SMITH Level MIPS Helmet

Product Information

I count 22 vents on the helmet. It has a lot of vent area compared to most other helmets. We haven’t found a warm ski day yet where we thought the helmet was too hot with all the vents open. AirEvac goggle anti-fog vents For me, the biggest reason mostly has to do with my own body: I tend to run pretty hot, even on cold days, and finding goggles that can handle my output without getting fogged over and then frozen has been really difficult. Half of the battle is the lens technology, but the other half is the ventilation and how well that interfaces with the helmet. The Koroyd plastic honeycomb provides better energy absorption than standard EPS foam. It also weighs less. You can vent the helmet through the honeycomb channels. You don’t need to cut holes in the energy absorbing liner when you use honeycomb. The Smith Levels Mips has a hybrid shell construction, a solid outer shell with a lightweight in-mould inner shell. You are protected at all times from impact due to falls, thanks to the Koroyd inserts in specific zones and the MIPS Brain Protection System reduces the rotational forces that ensure durability. Experience a chill day full of adventure in the Alps with the Smith ski and snowboard helmet. The removable Snapfit SL2 earpads provide warmth and are audio compatible while the XT2 antimicrobial lining with sweat-activated odour control keeps bacterial infection at bay. The VaporFit Snow dial adjustment system offers 270 degrees of adjustment. Smith Levels Mips: Best Price UK Dual Regulator ventilation system independently controls the front and rear sections of the helmet vents, allowing you to modulate your body temperature even in extremely cold conditions. By exhausting heat through the rear vents while maintaining a sealed front end, your body can effectively cool down if needed and avoid the dreaded ice cream headache.

There are 2 pieces of foam inside the ear pads you can take out when installing speakers. The ear pads will still feel thin with speakers in them. We did find that the zipper to get access to the speakers is a little stiff and doesn’t open and close smoothly. I’d rather have velcro for this. Appearance The Vantage helmet uses hybrid construction. It uses a Zonal Koroyd honeycomb energy absorber over the top of your head. It uses a standard EPS foam liner with in-mold construction around the sides of your head. BOA FS360 - Totally customised fit with a 360 degree halo design to give a snug yet supremely comfortable fit Digging more specifically into the helmet, I was really pleased with the ventilation system during testing. It seems to be what Smith has nailed down more than any other helmet manufacturer. The Level has 22 vents total, and you can adjust ten of them with a selector mounted on top of the helmet. Adjusting them actually does make a noticeable difference, which is really the only way to tell that they’re doing anything. Personally, I was really pleased with the adjustment mechanism. On one bitingly cold day when I was wearing my giant mountaineering mitts, I could easily reach up and adjust the vents despite not having fingers to use. Major kudos. Tasked with keeping you safe from hard impacts on the hill, the helmets on our list have a non-motorized snow sports safety certification from US-based ASTM International. Despite construction differences referenced above, these helmets all follow a basic design with a shell exterior and impact-absorbing interior, and are appropriate for both skiing and snowboarding (you can find our dedicated list of snowboarding helmets here). If you’re headed to the slopes, it’s important that you use a helmet designed for the job (i.e., don’t use a mountain bike helmet for skiing), and refrain from using it for tasks outside of its intended use (such as snowmobiling). And of course, the onus is still, as it should be, on the user to ride within your limits. The Salomon MTN Lab is certified for both snow sports and climbingSmith Optics is generally regarded as one of the top companies in the business, and their flagship optical line is their ChromaPop technology. From a technical point of view, the idea behind ChromaPop is to increase the separation between the colors that you’re seeing to enhance contrast. Technically, they do this by creating lenses that filter out some of the intermediate areas of the visible spectrum, essentially creating a bigger ‘gap’ between colors. They have a variety of lenses for a variety of applications, everything from road riding to fishing to surfing. The high and low light lenses that came with the I/O Mag Goggles.

I wanted to do this review in combination because it’s easier to talk about why these two products work well together. The real key thing here is how the goggles and helmet are shaped and vented strategically to maximize the movement of air. Basically, the Level helmet has two vents above a shallow brim that channel air above the goggles. The key thing here is above, not in, since pumping cold air into the goggle isn’t actually what we want. The helmet is available in sizes Small, Medium, Large and X-Large. The MIPS version of the helmet sizes small. I am wearing the XL which doesn’t feel that much larger than the Large I tried on. Smith helmets have a bit more angled forehead than the Oakley Mod5. The Vantage is on the snug side on my forehead but otherwise very comfortable.Snapfit SL2 ear pads and headband can be fully removed for extra ventilation on the warmest of days. While a number of ski helmets are unisex and are perfectly fine for either men or women, there is a wide selection of women’s-specific snow helmets. These models are quite similar to men’s versions, but with different colorways for the shell and liner, as well as having a smaller fit. There will often be a name change, but the technology is all the same—and so is the pricing. When applicable, we've included the link to both the men's and women's versions of the helmet. Wearing the women's variation of the Smith Vantage When to Replace Your Ski Helmet AirEvac 2 - Channels in the helmet draw air from under the brim and vent it strategically around the helmet to reduce the risk of goggle fogging Goggle retainers are a simple but appreciated feature. The built-in clip holds goggle straps in place and helps reduce the risk of losing your ski goggles in a crash or otherwise. Designs do vary some: Many budget helmets use a simple plastic piece that flips open, while higher-end helmets will have a more secure strap or cord design. Pricier models are typically a little more confidence-inspiring and easier to manipulate—particularly without removing the helmet—but all the designs we've tried perform their intended function. The goggle retainer strap on the Oakley Mod5 Hybrid Shell - A combination of lightweight and durable materials makes this one of the safest helmets on the market

In testing the Merak, however, a few complaints have emerged. The most significant is the padding design, which doesn’t protect you as well from the Boa fit system as we’d like. Cinching the helmet creates light pressure points at the sides of the head (the shape could’ve also been part of the issue, and the Merak seems to favor more of an oval-like head rather than round). Additionally, the minimalist padding meant the helmet ran on the cold side on frigid resort days, and the foam used around the ears muffles more sound than we prefer. Some will find these tradeoffs worth it for the advanced safety tech, but we’d like to see some of the finer details sorted out before moving it up our ranking. There is no round contour version of the helmet currently available. They produced round contour fit Vantages in the past and you can still find them at Smith and other places. I have not seen a MIPS round contour Vantage anywhere. Goggle compatibilityProtection• Hybrid shell construction blends a durable exterior with a lightweight in-molded shell for durability where you need it most while keeping the helmet light First, look at the number of total vents of the helmet (we’ve provided this information in the specs for each helmet and in the comparison table above). Not all vents are created equal, but this number gives you a good starting point as to how much ventilation the helmet offers. To be sure, there is a correlation between the number of vents and cost of the helmet. One of the best ventilators, the high-end Smith Vantage, has an impressive 21 vents, while a budget model like the Oakley Mod1 only has six small fixed openings. Glade's Boundary has 16 vents and easy adjustability