Best Face Shield Helmet for the Best Price

Hello - I would like to know the best face shield helmet for the best price. I know about "you get what you pay for" BUT we all know ANYTHING you can buy can be EXPENSIVE WITHOUT being good - I mean sometimes an item can be one of the cheapest but also be one of the best. This is what I am looking for suggestions.

Thank-you,

Ron

Flyer, that's like asking whats the best oil! It all depends on what style helmet you want, the shape of your head, how much youre willing to spend the type of protection you want. Help a brother out!

Has something been lost in translation here, what is a "Face Shield Helmet”?

Is it Full Face, Flip Front, Shorty, Open Face, Jet Style, Dual-Purpose, or Modular?  

So after you have decided what type of helmet you need. In US I Find Arthur Fulmer best quality for price. They are not sold in internet, only by dealers. As I ride a lot, I buy 2 each year...ride a lot---now with one open face (on way out) and one 3/4 with face shield.

Weight is important consideration/quality of face shield(Fulmer good) and then what windshield you have on your scooter....and ear plugs in use, too.

Fit is consideration, too.

Number one consideration is the best protection you can afford to protect your noggin, try and buy a helmet with a Snell rating, you get good protection plus peace of mind, good luck and Ride Safe.

What he ^^^^^^^^ said,spot on bud

I believe "Motorcyclist" US found DOT Helmet better than Snell in test a few years best----new bike standards are sometimes rated DOT and ECE.

john grinsel wrote:

So after you have decided what type of helmet you need. In US I Find Arthur Fulmer best quality for price.  They are not sold in internet, only by dealers. As I ride a lot, I buy 2 each year...ride  a lot---now with one open face (on way out) and one 3/4 with face

 How is it possible to wear out 2 helmets a year? After each ride do you kick your helmet back into the house?

ride a lot----try 30-50,000 miles a year---insides/strap wear----then add dirt stink....and oh ride everyday for everything---drop=throw away in some cases

I only get about a year out of one here in Florida.  Man it gets hot... But I get out and Ride...

Magoo

I prefer the Bell helmets that allow you to lower/raise the inner shield while riding. It has an inner and outer shield. The outer shield is clear, and the inner shield can be replaced with other tinted ones. That way when I enter a tunnel, I am able to raise my darker inner shield, then lower it when I exit the tunnel.

Let's not judge helmets solely by the sticker it has on it for meeting certain safety standards on impact protection.

That's the helmets primary function but you probably will never test that effectiveness in the life of the helmet. What you will "test" every time you wear the helmet is the effectiveness of it's secondary functions, lets start with it's comfort. It's no good having bought a helmet solely because of it's Snell sticker if you're not aware of the head shape the helmet manufacturer designed it for, or of your own head shape. If it's not all day comfortable you're not going want to wear it, and what was comfortable trying it on in the dealers for a few minutes might not be after a couple of hours on the road, or until the liner moulds to your head shape.

If the helmet ventilation isn't effective your visor or face shield is going to mist up in cold, damp, or wet weather. Your super safe helmet might be so noisy to wear you're permanently damaging your hearing if you don't wear earplugs, that is providing you wear them and know how to correctly insert them into your ears. 

The visor or face shield may have a rubbish sent of detents or settings so you can't crack it open just enough to stop it misting up. The liner might be hard to remove or replace for washing, then again you may not mind the liner smelling like a lepers crotch, I do so I always wear a helmet liner.

Internal dark sun shields are a bit of a waste of time, you can't ride into direct sunlight with them or with sunglasses either, an amber shield for ambient or flat light conditions would be more useful and I'd fit one to my Scorpion EXO 900 but the dark shield is impossible to remove.

I could go on about lots of other niggles about helmets that annoy me like the hassle it is to change visors on some brands of helmets, or inadequate rain seals between the helmet and visor that let  moisture ingress onto the inside the visor and cause fogging. Like how awkward it is to wear some types of spectacles with helmets.

So just naming a particular brand, having that Snell sticker on your helmet, choosing it for it's fancy paint job, or using the UK SHARP rating is only part of the picture to how good your helmet is.

Nice work Brubaker, but the next time you borrow my iPad, log out again so I don't appear as you like I just have done. 

john grinsel wrote:

ride a lot----try 30-50,000 miles a year---insides/strap wear----then add dirt stink....and oh ride everyday for everything---drop=throw away in some cases

its time to update your lower signature! should read:
690 000 - 1 150 000 miles since 1990

Reply to miles----I have now ridden 300,000 rubber band drive scooter miles since 1990...life time at 74 over 1.5 million 2 and three wheel miles---sidecar and had 2 Messerschmitt KR 200, cabin scooters. Been at this since 1955.

Rubber band drive scooter---used up ten since 1990---all bought new----present Burgman 400 with 26,000 But I am playing with new TU 250 Suzuki= it works, but no centerstand. In the rubber band scooter years also bought BMW K75, Kawasaki Voyager and Concour(didn't like it, kept it as spare), 2 CB750's each traded at 50,000 miles

I am not mileage freak---but don't like to drive cars----use bike/scooter for everything miles pile up and job with lot of travel paid miles in the week, hobby riding on weekends. Riding is fun!

Getting back to helmets... Obviously a DOT or Snell rating is important; but has anyone been to a dealer and found one that does NOT meet at least one of these? I haven't. Comfort and features are important to me. Price must (regretfully) enter the equation as well. I would like to purchase a Shoei but 500-600 USD is just out of range, for now, I don't use my machines enough to justify it. I have two GMAX helmets, one is an open-face that I use with small bikes and scooters and a full face unit that I use on my SWing. And btw the 2nd is the most comfortable helmet I have ever worn.

The best advice I can give is purchase locally NOT online. You must be able to determine comfort on your own head! Try a new helmet on and see how it actually works. Hard to do that when searching online. Good luck.

I recommend Cycle Gear for affordable helmets of all different kinds of protection. I got a great full face helmet with bluetooth a year and a half ago at an amazing price.

Can we start a thread for Grins to post his mileage so he doesn't have to post it in every single thread like he does now?

Bogey, you are correct. Cycle Gear is a good place to start. Bilt (their house brand) are economical and feature laden. BUT make sure the fit is good. I could not find a Bilt that was comfortable on me; however my wife did... But CG does carry other brands as well at good prices.

lvflyer wrote:

... snipped ... I would like to know the best face shield helmet for the best price. This is what I am looking for suggestions. Thank-you, Ron

Ron, I've just purchased the GMAX27S 3/4 helmet with full face visor and I really like it.  Not partial to the full face helmets and this fits the bill for me.  I've inserted the link to the GMAX site below.

GMAX27S 3/4 face helmet

Cheer, Bugjr ~

Seeing that the OP is in Latvia (LV, right?), DOT is meaningless. ECE may be important for legal reasons (I don't know) - and is a good certification. So is SNELL, but you probably won't be able to find one that doesn't meet ECE that does meet SNELL in LV (in the US, you won't find one for sale that meets SNELL but not DOT; unfortunately, three standard helmets are hard or impossible to make, due to slight differences in the standards - all are good though). People will argue about which certifications matter, so I'd say from a safety standpoint, any of the three is good.

ECE also means that the helmets will be different than USA DOT helments, so no direct comparison is possible. Even the same model name will be a different helmet outside of the USA (and other places that use US DOT certification).

Short of it: pick something you are comfortable in - you'll find some helmets are torture and some are very comfortable, and this has nothing to do with price (other than pricy helmets are typically a bit quieter and *maybe* better ventilated). We can't predict your head shape, so you just need to find a local store with a wide selection. I'd recommend a helmet with a chin bar (a full face, not 3/4 face) helmet since that's where you're likely to hit the pavement, and having teeth and a lower jaw make life a lot nicer. But ultimately it's your (and whatever your local law requires) call.

jmaslak wrote:

Seeing that the OP is in Latvia (LV, right?)

It's more likely the OP is in Las Vegas mate!  

I think Las Vegas as his first post lists a price in dollars not lats. :-)

Ah, that's a bit closer to home than Latvia.

The best helmet is the one you wear - after that it's the one that doesn't keep you from taking the bike out.

Seriously, get as much protection as you can stand - i.e. full or modular if possible. I went modular so I can get min over my glasses without too much issue. My suggestion is to watch the many videos on Revzilla.com for features and figure which you want. Then go to local dealers and motorcycle rallies and try, try, try. If possible, buy locally - many dealer prices are pretty close to internet. Some will be more $$ but will work with you to adjust the helmet by changing cheek pads etc for that perfect fit.

I found that my round head was REALLY hard to fit in the US. Americans have more oval heads while mine is European - round.

Features I really like
- Modular so I can stop and take a sip of water or pay for gas without removing it.
- multiple stops on face shield so I can adjust for wind / protection according to how hot it is and how many bugs are flying.
- Top Gun (drop down) sun shield - behind the main shield and tinted. Ideally polarized. Should NOT have only 2 stops like HJC but be smooth sliding and stop in any position. I actually use mind partly down at night and tilt my head forward when someone has their brights on.
- Lots of padding - for comfort
- Quiet - wind noise will hurt your hearing and can be painfully loud. OK behind a tall Givi on a Silverwing but nasty if you have a low windshield. Europeans seem to ride with ear plugs all the time so their helmets don't have a lot of sound deadening. My Sharp Evo 3 whistles when the face shield is in certain positions. (I don't really recommend it for the $$ given the noise level).
- Face shield is optically correct - cheap shields can have distortion points.
- easy to clean face shield - you can reach inside
- antifog
- big air vents and air exhaust in the rear to get some air flow. - seems few really have it right
- make sure you can take out the liner for cleaning

I would suggest looking at the Scorpion EXO 900 modular - didn't quite fit me but I may be looking at it again if I find a dealer with cheekpads in stock. Bell helmets are reasonably priced and popular.

DO NOT buy a used helmet. If a helmet is dropped 3 feet it needs to be xrayed to make sure it is still good (might be a safety measure espoused by helmet testing companies?)