Peter Keller wrote:
> I think that the cheap helmets with smooth shells and few vents provide
> better protection than expensive helmets which are made primarily for
> comfort and ventilation; removing thereby up to 50% of the styrofoam which
> could otherwise provide added protection.
In practice, AFAICT, helmets are built /down/ to a standard. This means
that any hat that says it fulfils Standard Specification X is likely to
do that and /not much more/. The more expensive helmets have a harder
job doing this because of the venting, so I think they use better
materials and more complex construction to achieve the standard (hence
the higher cost), but in terms of what the standard is the "solid" hat
won't do much better, if any, than the vented one.
OTOH, stuff like a tree branch getting stuck through a vent and giving
you an unpleasant poke is more likely on a vented lid, and that sort of
thing isn't accounted for by the standards.
As MSeries pointed out, no helmet is primarily about comfort. The point
of extra vents is to give more comfort while affording roughly the same
level of protection, that level defined by the standard and the testing
required in order to be verified at that standard (which may or may not
have relevance to the sort of accident you have to test it for real...)
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net
[email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/