Giro Omen Helmet

Giro Helmets

 

http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?cat=Helmets

 

http://www.probikekit.com

 I have been teaching in the Omen for two seasons  now.  It is a solid helmet with good looks.  It weights slightly more than others.  The ventilation is excellent, and the ventilation hole sliders build into the helmet are excellent.  I owned a Giro g9 prior to the Omen.  The G9 had rubber stoppers which came out of the helmet and were promptly lost.  No worries with the Omen.  The inform fit system is excellent and you can adjust the fit on the fly.  However, if you don't have much hair to cushion the internal in-form frame can irritate your melon.  I wear a skull cap on cold days and I find that it helps with the cushioning.

Can only say I love wearing my Omen. Comfortable for all day - never need to take it off. I love the vents - I use them all day long.

Like others the rear goggle clip bothers me. I have Smith Phenom goggles and they have the split strap that the Omen fails in dealing with. I also had to trim my goggles with a knife to get a good match. I haven't found a pair of goggles that match well - but as my Smiths are pretty new I haven't looked hard either.

I know the reviewer that has replaced his clip with a simple strap. I don't keep my goggles on my helmet all day like him (I pocket them) - so won't have the same issues - yet you should expect a better clip.

Overall though I love Giro helmets (have 4x bike helmets and the Omen) - I like the Omen so much I intend on buying a new one soon (in spite of clip) and the audio bits.

I was not particularly impressed with the Giro Omen.

 

The helmet is fairly comfortable, and has excellent ventilation (with dual adjustments to plug some or all of the vent holes).  It also looks pretty good, and comes in a huge variety of colors and styles.

 

Two major things killed it for me:

 

1) The clip that holds the goggle strap in place is a very odd design (that, as far as I can tell, is only used on this helmet by Giro.)  This does NOT work well with any goggle strap that has a snap-together clasp in the middle (like almost all Smith goggles do).

 

2) The helmet I received had the plastic shell piece in the front coming loose and starting to pry off from the helmet body.  Several of the plastic 'rivets' holding it in place had come loose.  Maybe just a bad apple, but I decided to go with a G10 instead.  In this price range, I wouldn't expect problems like this.