I rate 5* because I love the mittens. They are not 5* perfect. The problem is that the waterproofing is in the liner. If the waterproofing were in the shell, you could wear the liner over fleece gloves or mittens and have an all temperature ski glove. On a 20 degree day, these are going to make your hands sweat.

I have Guide Gloves and hoped these would cover the warmer days, but the two are very comparable because the Mercurys are mittens. I guess the search continues for a glove for those over 10 degree days.

I used the BD Prodigy last season and have had EMS and Patagonia two piece, insulated, waterproof gloves in the past. I have extra thick hands and finding ones that fit is a challenge.

I like BD because the leather is the highest quality I have found. I plan to use snoseal on it, because the Prodigy gloves would get wet and the sumptuous leather drank in a lot of H20. These liners are a step up from the Prodigy, the insert comes out and there is a nylon feeling shell filled with Primaloft and your hand is wrapped in a pile material. The Prodigy kept me warm on a 0 degree day and I expect these can go lower.

I suspect that the liner being removable will allow the gloves to recover better if you need to dry them overnight for consecutive days on the mountain. There is a good chance that your hands will sweat they are so warm.

I plan to get some mid-weight fleece gloves to use in lieu of the liners. The gloves are very warm and the outside of the glove would be more serviceable for me above ~20 degrees with different stuffing.

Another review complained of the frustration of getting the liner back in comfortably. I had that issue with the Prodigy - part of why I handed them down to my son. His hands are smaller and he hasn't noticed the issue. I had the biggest problem with one of the pinkie fingers. I think that a weaker finger can have hard time forcing the liner into place in a tight glove.

I had a Mountain Hardwear Goretex PRO shell that was lost in a fire. Since MH had discontinued the particular shell, which I loved, I got the Koven based on the old Outside mag review and great BC price.

The MH won my loyalty by being reliably dry and windproof on summer and winter hikes, snow shoeing and skiing on and off piste. The Koven brings more to the game. I actually like being caught in the rain, it is amazing to just watch torrents bead up and drain off while inside it am warm and dry. It is impervious to downpours.

The really amazing thing is the nanotechnology involved in the fabric. It vents amazingly well. If you control your layers correctly, there is no need to use the pit zips. The magic fabric gives the coat a broad temperature range that really surprised me.

I pay attention to the layers that work so I can approximate how to dress before a hike, bike ride or day of skiing. Inevitably conditions change and I get it slightly wrong. But, with this coat it actually seems to get a little warmer or cooler depending on the your body's temperature. If you are engaged in something aerobic and start off cool, you'll get warmer, but not uncomfortable. Similarly, if you are going at a good pace and the sun starts to set and temperatures fall, the coat just makes you feel warmer. Honest, it seems to me that I only feel the temperature change in body parts that are exposed or covered by other garments.

It is a great pleasure to have a broader comfort range. As my first time skiing in it approached, I am hoping that it will prove to be the answer to the in-bounds skiers' dilemma, do I dress to be warm on the lift and be over heated at the bottom of the run, or to be comfortable downhill and cold going up?