C-Forum

I've realized that I should be swapping out a lot of my older gear lately - time passes quickly, and though much has worn out (lots of paddling tops through the years, on my 2nd and 3rd PFD...) some seems to be going strong... but I can flex my Resin Head's helmet a lot more than I'd like at this point.

So, any take on the "safest" whitewater helmet out there? I've always preferred custom glass / kevlar to plastic, but I've also seen all the posts from 8 years ago about the WRSI helmets.

Which helmet(s) do you feel are "best" (subjective), with the emphasis on protection, and why?

sweet rocker! Anyone that doesn't like that helmet usually does not because they want to pay less to protect their brain that makes questionable decisions

If it fits the Sweet Rocker (or the trooper, which is identical but for the goggle strap) is more or less the gold standard, they also tend to be really long-lived (I had my first one for 7 years before taking a hit big enough to make me retire it)... the Shred Ready Standard however is almost as good protection wise for a fraction of the price, not as durable long-term though.

Ultimately, a helmet that doesn't fit your head is as dangerous as no helmet at all, maybe even more so as you believe you're protected when you're not.

The Sweets were too narrow, so I got a t-dub. The shell is terrific, but the liner is thin, and because I had to remove all the fit pads to get it on my head, there is really no ventilation, so I don't think I'll be able to wear it in summer.

Speaking as a one-time road motorcyclist, I can't see how ww helmet manufacturers are making shells and lining those shells to provide for two kinds of blows:

1. Lighter blows which may render the paddler temporarily unconscious, and therefore unable to recover and rescue self. This requires a liner that is soft enough to absorb some of the energy of the blow. A hard liner can't do that.

2. A catastrophic blow that, without protection, would be a skull crusher. Similar to a motorcyclist's head hitting a telephone pole at 13 mph. (That's actually about the limit of what most biker helmets can do.) In addition to a hard shell, the helmet needs a stiffer, but energy absorbing, foam, probably a variety of styrofoam.

Blows in the second category are rare in paddling, but because paddlers fall off ledges while portaging, some provision should be made in all helmets for catastrophic blows. This has to be balanced off against cost, weight, and bulk.

So my concern is not only that cheaper helmets are inadequate for catastrophic blows, but that more expensive helmets (like my t-dub) are not able to prevent me from being stunned into unconsciousness. The shell is not likely to depress under local contact, so the entire shell must somehow transfer energy to the thin, stiffish, semi-resilient liner. Cheap helmets often have liners molded in segments, and a moderate blow is more likely to initiate collapse of these segments.

The last motorcycle helmet I had, had two layers of liner. One was stiff styrene foam for ultimate blows. The other was a moderately dense polyurethane foam to cushion and damp lesser blows, so that a lesser incident in traffic would leave me conscious to avoid getting run over. It's this combination I don't see modeled in whitewater helmets.

Full face-
Sweet FF Rocker is in a class by itself for around $350.
The WRSI Moment is a great helmet for $150ish.
I've used the Shred Ready Standard FF and its tight getting it on but not bad for the price. I like the system for tightening it to the noggin.

Open face- The rest of the sweet lineup rocks.... they all are quality, even the wanderer which is around $140
The WRSI Trident is an excellent carbon helmet and is the main one that I wear.
The Shred Ready T-dub was a good helmet, just felt I needed more than just a little foam in there.

Ez- the WRSI has multi layer technology.

For protection, a full-face. Ask me how I know.

I'm using the Shred-Ready standard full-face for creeking, and I will echo Jeff by saying it is tight getting over the ears (and especially for me since I wear glasses), but once it's on, it's comfy and seems to have lots of coverage to protect my million-dollar face.