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If you want to keep your hands warm, you need to keep your arms warm. I find that in temperatures down to near freezing, I don't need a top when I'm running except for the problem of cold hands. Gloves obviously help, but if your arms are cold, then you have chilled blood flowing to your hands. Worse, most of the [[Muscle|muscles ]] that work your hands are in your forearm and if they get too cold, you can't use your hands. Therefore I started looking for some warm arm warmers, and being unable to work out which were the warmest, I ordered a few pairs.
[[File:Arm Warmers - overview.jpg|none|thumb|500px|Top to bottom, left to right: Pearl Izumi, Asics, Craft, Sugio MidZero, Smartwool, Sugio SubZero, Primal, Sock Conversion.]]
Nearly all of the arm warmers I ordered seemed to be designed for cycling, not running. They were made of dense material, because air movement is higher when cycling, but were not thick enough. More annoying is that they were not comfortable when the elbow is bent to the right [[Arm Position]] for running. (Cycling typically has a far straighter arm than running). Therefore the best arm warmer turned out to be a converted hunting sock rather than an 'arm warmer'.
=Pearl Izumi=
It seems that Pearl Izumi tried harder than other manufacturers. The arm warmers are different between left and right, with separate panels over the bicep. I'm not sure if the bicep panel is different material from the rest of the arm warmer, but I couldn't detect any difference. The cut at the top of the arm warmer is not straight, but angled to fit a little better. They are much bigger at the top than the other arm warmers, so these may work for runners with more arm [[Muscle|muscle]], but for me they were quite baggy.
[[File:Arm Warmers - PI.jpg|none|thumb|500px|Pearl Izumi (note how baggy they are at the top.]]