all around helmet

[antonija 0]

I guess the point was that both Z1 and Mamba would "do fine" against kicks and bumps, and both would fail against harder impact (like some one diving through your canopy hitting you on the head or something like that).

But from theoretical point of view you would be right: carbon fiber sandwich will take more abuse that plastics, only in this case it really doesn't matter.

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

I can see your point but if you have a helmet made of layers of carbon fiber fabric sandwiched between 2 layers of fiber glass compound like it's the case for Bonehead helmets

Where did this information come from? I don't see it on the BH website.

Quote

The lining will play the role of a shock absorber contrary to what our friend said.

Incorrect - the lining on any skydiving helmet outside of the protec is not going to protect you against anything more than a casual knock - the lining is the wrong type of material and there's not enough of it.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[LloydDobbler 2]

Quote

Quote

The lining will play the role of a shock absorber contrary to what our friend said.

Incorrect - the lining on any skydiving helmet outside of the protec is not going to protect you against anything more than a casual knock - the lining is the wrong type of material and there's not enough of it.

Yep. If any of you *really* want to dig into helmet stuff, check out Helmets.org. The page linked is geared more towards bicycle helmets, but there's info on standards for skateboarding, hockey, and other helmets, too. In a nutshell, the hard shell helps...but the padding inside is the real injury-stopper.

A lot depends on the size of the padding, and what it's made of. No matter the head-size, 1/2 inch of foam protects more than 1/4 inch of foam, and so on (hence the reason why Pro-tecs look like a mushroom on my small head). Etc.

Since there's no standard for skydiving helmets, I think it's reasonable to look at skateboarding/bike helmets as comps. If something wouldn't meet standards for falling off a bike, it's tough to think it would protect you very well when you biff a landing...or (God forbid) hit the horizontal stabilizer on the way out the door.

Signatures are the new black.

[pilotdave 0]

And we don't know how skydiving helmets compare to anything else. We can only guess. People say protecs are better because they have a certification. But until someone plunks down the cash (and figures out the proper testing criteria) to get skydiving helmets crash tested, we really don't know. The stiff foam in a protec might transmit light bumps to the head more than the soft padding in a skydiving helmet. Maybe better for hard hits and worse for soft ones. Who knows.

Dave

[LloydDobbler 2]

Quote

And we don't know how skydiving helmets compare to anything else. We can only guess. People say protecs are better because they have a certification. But until someone plunks down the cash (and figures out the proper testing criteria) to get skydiving helmets crash tested, we really don't know. The stiff foam in a protec might transmit light bumps to the head more than the soft padding in a skydiving helmet. Maybe better for hard hits and worse for soft ones. Who knows.

Dave

A good point. And interestingly enough, the classic Pro-tec is no longer advertised as meeting the ASTM F 1492 standard...which means it's supposedly not a good multi-impact helmet. (In other words, you fall off your skateboard/bike/whatever and hit your head once, you need a new helmet, b/c the foam records the memory of the head imprint and weakens).

But how many people hit their head once and go buy a new helmet?

Pro-tec now offers helmets with SXP foam, which meets higher standards for multi-impact collisions (and is a lot less-comfortable, incidentally).

Regardless, you're right: who knows? I've always assumed that if I hit my head on the horizontal stabilizer, I'm likely gone, helmet or no. Coming down under a spinning main is another question.

As for landings (well, the type of landings I do) and full-combat RW
(Of course, I wear a Bonehead Mamba, so it shows how huge of a difference I think it would make).

Signatures are the new black.

[erdnarob 1]

First of all Protec helmets are designed to play hockey not skydiving. I prefer not to think about what can happen if by any chance in the case of an unstable opening a riser get caught under the front of the shell near the jumper's jaw. That's why I prefer a tight fit helmet with no parts protruding.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.