RDX F8 Hexogen Boxing Gloves Review

RDX F8 Hexogen Boxing Gloves (16oz) Review

Brand

RDX is one of the UK’s most widely known fight brands, a large number of people own at least one piece of RDX gear be it gloves, wraps or shorts and I personally own three! They have a reputation for producing quality gear for any level, with reasonable price tags. They’re often people’s first choice for equipment when they’re starting out in martial arts.

About the gloves

These gloves are part of RDX’s range of sparring gloves, and the Hexogen gloves are available in two colour options (white and red) and come in the standard size options, 10, 12, 14 and 16oz.

RDX sent us a red pair of these gloves in 16oz to review.

Visuals

RDX have gone for a simple, clean design for these gloves, not too dissimilar to the RDX Fitness Gel Leather-X Boxing Gloves we’ve previously reviewed. The back of the glove is red (which comes slightly darker than the RDX website shows) whilst the palmar surface is black, and it’s topped off with some white highlights. The RDX ‘R’ logo is picked out in black on the back of the glove, RDX and their motto, “Giant Inside”, is printed on the wrist strap, and the tip of the thumb is highlighted black with F-8 printed part way along it.

Overall the look of these gloves is good, but nothing groundbreaking and having a wider range of colour choices would be an improvement.

Below you can find our Fight Gear Focus video giving you a close-up, visual look at these Gloves. Make sure you check out the rest of the video series and Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of our future videos.

Materials

RDX have chosen to use Maya Hide leather to make these gloves, which is a high quality, softer form of leather that should give the gloves a long lifespan, as well as making them comfortable to use right out the bag. As with all their products RDX have included several of their trademarked technologies, this time they’ve used Eva-Lution foam to maximise shock absorption and Cool-X ventilation mesh to keep the gloves breathable. Finished off with a double strap Velcro ‘Quick-EZ’ closure system, the materials used in these gloves are high quality.

Craftsmanship

RDX don’t mention how they made these gloves on their website, but we can assume they’re mass produced using machines rather than handmade, due to the price and the fact that brands tend to highlight when they make their gloves by hand. Whilst typically handmade gloves are seen as higher quality, RDX have done a good job of production the Hexogen gloves – the padding is evenly distributed, the stitching is neat and tidy and the stress areas are well reinforced.

Comfort/use

The first thing I noticed using these glove is that they were comfortable the first time I tested them; typically leather gloves require a few sessions to break in before they soften up and get more comfortable, but the Hexogen gloves feel great straight away. The inner lining is also soft and feels great against your hands.

As I mentioned before, RDX have used a double closure system to secure the wrist of these gloves. This means that the support around the wrist is fantastic, and you can hammer punches into the pads or bag without worrying so much about turning your hand over and injuring yourself. But this does come with a downside, the double strap system does make it a bit more difficult to get the gloves on and off, I found myself using my teeth as well as my other hand to get the gloves off between rounds. However, if you’re looking for the extra wrist protection (which a lot of people do need in striking sports) this slight inconvenience is a small price to pay.

Cost

The RRP on the RDX website is £32.99, which in my opinion makes these gloves good value for money. They’re obviously not going to compete with higher level pairs, like the Sting Sports Orion Gloves or the Cleto Reyes Hybrid Gloves that we’ve reviewed, but for a beginner looking for a first pair of sparring gloves, or a solid all round training glove we’d highly recommend the Hexogen gloves.