4440 aligns nicely with the way my hand actually closes. This is the due to the unique articulation that the back rolls give I think.
The palm of the 4440 is Nash, second only to Clarino in comfort and durability. Nash palms are soft and highly comfortable. Unlike calfskin palms, Nash remains soft and pliable after drying. It also dries more quickly and lasts longer. Koho reinforced the palms in the 4440 to make sure that they will be durable.
Perhaps the nicest feature of the 4440 is the ventilated gussets that they used. The gussets are the pieces that connect the palm of the glove to the back, essentially all the way around the fingers and the sides of the hand. Rather than a traditional heavy stretch material, Koho used a stretch mesh on the 4440’s gussets. This is outstanding for ventilation making the 4440 one of the coolest gloves on the market (literally and figuratively).
Inline players snapped up the eight pair of 4440 gloves that we had on our first order. We quickly put in a request for many more. Don’t get me wrong, these are an ice hockey glove through and through. The construction of the 4440 is durable enough for ice or inline and protective enough for either as well. However, the low price and outstanding ventilation makes them especially attractive to inline players.
▪ Final Thoughts
In the $50 price range there really isn’t another glove that compares to the 4440 for comfort. Itech’s 4400 is close (and has a similar meaningless number attached to it). But the flashy technoweave materials aren’t there in Itech’s glove and the fingers don’t close quite as nicely.
In any price you won’t match the level of ventilation in these gloves. In fact some higher end gloves use leather or synthetic gussets making their gloves even less breathable. I catch enough sweat in my gloves without that, thanks.
The 4440 is a true stand out in the $50 range for hockey gloves. These are amazingly high quality gloves available at a fraction of the price you would expect to pay. I highly recommend them. In case you hadn’t guessed, in my ongoing relationship with Koho, these gloves fall in the love them side.
A few of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting and Selecting Hockey Protective Gear
Mission M-2 Gloves
Oakley Mace Gloves
CCM 852 Gloves
Thanks to openroad for adding this item so I could review it.
Recommended:
Yes
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puckmugger
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