al's gym grappling gloves

Harbinger's Wrist Warp gloves are still some of the best gloves of there, and basically Al's design is a modified Harbinger Wrist Wrap glove. That is a very good thing. Design differences:

No palm bar - hooray!
The wrap finishes on the inside of the wrist (like Ouano's)
Different pad on the back of the hand

Credit to Al for actually changing the design. It's all too easy just to get a factory to make a straight copy, but Al has obviously thought about improving it. I do wonder however why the padding on the back of the wrist has been made in vertical strips - horizontal strips would bend more naturally with the wrist. But hey that's just nit picking, because in reality they work fine.

There's also less noticable differences such as Harbingers are designed to curl in a fist shape right out of the box (which is a nice touch) - these don't.

QUALITY

Loads of companies make Harbinger clones now. You can pretty much get them in any martial arts shop. I've bought a few and tried loads. Most are inferior. They are usually made of tough, hard leather, which makes them less comfortable and more prone to cutting your sparring partner. Al's gloves aren't like that. The leather is good. Not as soft as Harbingers, but close. The best clones I've seen to date.

GRAPPLING

They are so similiar to the Harbingers, that for grappling they'll fare the same. ie great, but you may want to tape the wrist wraps up.

HAND PROTECTION & OPPONENT PROTECTION

Again, I'd say very similar to Harbingers - ie. A good thing.

HOW DO THEY COMPARE

They are really similar to Harbingers. About a tenner cheaper too. Maybe not quite as good quality, but much better than your average clones and you don't have the hassle of removing the palm bar. For my money they are better than the original Ouano's, and just a hell of a lot cheaper than the official UFC gloves.

CONCLUSION

Pooch says his initial impressions of the gloves are "very good" and that'll do me. They are excellent, and superb value for money. In fact it's good enough that UK promoters could consider adopting this as the UK glove!