# What the consensus most protective helmet?



## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Most protective regardless of weight and cost? Probably a motorcycle helmet.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Best way to avoid hitting your head more is to learn better riding skills. 

I'd guess consumer reports has done a comparison or is more likely to have done it than a bunch of snowboarders. Even so I would rather use a source like CR.


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## thefork (Dec 11, 2011)

I tried to research helmet specifications and found one that is no longer used, I just cannot remember the name, I called them and he said their stuff was too stringent or expensive for them to meet so none of them used their certification, so I then asked him what people there used and he said POC Backcountry receptor MIPS was the most popular. That was where I was leaning but figured I'd check with you guys.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

That's top of the line for sure but not a single helmet will actually protect you from blows over 15mph or so. Poc mips is probably as close as you get to it.


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## d2cycles (Feb 24, 2013)

Sadly, snowboard helmet tech is way behind motorcycle helmets. I knocked myself out a few years ago when I screwed up a medium sized jump. After that I got a RED helmet with MIPS and that really does seem to help limit the blow to the head.

I have a collection of wrecked road racing helmets (15 or so)...I have crashed from 15 mph up to 120 mph and never suffered the kind of head blow that I had snowboarding. 

Argo, I respect your opinion but I disagree. I believe that sometimes we progress by throwing caution to the wind and going for it...the price of that is bad crashes. We get up, brush ourselves off and learn from it. How do we get better unless we push the comfort zone envelop? 

I think snowboard helmets should be better...the tech is out there and I personally would be willing to shell out $400 for a helmet that protects my head like an Arai that I wear when racing my motorcycle.


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## thefork (Dec 11, 2011)

d2cycles said:


> Sadly, snowboard helmet tech is way behind motorcycle helmets. I knocked myself out a few years ago when I screwed up a medium sized jump. After that I got a RED helmet with MIPS and that really does seem to help limit the blow to the head.
> 
> I have a collection of wrecked road racing helmets (15 or so)...I have crashed from 15 mph up to 120 mph and never suffered the kind of head blow that I had snowboarding.
> 
> ...


Amen....I would easily pay $400 for a high quality protective helmet. Guess I will go with the POCS.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Working at the base of a mountain in a hospital and living slopeside with plenty of varying degrees of skilled friends so I think I probably have a pretty decent amount of knowledge on the subject of concussions and brain injury in general. Friends/riding acquaintances 
range from beginner to full on pro riders. 

Sure freak accidents happen and you slam hard. This shouldn't happen numerous times a season. Given the circles of people I've rolled through have been up to pro freeride tour guys and pro pipe/slope guys I would have to say that they definitely push it. They all wear pretty basic helmets or no helmets. I might know one or two a season at the advanced to pro level riders than get a good head hit. I have treated and known hundreds of beginner to advanced intermediate people get concussions because they think they are better than they are and go too big or miscalculated something that made them lose their proper edge hold. 

Sure, a helmet helps you but, not one single helmet can keep you from getting a concussion from a fall with a speed of impact that happens once your off the learning curve. Skill is greater than equipment, ALWAYS. Go buy your 400 helmet and it will definitely help but riding like a fool will blow right through the padding and your brain will still slap your skull. 

I'm not saying that you shouldn't wear a helmet. You should, maybe some body armor, it keeps the bumps and bruises down for sure. I'm saying that a better investment is in taking time to advance is going to be way more helpful in the long run. 

Most Denver people put down 30 to 50 days a year if they are dedicated. I'm guessing that is alot more mountain time than your used to. Just take a step back and progress a little slower because big progression attempts are what gives you the worst of your wipe outs. 

Baby jumps, small jumps, big jumps, real big jumps. 180, 360, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12..... Ride on box, ride on rail, small jump on, full on urban...


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## caribchakita (Jan 20, 2014)

My three head injuries did not happen on the park or riding aggressively. One time I was going really slow, caught and edge and was slammed to the ground on my head...Second and third time, again, slow descent and slam. I am a newbie still in my mind having only snowboarded 35 times or so...in retrospect, I could not have prevented any of the falls and injuries. I am going to invest in a new helmet. I recall my first day ever, I fell and hit my head with my 125.00 Smith helmet and saw stars. Thanks to the various threads on this topic here, I can investigate a proper helmet that will protect me better.


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## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

caribchakita said:


> My three head injuries did not happen on the park or riding aggressively. One time I was going really slow, caught and edge and was slammed to the ground on my head...Second and third time, again, slow descent and slam. I am a newbie still in my mind having only snowboarded 35 times or so...in retrospect, I could not have prevented any of the falls and injuries. I am going to invest in a new helmet. I recall my first day ever, I fell and hit my head with my 125.00 Smith helmet and saw stars. Thanks to the various threads on this topic here, I can investigate a proper helmet that will protect me better.


In all likelihood your Smith was a perfectly 'proper helmet' with good protection.
Problem are the repeated impacts:
- Repeated hits to the head (even if not all major and regardless whether wearing a helmet or not) are *really* bad for the brain. That is a major finding from the NFL concussion research.
- Most helmets (even high end) are toast after one major impact.


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## Mizu Kuma (Apr 13, 2014)

The best helmet is the one that fits YOUR head!!!!!

And as said above, the one that gets replaced after it's been in an impact!!!!!


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## shitty shredder (Feb 6, 2016)

Mizu Kuma said:


> The best helmet is the one that fits YOUR head!!!!!
> 
> And as said above, the one that gets replaced after it's been in an impact!!!!!


Try to just use 1 exclamation, and only when necessary. There is no sense repeating them.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

shitty shredder said:


> Try to just use 1 exclamation, and only when necessary. There is no sense repeating them.


That's his thing, you get used to it!!!!!!!!!!

Some people like emoticons alot.


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## d2cycles (Feb 24, 2013)

I would very much like to see a helmet with carbon/Kevlar shell and eps collapsible foam.

This isn't even the latest and greatest helmet technology...this is 10 year old proven stuff that works fantastic and would help prevent concussions way better than anything currently on the market.


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## Nerozor (Dec 2, 2011)

Maybe this?
Sweet Protection | Helmets


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## Loki (Mar 6, 2015)

Sweet Protection | Helmets

One of the best helmets on the market, but it might be a bit over the top for recreational skiing/boarding?


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## Alonzo (Dec 30, 2015)

Loki said:


> Sweet Protection | Helmets
> 
> One of the best helmets on the market, but it might be a bit over the top for recreational skiing/boarding?


Man, that thing looks awesome.


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

I think snowboard stores/companies have trouble selling $100 helmets to people since wearing helmets is relatively new in snow sports. Many people still think helmets are not cool and refuse to wear them. So I doubt stores/companies are looking to carry even more expensive helmets. 

Excuse my ignorance, I know nothing about motorcycles and motorcycle helmets. Could you wear a motorcycle helmet snowboarding?


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## Opunui (Mar 30, 2015)

861 smackeroos..


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## shitty shredder (Feb 6, 2016)

A stronger helmet does nothing for concussions from what I understand. The problem is your brain hitting against your skull, which no helmet can solve. This is something that the NFL is struggling with. Imagine wearing a football helmet snowboarding, then keep in mind that even that doesn't stop concussions.

Helmets are meant to reduce damage to the outside of your head for the most part.


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

The football helmet comparisons I think are not very good. They are completely different use cases. Football helmets are meant to protect while being beat continually. They have to both protect and be rugged/strong.

A snowboard helmet is meant as disposable after a single event that hopefully will never happen. So they are made to protect and be as unobtrusive as possible. It doesn't matter if it falls apart once a good enough hit is taken. This results in a completely different design and material approach.


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## highme (Dec 2, 2012)

There is no "consensus" best helmet because you'll never get everybody to agree on one best helmet.

But really, if you ain't listening to Argo on this, welp, maybe you've hit your head a few times to many already.



Argo said:


> Working at the base of a mountain in a hospital and living slopeside with plenty of varying degrees of skilled friends so I think I probably have a pretty decent amount of knowledge on the subject of concussions and brain injury in general. Friends/riding acquaintances
> range from beginner to full on pro riders.
> 
> Sure freak accidents happen and you slam hard. This shouldn't happen numerous times a season. Given the circles of people I've rolled through have been up to pro freeride tour guys and pro pipe/slope guys I would have to say that they definitely push it. They all wear pretty basic helmets or no helmets. I might know one or two a season at the advanced to pro level riders than get a good head hit. I have treated and known hundreds of beginner to advanced intermediate people get concussions because they think they are better than they are and go too big or miscalculated something that made them lose their proper edge hold.
> ...


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## d2cycles (Feb 24, 2013)

WasabiCanuck said:


> Excuse my ignorance, I know nothing about motorcycles and motorcycle helmets. Could you wear a motorcycle helmet snowboarding?


You could wear one. The problem is that without the evs collar you would end up breaking a collar bone pretty easily in a crash. The full face helmets cause lots and lots of broken collar bones. Not really a good design for snowboarding.


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## d2cycles (Feb 24, 2013)

shitty shredder said:


> A stronger helmet does nothing for concussions from what I understand. The problem is your brain hitting against your skull, which no helmet can solve. This is something that the NFL is struggling with. Imagine wearing a football helmet snowboarding, then keep in mind that even that doesn't stop concussions.
> 
> Helmets are meant to reduce damage to the outside of your head for the most part.


A stronger shell will help distribute the load evenly vs point load. The eps foam is designed to collapse upon impact thereby absorbing much of the energy vs transferring it the brain. The whole concept is to distribute and absorb as much of the energy as possible so that the brain has the least amount of impact. 

I know it works...I have walked away from a 90mph highside landing on my head/shoulder. I had a headache and sore neck...other than that, I was good. Arai makes very good helmets. A good friend of mine highsided, had his head run over by another motorcycle and is alive today to tell the story...that is only true because he had a very good helmet on his head.

FWIW - A motorcycle highside is when the back tire breaks loose in a corner and starts to slide out, it then suddenly catches and throws the rider in the air sorta like a catapult.


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## Nerozor (Dec 2, 2011)

I have to agree with snowboarding helmets being far behind other helmets. My Sweet Protection Igniter helmet feels like it will actually hurt to hit your head lol. To the point where it might be nicer to hit ur head in the snow without helmet. 

Idk but I asume its a challange to make a slim, yet very protective helmet


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

d2cycles said:


> I would very much like to see a helmet with carbon/Kevlar shell and eps collapsible foam.


Like the Bern Carbon Watts?

Bern Watts Carbon - Men - Snow Helmets Unlimited


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## MARV HUCKER (Mar 21, 2016)

shitty shredder said:


> A stronger helmet does nothing for concussions from what I understand. The problem is your brain hitting against your skull, which no helmet can solve. This is something that the NFL is struggling with. Imagine wearing a football helmet snowboarding, then keep in mind that even that doesn't stop concussions.
> 
> Helmets are meant to reduce damage to the outside of your head for the most part.


Not quite the whole story (I hope).

You're right in that having a stronger outer protective bit won't save you from concussions. Hence the 70s football players (who had big sturdy hard helmets with not much compressible foam) having post concussion brain damage - hard helmet will stop physical damage to the outer of your skull, nothing more. I'd be seriously worried if modern NFL helmets were still designed the same way, asking for heaps of injuries and heaps of lawsuits. Certainly in Australia a helmet like that wouldn't pass current design rules for protective gear - I'd be shocked if the US was far behind.

The main bit to help save you from brain damage in any decent helmet is the foam that gets squished.
The idea of the foam is purely to make your head/brain slow down over a longer period of _time_ by compressing. As you say, the concussion comes from your brain sloshing around.

Going nerd mode
The physics of it [ F = fp/dt ] is change of momentum (from some speed to none) divided by change of time (the split second that the crash takes). 
Something that was moving has hit something not moving. That can't be changed, so the helmet is designed to slow down how long that process takes. The bigger number on the bottom of that equation, the lower the force acting on your head. The lower the force, the better.
Think of yourself dropping into powder at 100km/h compared to dropping onto concrete. You're still going to end up at 0km/h. The powder pushes back at you, the concrete _hits_ you.

tl:dr? The foam bit just slows down the 'crash' and the longer the 'crash' takes, the better. 

Same story with motorbike helmets or pushbike helmets, modern car bumper bars and I'm guessing (not American) football helmets would incorporate the same idea now.

And this is why helmets are meant to be chucked after one impact. Even if the shell's fine, even if it looks perfect, the foam can't be un-compressed.


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## beohbe (Apr 15, 2015)

i feel like the newest thing with snowboarding helmets is MIPS. i know giro and smith have a lot of good ratings and reviews of their top of the line helmets, the range and vantage, respectively.


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

beohbe said:


> i feel like the newest thing with snowboarding helmets is MIPS. i know giro and smith have a lot of good ratings and reviews of their top of the line helmets, the range and vantage, respectively.


MIPS is legit. I just replaced my full face helmet for DH mountain biking with a carbon Fox lid, which is one of very few brands that have integrated MIPS into a full face helmet. I don't know if it's as useful on snow, since you don't deal with the same type of impact/friction on snow as you do on the dirt/rocks you encounter on a bike, but it definitely can't hurt. For snow helmets, looks like it's POC, Smith, Giro Scott and Sweet.


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## Leafs (Apr 6, 2016)

Few months ago I went with my buddy and couple of his friends, it’s a 2 hours drive so we chit chat a lot until we got to the topic of wearing a helmet and to our surprise my buddy friend did not have a helmet, we insist that he should get one before we hit the mountain so we stop by sporting store to get one.
His new helmet save him that day, he collided with my friend, nothing major, they wasn’t going fast or anything , the collision was right in the beginning of the run. 
We didn’t know how bad it was until we took a break, I took this picture of his brand new helmet


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## Garwig (Apr 4, 2016)

Was discussing this same subject in another forum, concerning a guy who bought a used Arai. Used is the first warning flag, but also it was manufactured in 1997. Taking into account the unknown history and the age, I would not recommend that helmet. But, I do agree with you that it is NOT a hard and fast rule, and you will have to decide for yourself. When I first started riding, I used my sister's full face helmet that was made in probably 1987 or 1988. This was in 2004-2005 or so. So it was at least a 17 year old helmet. The interior materials were starting to crack and flake off and you'd be left with flecks of vinyl and plastic in your hair after removing the helmet. I bought a new one quickly. Petroleum products (read, plastics, vinyls) also degrade when exposed to UV rays, depending on the type of plastic. Sweat and salts from the body definitely aren't good for the materials, either. 

So my rule is, I will evaluate my own helmets and decide for myself when I think it needs replacing. I would not hesitate to wear a new-old-stock helmet that had been sitting on the shelf since 2003, if it was up to the safety and comfort standards that I'm looking for. A used helmet, I would be vary weary of in general since I don't know the history of it. The EPS liner is good for one impact with the pavement (which is not the same as a helmet drop), and people are not trustworthy. It's really a case by case basis.


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## thefork (Dec 11, 2011)

Nerozor said:


> Maybe this?
> Sweet Protection | Helmets


Thank you for posting this. I had never heard of this company.


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