Bargain Autocross Helmet Review – SA2005 $124.61 Shipped
Posted: June 20th, 2009 | Author: Josh | Filed under: Autocross, Reviews | No Comments »When I realized after my first autocross that there were many driving events in my future I decided to look out for a decent helmet so I wouldn’t have to rely on loaners from whatever club I wanted to run with. I don’t remember exactly how I came about this particular helmet, but I ended up getting a great deal on a quality helmet.
My requirements for a helmet were simple. It should be reasonably comfortable, SA2005 certified, and cheap. The SA2005 certification is required for most autocrosses and track days. There are many cheaper helmets with M2005 certification but they are designed for motorcycles and aren’t testing against fire. For this reason many picky auto clubs won’t let you run with them.
I came across this Pyrotect open face helmet at apexperformance.net for $148.45 with free shipping which was about what I had seen similar helmets go for at other retailers, but this one was available in flat black and came with a helmet bag so I was sold. When I got to the checkout I was very surprised when I saw the option to skip the helmet bag and save $9.99. To stick with the plan of getting a cheap helmet I took this option.
After this lucky save I figured it was worth a search to try and find a discount code and save a little more money. It didn’t take much searching at all to turn up this thread on a BMW forum, where I found not only a coupon code for 10% off (BIMMERFORUM-10), but also a few happy customers with kind words for the folks at Apex Performance. This dropped my total down to $124.61, which is easily the cheapest SA2005 helmet I can find online.
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- I chose flat black just to be a little different. It seems everyone has a white helmet around here.
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- The details really separate this helmet quality-wise from the loaners I was using. The rubberized coating on the chin strap so the ends don’t get frayed, and the little black pull cord really are great additions.
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- For some reason when I got the helmet I decided I had to adjust the visor. This is the result of me tightening the screw down too tight. It hasn’t caused any problems yet and I don’t expect that it will, but I know to be more careful next time.
For the price I paid, I feel I got a high quality helmet. I don’t have any experience with super expensive helmets, but I can say that this Pyrotect is much nicer than the loaners I was using. The padding is very thick, but comfortable. My ears slide in fine and they don’t get smooshed. The visor is neat, but I am not sure if it is functional. I think I’ll leave it on for a while. Overall this helmet gets an A+ and is recommended unconditionally.
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