Z1

Originally reviewed this helmet after I had put 50 jumps on mine. Now that I've put another 100 on it, I have to agree, it's high maintenance and I'm not near as thrilled as I was. Still like the feautures, just hate gluing & keeping tools handy to reset the cheap plastic screw assembly holding the visor on. Hate the jury rigged wind collar with a pull string from an old pair of sweats that doesn't close nice cause I can't find a replacement for the elastic one that broke. Hate that because of the placement of the very comfortable chin strap combined with the hacked wind collar that sometimes I'm worried about how secure my helmet & the protrack inside are to my head and picture $500 & something dollars floating away as I'm trying to check the spot. Some advice. Always remember fully loosen the wind collar before trying to take it off. I forgot just a couple of times and the helmet came off surprising easy but after the third time the pull string broke.

A couple of other things that are not working well.

Used to use the chin strap to hang the helmet on. If I kept doing it, I would have had to bring a cordless glue gun on the plane, so like Wendy, I could glue & glue some more. Seriously, hanging it by the strap really tears the glue up much faster. The biggest thing I dislike about it is that the audible pockets don't hold the audible in place if it's not on my head and the audible much too easily falls out.

Take the head off and forget to either take the audible out and put in in my pocket or hold a finger against the audible while I'm carrying the helmet to the packing area and it will fall out. Hang the helmet on a rack thru an open visor & go to pick it up without grabbing the audible that's laying in the bottom of the helmet after falling out of the pocket and crash to the ground goes the audible. It's a little thing but I want to think about other things, like canopy & aircraft traffic, after landing. I hate that I've had to incorporate something so stupid into my mental checklists to save my audible from getting dropped.

One the visor securely latches and is not extremely difficult to unlatch. Once I figged out the little "move" required to open it, I find it quite easy to unlatch. The visor of some of the other helmets I looked at didn't appear as well secured and I see many home modifications around the Dz of new helemts to ensure visor stays closed. I've also see fairly new helmets without visors that their owner complained ripped off in freefall so now they wear goggles. I rather have to deal with a harder latch than an unexpected rip off of my visor.

The other little thing is the chin strap. It's much more comfortable than say a traditional Protech strap and much easier to adjust & use. Besides the arguable safety advantage, I like that it has the chin strap for the simple reason that I can clip it on to my chest strap or whatever & forget about the helmet after landing or when ever I need to stow the helmet. I see lots of other helmets that don't use a chin strap being dropped or the owner walking into things because they didn't realize they where that tall with the helmet perched on top of their head. Whatever you find best for you, I wish you the warmest, bluest &, most importantly, the safest of skies.

My love for the Z1 has slipped considerably from when I purchased it two years ago.

PROs:
I find that it rarely fogs up (actually, the first time was last week). The visor has never come open in freefall (and once when I accidentally left the plane with it open, the aerodynamics of its design didn't blow out my contacts!) The visor is easy to flip up, even with gloves on.

CONs:
The durability is atrocious! I have stress cracks all around the base of the helmet. No kicks to the head, just normal wear and tear. Super Glue has become my constant companion. The elastic pull-cord (to tighten the helmet) will generally take your hair with it. I have remedied this by switching the accessibility of the pull-cord to the front of the helmet. The hot-glued liner comes loose and has to be re-glued frequently. ("I glue and I glue and I glue for you, and this is the thanks I get!") :-)

Summary:
If ParaSport Italia can assure me that their quality in manufacturing the Z1 has improved, I would certainly buy another one. The positive features are outstanding. As it stands, however, I've paid about a buck a jump for my helmet. I had hoped it would last for more than 200 skydives.

I have about 250 jumps on my Z1 in conditions ranging from 95 & humid to 10 degrees with snow falling, and I'm very happy with it. I chose the Z1 mainly for the easy opening & closing visor. It is a cinch to snap it open and closed with one hand, whether climbing out the door or under canopy.

I really like the washable liner. There is something really nice about putting on a fresh-smelling helmet every weekend, rather than a crusty sweatbucket.

It's comfortable enough to leave on for the whole ride to altitude, and provides some noise reduction. It's also quiet in freefall, though in certain positions a little wind gets around the visor - it does not seal completely as an Oxygn design does. This slight leakage has never caused a problem for me, and I wear contacts. It may also help keep the lens from fogging.

Peripheral vision is excellent. I'm never aware of any obstruction in freefall. Like probably any full-face helmet, you do have to tilt your head a little to see your handles. The Z1 lens is thinner and probably less impact-resistant than the thick Oxygn lens, but mine has taken kicks without damage. I also have none of the hassle Oxygn owners do with their more easily smeared and hard-to-clean antifog-coated lens.

I don't use an audible but I have tried a standard TimeOut in my helmet - it seemed a bit thick and was pressed against my ear. A thinner audible would probably be comfortable. Because the color is painted on, my Z1 shows scratches easily, but really, who cares - they are easily covered by obnoxious stickers...

I bought it to protect my face from cold weather jumps, It performs well in freefall, but upon opening, it fogs up to the point you can`t see where you are going. I also have trouble getting the visor open with gloves. I had a possible low speed malfunction, so I had more important things to do than open the visor, & by the time I got things under control, it was too late to let go of the brakes, or pull them in to open the visor, so I wound up with a downwind, landing & had to guess when to flare, because I couldn't see through the visor. Ouch! I just purchased the helmet in Dec. 99, I assume it will perform better in warmer weather.

Hey there is just one thing I can say about my new Z1 helmet and that's: Sometimes your smile is the source of your joy, but sometimes your joy can be the source of your smile! Jumping with a Z1 makes me feel like smiling....great to be airbrushed too!

The nicest thing I can say about my Z1 is that it has a cool paint job. The visor is frequently hard to latch. The helmet is snug in freefall, but uncomfortable in the plane and under canopy. Unfortunately, the liner only comes in set sizes. I think with some design improvements it could be a great helmet, but until then, I would recommend buying something else. I'm really sorry I chose this helmet.