Helmet question?

[carparts4 0]

Has anyone ever jumped with a K2 helmet before? They are primarily used for skiing but I was wondering if anyone has any possible feedback on this subject. The reason I ask is that I went to my local outfitter store to look for a helmet and they didn't sell any that were skydiving specific but was told that several people have purchased the K2 helmets for it. I asked if they had any Protec helmets which I use to use kayaking and a lot of people use them skydiving but they had none. I also have an odd shaped head and it is tough to find something that is comfortable and I don't want to buy something online and not have it fit comfortably. I tried on a bunch of the K2 and the clutch fit perfectly and even had a ratcheting style back to make it fit snug on your noggin. Just asking and before you all say to try on others helmets at your local DZ I have and have found none that fit as comfortable as the K2 clutch. any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and blue skies, Adam

[SuperGirl 0]

I've seen quite a few people using skiing/snowboarding helmets for skydiving. Works just fine... maybe it doesn't come with a built-in pocket for an audible, but that's really not hard to fix... plus they are much cheaper than skydiving helmets.
do a search, it's been discussed here before.

[yeyo 1]

check out for snag points
ski helmets mite have them to secure goggles
u dont want canopy lines traped in there

HISPA #93
DS #419.5

[Lastchance 0]

I've seen Pro Teks in sporting good stores and also in rock climbing sections of different stores.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[hackish 8]

I borrowed a snowboarding helmet from someone. It had some nice comfy cloth pieces for the ears and the owner had sewed in a nice little pocket for the ditter.

-Michael

[raceface 0]

i used to consider this one (attached pics), it looks really nice but did not see it on the market to try it before i bought another one. i think it is not very difficult to add pocket for audible, or you can use liners with built-in headphones and neptune connected to them :-) (read here)

my pictures

[Ether 0]

I will never buy a skydiving helmet for skydiving, because the amount of crash protection (or rather, lack thereof) terrifies me. Protecs and motocross helmets are designed to have some degree of impact resistance.

On a related note -- how suitable are full-face motorcycle helmets for skydiving? The field of view is good and you can flip the visor down in freefall and up for the canopy ride, but are they too heavy? i.e. will your neck hate you?

Looking for newbie rig, all components...

[riggerrob 558]

Full-face motorcycle helmets might work for skydiving, except for the fact that they are really BULKY!
Skydiver-specific full-face helmets (i.e. Factory Diver) have most of the same features, but much less bulk.

Mind you, if you turf-surf like an idiot, a Snell-certified full-face, motorcycle helmet might be the bare minimum!
Tee!
Hee!

[kallend 1,625]

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I will never buy a skydiving helmet for skydiving, because the amount of crash protection (or rather, lack thereof) terrifies me. Protecs and motocross helmets are designed to have some degree of impact resistance.

Depends on what you want to be protected from. The most likely things to hit your head and face are other people's feet, knees, elbows, and the plane door frame. A regular skydiving helmet does a fine job there. No helmet will save you from a no-pull.

If you do any serious formation skydiving you will get kicked in the face sooner or later. A full-face helmet is good protection against that, if it's important that you keep your good looks.

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On a related note -- how suitable are full-face motorcycle helmets for skydiving? The field of view is good and you can flip the visor down in freefall and up for the canopy ride, but are they too heavy? i.e. will your neck hate you?

M/C helmets are much heavier. I can't imagine wearing one for skydiving. I don't think I've yet seen anyone wearing one.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Ether 0]

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M/C helmets are much heavier. I can't imagine wearing one for skydiving. I don't think I've yet seen anyone wearing one.

I found this post in the archives... I suppose I'll try out a jump on my brand new aerodynamic noise-blocking Shoei and see how it feels.

Downsides:
- weight (although mine is on the light end of motorcycle helmets, at 1500 g or about 3.5 lbs)
- nowhere to put dytter (or perhaps it could be attached to the chinstrap?)

Upsides:
- no need to buy yet another helmet (save those $$ for more jumps!)
- less equipment to carry when I ride to the DZ
- better impact protection than anything else available
- already fitted with two-way radio (it would be interesting being able to give verbal cues when turning points!)
- trendy fashionable colours

Looking for newbie rig, all components...

[kallend 1,625]

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M/C helmets are much heavier. I can't imagine wearing one for skydiving. I don't think I've yet seen anyone wearing one.

I found this post in the archives... I suppose I'll try out a jump on my brand new aerodynamic noise-blocking Shoei and see how it feels.

Motorcycle helmets have evolved since the '70s as referred to in that post. They are much bigger and heavier than they used to be when I had a bike back then.

Why don't you try it and report back to us?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Ether 0]

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Why don't you try it and report back to us?

I'll do that.. if it ever stops raining..

Looking for newbie rig, all components...

[DSE 3]

Wearing a big motorcycle helmet such as your Shoei is heavier than wearing a camera helmet. For kicks, I just grabbed my full-face motorcycle helmet and my Bonehead FTP with a light camera on top. m/c helmet weighs quite a bit more.
In other words, if you don't know what you're doing, you could hurt yourself wearing a heavy, full-face m/c helmet. Have an instructor at your DZ check you out with the helmet before you try to jump it, unless you're willing to risk your neck.

[sundance 1]

I use a Giro snowboard / ski helmet and I love it. No it does not look like the trendy skydiving helmets, but as far as function, it works great. I used to work for Bell Helmets as VP/GM of the Auto Racing Helmet Division for about 8 years. Therefore I have more exposure and experience with head protection and impact properties than the average bear. I have always been a bit confused by the fact that modern skydiving helmets really offer little or no protection for serious impacts. They are not designed to perform in this way. Sure, they will protect one against minor hits, but if you ever hit your head hard in freefall or landing, you would have very little protection.

I've heard folks counter this need with comments like, "no helmet will save you if you go in hard or have a hard impact on landing, so what would be the point?" Well, the same arguments are used for non use of motorcycle helmets in particular and sometimes against bike, snowboard and other action sport headprotection. It is true that a motorcycle crash impact to the head above a certain point will kill you even with a helmet, but helmets are not meant to save one from every situation. Where they are invaluable are the impacts that would have otherwise killed you without a helmet but save your life because you have that added protection. By the way, I don't care a lot about mandatory helmet laws. If someone doesn't see the sense in wearing a helmet for any given sport, so be it. Darwins law will sift them out. However, IMO why not have the extra protection? Kind of like, "why not have a reserve parachute?" They come in very handy when needed. Anyway, don't kid yourselves about modern skydiving helmets offering much in the way of high energy impact protection. They don't!

Personally, I like the idea of snowboard/ski helmets for skydiving. Mine even has a perfect place in the fit pad by my ear for my pro-track, almost as if it was built for it. I have seen many other models that work as well. My wife found a great snowboard helmet at Sports Authority on sale at season end close out for $20.00 (normal retail was $140.00 for this helmet). What I like most about snowboard/ski helmets is that they usually have optimal impact protection if they utilize an EPS (expanded polystyrene) liner inside the hard shell. They are authentic impact energy management systems, whereas skydive helmets are merely bump/bruise protection and brain bucket.

Bell invented the use of EPS in helmets back in the late 1950's and it changed head protection for ever. Prior to that time, head protection offered little advantage beyond containing your brains in a bucket, dead or alive (usually dead). Google Kevin Cogan's horrific crash during the Indy 500 in the late 1980's and tell me that his helmet did not save his life. I was sitting right on pit row when the smattered remains of his Penske monocoque came to rest in front of me. The engine was still attached to the driver's pod and was hissing and venting coolant steam. He lost control exiting turn 4 and T-boned the end of the pit entrance concrete wall at 200 mph. The car literally desintigrated into a bazillion pieces. We all thought he was dead, but he ended up walking away. It was unbelievable! One week later I spoke with Kevin at the Wisconsin 150 where he was qualifying for that race. He told me he still had a headache from the crash, but thanked me and Bell Helmets profusely for building a helmet that literally saved his life.

Protech helmets, at least the ones I have examined, do not offer as much impact protection as a helmet with EPS liner (the foam liner iis much softer than EPS and bottoms out quickly in a high energy impact), though probably offer more than most skydiving helmets.

I agree that motorcycle helmets, while they offer excellent high impact protection, are not well suited to skydiving. They are too bulky and heavy, compared to other alternatives. Modern skydiving helmets, IMO, are basically brain buckets with designed in platforms for mounting cameras. True, it would be difficult to effectively mount a camera on my Giro Ravine. I believe the perfect skydive helmet would incorporate the use of an EPS impact liner combined with all the other features we see in todays skydiving helmets. Of course, this would add to the overall size of the helmet, but I think it would be well worth the added protection.

One of the surest signs that intelligent life exists in outer space is that none of it has tried to contact us.