Once I decided to ride the 2300 miles home on the ST3 I bought my first thought was how can I do this and still be in touch with work. At that point I decided that I needed a bluetooth helmet. I looked at the Vemar Jiano helmet but it was expensive and a modular design which scares me. The Dainese helmets where not readily available so I settled on the Oneal Element Fastrack which was on sale at Motorcycle USA for $269.99.
First off full props for Motorcycle USA. I decided to order the helmet with one day to spare so I was concerned that the helmet might not make it before I left. The next day the lid arrived at my door as promised!!! How rare!
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com
Ok on to the helmet. I will rate things on a 1-10 scale 10 being Arai like!
Style-7 It looks good for a $269.99 helmet.
Fit-7 The helmet fit true to size and the padding was pretty good. The speakers in the ear area began to put pressure on my ears after 10 hours of riding in a day but not before that. The chin area has a cover that velcros in place to keep the wind down and it works great!
Venting-4 I opened the vents but I never felt a change in inner helmet airflow.
Shield-7 Optically good, decent seal, easy to change. The optional dark shield is more like medium than dark so I wore sunglasses under it.
Noise-5 The helmet is very noisy at the shield mounts. Way louder than I am used to. Even at city speeds there is a whistle.
Bluetooth-9 The bluetooth is easy to sync and it works great. The helmet stays charged for at least 8 hours depending on talk time. I had my Blackberry, my Ipod and my Garmin all connected and it worked great.
Receiving calls-9 Super easy just push the button and talk!
Sound on calls-9 Talking and listening to calls on this helmet works great. Until I exceeded 75 miles an hour I could hear great and people could here me without outside noise. The mic does a good job of filtering out the noise. Above 75 I had a hard time hearing and people reported that I sounded distant from the phone.
Sound on Ipod-4. Sadly the speakers sound like crap using the Ipod. Its like AM radio only worse.
Overall Rating-7 The idea is the future for sure. This helmet is perfect for a commuter who wants to be able to make calls on the road. For longer trips it's just too noisy to be practical.
First off full props for Motorcycle USA. I decided to order the helmet with one day to spare so I was concerned that the helmet might not make it before I left. The next day the lid arrived at my door as promised!!! How rare!
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com
Ok on to the helmet. I will rate things on a 1-10 scale 10 being Arai like!
Style-7 It looks good for a $269.99 helmet.
Fit-7 The helmet fit true to size and the padding was pretty good. The speakers in the ear area began to put pressure on my ears after 10 hours of riding in a day but not before that. The chin area has a cover that velcros in place to keep the wind down and it works great!
Venting-4 I opened the vents but I never felt a change in inner helmet airflow.
Shield-7 Optically good, decent seal, easy to change. The optional dark shield is more like medium than dark so I wore sunglasses under it.
Noise-5 The helmet is very noisy at the shield mounts. Way louder than I am used to. Even at city speeds there is a whistle.
Bluetooth-9 The bluetooth is easy to sync and it works great. The helmet stays charged for at least 8 hours depending on talk time. I had my Blackberry, my Ipod and my Garmin all connected and it worked great.
Receiving calls-9 Super easy just push the button and talk!
Sound on calls-9 Talking and listening to calls on this helmet works great. Until I exceeded 75 miles an hour I could hear great and people could here me without outside noise. The mic does a good job of filtering out the noise. Above 75 I had a hard time hearing and people reported that I sounded distant from the phone.
Sound on Ipod-4. Sadly the speakers sound like crap using the Ipod. Its like AM radio only worse.
Overall Rating-7 The idea is the future for sure. This helmet is perfect for a commuter who wants to be able to make calls on the road. For longer trips it's just too noisy to be practical.