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As a helmet the g10 taught me something. With all my hate for helmets I tried to wear a really cool looking one that had no padding and sagged down and whatnot when I was forced into wearing it. I did the whole hat/goggles under helmet and all that noise in an attempt to look like I was too badass for a helmet. However after riding with the g10 for one day I realised that was simply stupid. I mean really if you HAVE to wear a helmet (and face it sometimes you do, and frankly we probably all should anyways) a shitty helmet is just plain crap. They wiggle around as you ride, knock your goggles down and if you fall its not goign to protect your head in the least.
I took the g10 and pulled a hat overtop. Some people think it looks stupid, but whatever. The helmet is so lightweight and well fitted that you can barely even tell you're wearing it. With a crappy helmet you're mad all day that its messing up the feeling of your head, but with the g10 the only time you're mad is when you're looking in the mirror.
The bluetooth audio system was absolutely sick as all hell. When you've got it all up and running its a dream because all your shit stays in your pockets and you can completely externally control all of it. When you're not skiing, you can take the earbuds out and snap them into a snazzy pair of chunky DJ-style headphones and walk around the streets straight wireless. Hell I went bouldering once with the headphones on and just left my ipod sitting at the bottom of the climb. With a range of 30' you can even be a decent distance away from the ipod and still rock your tunes or answer your phone.
However, there were three major downsides to the audio system that just killed this product for me:
1) You need to keep 4 things charged. In order for the system to function, you must charge your Ipod, Ipod bluetooth adapter, cellphone and the bluetooth ear buds. You can at least charge the ipod and bluetooth adapter at the same time, but if you're travelling you've still got 3 chargers with you.
2) Two of my bluetooth ipod adapters died, rendering the whole system totally useless. If you've got a bluetooth mp3 phone, then you'll love this helmet and no worries whatsoever.
***UPDATE*** so one of the adapters mysteriously started working again. So perhaps its just finicky, or maybe I just couldn't tell what the little lights meant - but it is working. I have thereby upgraded my review to an 8 because its too cool not to. :)
3) The ipod really doesn't affix into the adapter all that well. I had to put an elastic around it to keep the two pieces together.
So if you're all fancy schmancy with your phone and have bluetooth mp3 and talk capability all in one, then that removes everything negative I have to say about this product. With one of those phones I would rate this product a 9 or 10. However if you spend all that money on the system relying on the ipod adapter and you're constantly breaking them, you're going to be pissed.
The helmet alone is the best thing I have ever worn, so if you're just looking for a high performance helmet without all the star-treck shit check out the standard g10. It will actually keep you safe, won't bother you, and you can cover it in a nice EC Headwear condom beanie to hide the dorky flavour.
Performance
Didn't get to hit my head at all (knock on wood) but I can tell that this is a real quality helmet. The wireless audio system is the most amazing thing ever, though perhaps a little to new to be on the market.
With the audio you can via bluetooth have the helmet linked to your ipod and cellphone. Each earpiece has a circular right that is turnable around it, so if you need to skip tracks or change the volume you don't even need to take your glove off. There's buttons for play/pause and to answer your phone too. Super fuckin' sick if you're like me and you sometimes need just that right track to try a trick you're scared of, but get really annoyed taking your gloves off and ipod out of your pocket. As you're skiing towards the inrun of the jump, you just turn the dial until you get the right track. If you hit that perfect moment in the music, you can just tap the pause button and then when you drop in just tap it again to release the beast.
Likewise if you want to make a call, just tap the phone button, it will mute your music and if you've got a voice dial phone you can just say the name and bam. Fuckin' thing has a microphone in it too, so you literally just talk into your helmet. A few people will sure look at you weird though because you'll look like you're just talking to nobody.
As a helmet I've never had anything like it. It is so lightweight, warm, doesn't shake around on your head, nothing. Its a really high performance helmet and you can tell.
Design
Very fancy. High tech. All that other stuff that makes for a quality helmet.
BUT
That is exactly why I hate wearing helmets. Hah, in all honesty the only reason I was wearing this thing was because in Quebec they forced us to start wearing helmets and giro had sent it to me. This is a performance based helmet and it looks dorkier than all hell.
Fit
This is above and beyond the most comfortable helmet I have ever worn in my life. Its warm, snug on your head and so lightweight you almost don't notice it.
Durability
Helmet was great. Earbuds were great. Neither thing I had the slightest bit of problem with, and they went travelling, got banged around, wet all of it and nothing.
However, the ipod bluetooth adapter that comes from some company I have never heard of was horrible. I broke two of them in the span of a winter, but it wasn't even like they broke because I fell. The software crashed or something and the device just stopped functioning. There's no way to flash the firmware without bluetooth on you computer, even though it hooks up through your ipod cable and charges that way. Nobody at the company had any idea what it was that was wrong with it, so I had to just get it replaced. Perhaps I had a faulty unit, and in their defense warranty was a snap, but I broke two and gave up.
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