Play Test: Uhlsport Ergonomic Bionik+ X-Change GK Gloves
Play Test: Uhlsport Bionik+ X-Change Gloves
Test driving Uhlsport's new ergonomic goalkeeper gloves.
With the season fast approaching we decided to take another trip to training HQ and test out another pair of gloves, this time it was one of Uhlsport's latest offerings - the Ergonomic Absolutgrip Bionik + x-change, the glove of choice for France captain and Spurs' stopper Hugo Lloris.
The design of the glove is top notch, and in our opinion is a visual improvement to the previous purple and black design. The cut of the glove is Uhlsport's classic cut, which is basically their way of saying flat palm, but the difference is the fingertips wrap over the top to give a wide seemless tip, which we found extremely comfortable.
The finger gussets are made with a mesh material which was spot on for the day we were using the gloves as it was absolutely baking. The mesh gussets really worked to keep the hand cool and prevent it sweating like it can do in some gloves. 
Before putting the glove on, we took a closer look at the bionic + x-change system as it was a feature which personally we d never used, but one which we found impressive all the same. The backhand can be unzipped and the whole supportframe removed allowing you to change the finger protection to suit your needs.
The support comes in two different varieties, the clear bars are a little softer and more designed for impact absorbtion where as the red ones are harder and really designed for a lot stronger finger stabilisation giving around 25% more stabilisation then the clear ones. We settled for red as we didn t want any finger injuries this close to the season. 
The gloves comes with a little hook which is used to help open up the zip. It was a little tricky at first but once we d got used to it adjusting the bones was surprisingly easy to be honest and once the glove was on it felt a nice mix of comfort and protection.
We kicked off with a few volleys and a bit of handling, nothing too much, the palm features the patented Absolutgrip Plus latex and straight away we were impressed with the soft latex, which really gives optimum grip on the ball. Given how hard the ground was the latex was also durable, not marking up or scuffing on the hard ground.
The glove has an extended latex palm which comes down over the wrist, designed to improve ball control and generally gives a bigger contact area for the ball, which a lot of glove companies are starting to do.We reckon one of the main reasons for this is with the way the modern ball swerves sometimes you can t be totally precise with where you actually make contact with the ball and this design gives a bigger chance of the contact area being latex. 
As we touched on before, the body of the backhand is made with a breathable fabric to keep the hand cool, this design was ideal and worked perfectly. The upper backhand is constructed using 3D embossed latex, which is designed to aid cushioning as well as provide support and abrasion whilst punching, but on top of that it has a shockzone area which is specifically designed to enhance punching prowess. We felt these worked really well, providing confidence when punching the ball and the distance we were achieving on the punch was epic. 
Uhlsport seem to have ticked all the right boxes here, producing a fantastic glove in the process! The boned protection can at times be uncomfortable, that s the price you pay for the protection they give you. The performance is spot on, we were really impressed with the palm latex and enjoyed trying these out, they re definitely on our want list for the new season. 
The Uhlsport Ergonomic Bionik+ X-Change GK gloves are available to order now at selected online stockists including Pro-Direct Soccer.
