Scorpion Exo-T1200 Revisited

Looping back to the helmet

Now that I've had some time to ride around in the new helmet I thought I'd take some time to come back and share my impressions and experience in a little more detail than "hey, it showed up in a box!"

So, here we go.

What's to love

Looks

This thing looks good. I got the Alias Neon design. A flat finish, yellow and patterned black, this

really is just a good looking helmet. It's a very cool design without getting too flashy, which works for be because up until recently I've just been a black leather rider and I don't really go in for the over the top designs. I prefer something a little more understated. This, this is clean, crisp, and gets right to the point. 

Comfort

After wearing a much heavier helmet for several years, this is a new and exciting experience. It weighs in at right around 3 pounds, and almost feels like I'm riding with nothing on my head. I also hate to fall for the rear air foil over the vents marketing, but at freeway speeds I don't feel wind resistance when looking around. I have more range of motion, less wind resistance, and together that translates to much better vision. There aren't any uncomfortable pressure points. I could wear this all day long. 

Cheek Pads

Do I really need inflatable cheek pads? No, not really, but it's a feature that once you have it you realize you'd miss it if it was gone. The helmet is a good, snug fit, but adding a couple of pumps after putting the thing on fills up some dead space that you didn't realize was there. All helmets should have this.  

Air Flow

The airflow is good. There are fewer vents than my previous helmet, and the ones that I have are easier to use, bigger, and the air is guided through channels that directly expose the air to my head inside the helmet. We're still early spring, so it will be a while yet before I see how the ventilation handles summer heat (such as it is in the PNW). 

Sun Visor

I read about it, thought it was kinda cool, but didn't think I'd care much. I was wrong. This thing is awesome. A switch on the side of the helmet, and sunglasses drop right down in front of my face. The tint and UV blocking is about perfect. No eye strain, visual clarity, and it drops down far enough forward that there is plenty of room for my glasses if I'm wearing glasses rather than contacts. Also, they've made the sun visor height adjustable so that it can be tweaked for your riding posture. Out of the box it works pretty well for a cruiser. 

Emergency Release System

Should they be needed, the cheek pads have an emergency release system in the event that they need to be removed by emergency personnel. One hopes nothing like this is ever necessary, but it's good to have should it be needed. 

Helmet Bag

I mentioned something about this before, but it's worth coming back to. This is a quality bag. The main bag has a double zippered flap for easy removal, vents to keep smelly stuff from growing, and a good sized side pocket. The site doesn't have pictures, and this is much more than I had expected. 

Price

At $359.95, you're looking at around $250 to $300 less than the similarly featured Shoei GT Air. When you can pick up high quality for that price point it is well worth considering. The GT Air is one hell of a helmet, but frankly, so is the T1200 and I just couldn't justify the extra cost. 

Meh...

Anti-Fog Coating

Unfortunately, it's much as I expected. Anti-fog doesn't really mean anti-fog. It means more

something along the lines of when it fogs venting the visor will clear it very, very quickly. Better than what I came from, and since we're going in to the warmer season, fog won't be a problem for long. When it starts cooling down again I may consider a pinlock visor. I hear good things. 

Visor Lock

There's a switch on the left side of the helmet, just below the switch that extends and retracts the drop down sun visor. This little switch locks the visor closed. It works, however, I have never found myself in the situation where I wished I had a visor lock. 

Overall

I love it. I love Scorpion helmets. I'd buy this one again all day long, and I'd recommend that you check them out if you're in the market for a helmet. It's a great helmet, great value.