Petzl ELIA Helmet
February 6, 2011
I’ll just come out and say it: I hate helmets. I hate wearing them, I hate carrying them. The straps always irritate my skin and I end up with weird tan lines and a rash. I have helmets for everything: for climbing, for biking, for riding horses, for riding motorcycles, for riding snowmobiles…it’s exhausting, and takes up a lot of space on my gear shelf. I admit it: there are times in which I just can’t take it anymore and don’t wear my helmet. Those times are limited to particular instances in which I judge the risk of a helmetless head to be acceptable, and this unfortunately isn’t all that common so I’m usually stuck wearing a helmet.
My climbing helmet has irritated me to no end since the day I bought it. It’s got the worst possible size adjustment system; a huge VELCRO STRAP across the back. Velcro. Velcro on a helmet, which is meant to go on your head, which is where your hair is. Ugh! That led to many ponytail emergencies, and lots of cussing.
Dealing with that stupid helmet has been the bane of my climbing life. That manufacturer (not Petzl) isn’t making that helmet anymore in that style so I won’t out them on the site – they saw the problem, they fixed it, I guess there’s something to be said for that, but I guarantee they didn’t have any women on their design team or they never would have gone the velcro route at all. Still, I didn’t see anything out there that was a whole lot better besides having a different size adjustment system, so I kept my helmet and silently hated it, for years.
Then along came Petzl with the ELIA, their offering to the women’s helmet market. What women’s helmet market? That’s right, this is the only women’s-specific climbing helmet on the market as far as I know. I’m pretty amazed at that but now that I’m thinking about it, all my other helmets are really just smaller versions of men’s helmets, with different color schemes. This could be why I hate my helmets so, so much. I didn’t think there was a gear category with more limited selection than women’s technical mountaineering footwear, but helmets have that section beat now. And Petzl has set the bar high (thankfully).
I took the ELIA along with me to Ouray last week for a few days on the ice. Immediately I could feel the difference. I got kitted up at my car and hiked down to the canyon, when I thought “oh no, forgot my helmet!” while reflexively tapping myself on the head to check (sounds stupid, but you’d do it too, so there). To my surprise the helmet was indeed on my head. I just couldn’t feel it (it’s super lightweight) nor could I see it (it’s low profile so doesn’t impede your vision) and there was no uncomfortable harness nearly strangling me every time I turned my head. Unbelievable! I was even wearing two hats (it was extremely cold) and the ELIA fit just fine. It never shifted or rubbed, and was an absolute pleasure after dealing with my original helmet all those years. I was never in a hurry to take the ELIA off at the end of the day because it was so comfortable I couldn’t even tell it was there. It’s properly sized to my head and padded nicely, something I thought couldn’t be done with climbing helmets (an assumption made because all other climbing helmets I tried were padded like crap). I had no trouble looking around while climbing and the helmet didn’t impede me at all, unlike others which were so big that I’d end up with my head jammed against the ice or rock, trying to look around.
I really appreciate that the ELIA comes in cool colors like grey and white. I ended up with grey and you all know how much I like grey. All I need is grey pants now and I’ll be able to go head-to-toe neutral while standing next to my grey car. Grey’s always my default, who knows why. There’s a girly little detail in the venting, which is designed to look like a leafy vine but isn’t that noticeable so even haters of all girly things can live with that, I’d think. One feature lauded by other reviewers is the design of the harness, which curves up in the back to make space for a ponytail. I’m currently growing out my hair from an ill-advised chop-off experiment, so I wasn’t able to give the ponytail part a try, but I see the advantages. At first I thought I wouldn’t like that, because I like to jam my ponytail through my helmet harnesses to hold them in place, but the ELIA doesn’t need that extra bit of wedging – a testament to the women’s-specific design. I always wondered how guys with short hair kept their helmets in place and now I know; it’s because their helmets are actually made to the shape of their heads. Imagine that.
I’ll go ahead and predict that we’re going to see the ELIA on the heads of many female climbers in seasons to come, if only because right now there are no other options if you want a female-specific helmet. Petzl did such a nice job on this one that it will be tough for other helmets to come close, so I’ll also predict that few other manufacturers will bother making a women’s helmet, figuring that the women’s helmet market is covered. It’s aggravating, because that seems to happen with most technical products. There are maybe one or two options for women and then no one else bothers to try to compete. Listen up, manufacturers; this means that all the women out there are wearing your competitors’ boots (and now, helmets) because you don’t make them for us. So for those brands that have bothered to try – thank you, and thanks to Petzl because now I don’t hate my helmet when I go climbing. I highly recommend the ELIA and if you’re a dude, you might want to check out the ELIOS which is the dude version and is probably pretty good too.
Giro E2 Bike Helmet
May 1, 2009
I admit that I didn’t put a ton of thought into purchasing a new bike helmet when I saw that my old one was broken. It was the first gorgeous day of the year, I was on my way to go riding, and didn’t have a lot of time to shop. Heck, I NEVER take a lot of time to shop. I went to the bike shop, grabbed a few boxes from the “on sale” section and looked through until I found one that fit and had a visor: the Giro E2. My broken helmet went to the trash and I went straight to the trailhead to go riding.
Luckily for me, this snap decision worked out great. I love the E2, and not because it’s pink. OK, not JUST because it’s pink. It’s light and airy, with TONS of ventilation – nice when it’s a sweltering 65 Alaskan degrees outside. Seriously, for Alaskans, 65 is pretty warm. The visor protects my eyes from that weird yellow thing in the sky, and the full-coverage back protects my head from impact, should I fall backwards. And with as much as I crash, that is a real possibility.
I’m used to using a complicated system of bandannas, ponytails, and sunglasses to keep my riding headgear in place, so it’s been a bit of a transition to the E2, which doesn’t have enough room in the harness in back to pull my ponytail through. I’m not super keen on the ratchet system, which never quite seems to work right. It’s kind of a weird process by which you have to push (or pull? I can never remember) these two buttons to tighten. It doesn’t work well so I just end up pushing on the harness to ratchet it tighter. Then you are supposed to be able to pull (or push? it doesn’t work, so I can’t tell) the buttons to release. That works a little better, but it’s not ideal. I miss the wheel-dial my old helmet had. Next time I buy a helmet, I will look for that type of harness. That’s the only flaw in the E2 from what I can see.
Other than that, the E2 is great. It’s cute, highly visible, well-ventilated, and light. Best of all, it’s not broken, so my head is safe, at least until my next crash.
Giro Fuse Helmet
March 24, 2008
I am not a big fan of resort skiing, mostly because of the crowds of loose cannons bombing around the slopes, not stopping for anything – not even for a rest or a drink, or for an innocent person who happens to be between them and their fall line of choice. So it was with relief that I was able to test out this helmet on one of my rare resort days. And I was glad to have it, as I got run into THREE times. THREE. One of which was while I was standing completely still at the top of the lift, talking to a ski patroller. Wham, crunch, some kid crashes into me from behind, and meets the stern talking to from the patroller with a smirk and a “you’re right, I’m sorry.” Ugh. You people are lucky I don’t run a parenting review blog.
Anyway, so, the helmet. First of all, since I live in a cold climate, I was happy to see the nifty vent open/close lever on the helmet. Unfortunately this does not cover all of the vents; you still need to use these little strips of foam for the left side and right side vents. The helmet comes with pre-formed foam vent plugs that can be inserted or taken out for thermoregulation. But be warned, if you buy this helmet, don’t lose the vent plugs! The vent plugs don’t seem to be available as a replacement part. You’ll be stuck with a cold head. Giro was kind enough to send me a replacement for the missing strip from my helmet (it arrived without one of the strips) but I don’t know if “I lost it” is going to fly when trying to get replacement parts.
The fit of the helmet is pretty good. Not dreamy, not terrible, just pretty good. It’s not adjustable, though, so make sure you have the right size. I see from the literature that Giro makes adjustable helmets, so I don’t quite understand why the Fuse does’t have this feature. The women’s small fits my small head pretty well, with a bit of fiddling. And speaking of that, I’m not quite sure what makes this a “women’s” helmet other than the little pink breast cancer ribbon that came along with it. I don’t know if the women’s sizing is any different from the regular sizing – in fact, most retailers don’t deliniate between the women’s version and the men’s, although if it has pink hearts on it (which some do) it’s probably a women’s version.
The helmet even works with my oversized Oakley goggles, but a significant downside is that there is no way to securely rest your goggles on the forehead of the helmet. Try to balance them there, and twang! They’ll just fall off, dangling off the back of your head if you’ve snapped them in with the strap riveted to the back of the helmet, and falling to the ground (probably to get run over, along with your ski tails, by some teenage snowboarder) if you haven’t.
Visibility is great; the helmet didn’t interfere with my field of vision at all. The ear pads were relatively warm and only muffled sound a little bit. After a few hours in the helmet, my ears started to hurt, which I think was a function of fit rather than cold, but it was hard to tell. I know a medium size helmet would have been too big, so if the ear pads are indeed too tight, there’s nothing to be done about it. And yes, my ears are a normal size, they’re not oddly big or anything.
I tested this helmet on a relatively warm spring day, so I expect to be chilly in the deep dark cold of winter without a balaclava or beanie underneath. It’s not the most comfortable thing ever, but I reckon it’s more comfortable than six months in a coma, so I’m glad to have it when I’m forced to brave the crowds at the resort. The $160-$200 price tag on this helmet seems excessive, so look for sales and clearance prices. Bear in mind, though, that it’s less expensive than a brain injury and probably even much cheaper than your insurance copay for an emergency room visit. Wear a helmet, folks! And if you’re a parent, teach your kids manners on the slopes. We all thank you for it.
