It’s only fair to ask the question: are smart helmets worth it? Are they better than a regular helmet? For those who don’t know what a smart helmet is, it’s a helmet that can connect to other devices or apps and measure head movement, speed, and impact.

It can communicate with the rider’s motorcycle to warn of dangers ahead. Smart helmets can also be used when mountain biking. It avoids crashes by detecting when the rider has fallen over and sends alerts to friends or family members if necessary.

The latest smart bike helmets have even more features like in-helmet cameras that let you drive and record while riding your bike. They also have sensors that monitor your heart rate, so you don’t overdo it

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Are Smart Helmets Worth It? Experts Say Yes. Here’s Why

The benefits of smart helmets

These benefits can be priceless.

Safety – Modern helmets have some high-tech features including passive detection. The product is able to detect when a crash is imminent. It uses sensors on the rim of the head to measure deceleration of the rider’s head.

Buddy system – Smart helmets alert you and your friends that you’re about to crash. You can easily send your location and a note to your friends if you’re hurt. The video below explains the feature.

Emergency alerts – Smart helmets work with your smartphone to send instant messages to family or friends. If you’re hurt, you can send your location and a note. Accident data – Smart helmets collect data about the helmet’s performance. These data can help analyze and learn about the best way to develop and improve the product.

Are smart helmets worth it?

Smart helmets and other biometric sensors that monitor our movement are the wave of the future and consumers are beginning to use smart helmets. However, before you hop on the bike with one on you should know the pros and cons of this new technology.

Smart helmets have sensors in the visor that monitor speed, environment, and driver behaviour to help ensure that the rider is riding safely and has no unnecessary risk. If the helmet senses that the rider is too fast, the sensors slow the rider down to a safe speed to prevent accidents from happening.

How the helmet connects to your phone

Since the traditional helmet is there to protect your head from a serious crash, you don’t want to risk it. The smart helmet is designed to minimise the risk. As such, it has to contain sensors that can detect a dangerous situation and warn you.

A third of all serious motorcycle crashes are caused by the motorcycle and rider’s own actions. The helmet should warn you when the rider does something dangerous like swerving or riding without protective gear. It uses sensors and cameras, and connects to an app on your phone.

Once the helmet is connected, it can connect to the app to allow you to take photos, videos, share info about your riding, monitor your performance, and track your heart rate.

How a smart helmet can help you in a crash

Smart helmets can also use the integrated cameras to track your position in a crash and avoid or limit head injuries. This is possible because smart helmets give your helmet accurate data. This kind of data allows the helmet to give even more precise warnings.

This is something not possible with a regular helmet, as it does not have that kind of data. The companies that make smart helmets, like GoPro and Giro, use their sensors to measure the impact of a crash.

A smart helmet can detect the positions of the head and neck in a crash and measure their position after the crash to see what injuries may occur. This is useful to prevent and limit injuries to the neck. Another important thing is that all these sensors in the smart helmets save the information.

The future of smart helmets

Of course, the helmets on the market now are not going to replace any of the safety features you currently have fitted to your motorcycle, but they are able to enhance the information you have when riding.

These smart helmets are actually made for you to wear when riding a bicycle, but in the next few years, when more and more automakers start to implement safety features like this, we will see more options to pick and choose which features will best suit you, your bike, and your commute.

An added bonus is the fact that you can connect your helmet to your smartphone, so you can still use the apps you’ve already been using and still communicate with other riders or family members. Smart helmets aren’t just for bikers, as you may have guessed from the name.

Conclusion

The most important thing to note is that a smart helmet will not make you a better rider. The helmet will only measure how fast you’re riding, and other important parameters. As far as ride safety is concerned, a regular helmet is the best choice.

If you’re riding a motorcycle, look for the CPSC certification. You should avoid motorbike and scooter helmets made by only one company and when buying from that company, take out a roadworthiness test certificate (often provided with the helmet) and ask for this to be shown to your local dealer.

You can buy smart helmets for $100 to $200 at REI. Also, if you’re in the market for a good helmet that’s more affordable, check out REI’s new selection of lighter weight helmets that are also designed for a safe ride.

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