[Review] Helite Airnest Airbag Vest

[Warren]

I just received my new Helite Airnest Airbag Vest.

Wendell's accident at the TNT rally and the injuries he received from it were my main motivator.

Gabe who is one of our members mentioned on the thread covering Wendell's accident that he wore an airbag jacket. I decided to investigate this type of safety device.

Since I have a closet full of riding jackets I decided to look for a vest that I could wear over my existing jackets.

After trading a few PM's with Chris (Daboo) and after a lot of research I settled on the Helite vest. The vest sells for $629 and I purchased it here. http://www.helitemoto.com/

Helite is a French company that has been selling airbag jackets and vests for over 15 years. They have reported to have sold over 60,000 of them.

They claim to have the fastest deployment times at around 80ms and they are the only motorcycle airbag to receive full CE certification. Their equipment is used primarily in Europe.

I purchased the Hi-Viz vest so it serves a dual purpose since I commute in heavy urban traffic all year and often at night. This vest also includes a CE certified Knox back protector which is removable.

After wearing the vest on my morning commute my main concern will be wearing the additional layer it provides in the heat of the summer. It does block a fair amount of airflow to your jacket including a mesh jacket.

Web Bike World did a good review on it if you are interested in the details.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r4/helite-airbag-vest/

I do not consider myself to be invulnerable wearing this vest but I think it provides an added layer of safety without adding a lot of complexity. At worst it does nothing but I still have the same gear under it that I wear anyway and at best it saves my life some day.

 

[Yoda]

After a few months now, what are your experiences with the air vest? Positive or negative, I'd like to know. They are a LOT of money, but so are helmets, boots, suits, etc. I still wonder if it might have reduced the injuries that Wendell suffered, had he been wearing one.

 

[wphillips007]

Rich, I'm absolutely convinced that it would have reduced my injuries - once it inflated. However, if I was still on the NT while it was rebounding out of the drainage ditch and I was slammed into the tank before the vest inflated, then I'm not so sure. I'm really not sure what caused my injuries as I was unconscious but Bob (Bob Again) described 3 potential places my body hit - the bike as it was rebounding out of the hole, the rock face that I was thrown against and then my ricochet that sent me to the payment of the road. I'm sure the air vest would have helped in all cases if it was inflated. I still can't quite understand how 17 ribs were broken (frontal impact) and 2 vertebrae were broken (impact from the back) and yet there were hardly any scratches on my helmet and my riding jeans were not even torn or rubbed ragged. And besides that, I had on an expensive riding jacket with all the built in armor and It did't do much to help. I've also looked at some non-inflatable spine and chest protectors that look pretty good.

On another note - my big trip for 2015 was to do the Key West to Prudhoe Bay Alaska round trip. I had driven the Alaska Hiway 17 times back through the 60's to 80's but always in a car or pickup (that came from having lived in Kodiak). From all that I have read lately it doesn't seem to be too big of a challenge. Just top off with fuel every chance you get. Of course that trip for me is now way on the back burner but I'm sure you will have a lot of fun (and adventure). Wendell

 

[Warren]

After a few months now, what are your experiences with the air vest? Positive or negative, I'd like to know. They are a LOT of money, but so are helmets, boots, suits, etc. I still wonder if it might have reduced the injuries that Wendell suffered, had he been wearing one.

After almost three months of wearing the vest daily I can offer a few comments.

Some have asked about forgetting that you are teathered to your bike setting off the vest when you dismount. This is very unlikely to happen. The teather has an elastic section that has enough give that if you attempt to dismount without disconnecting it you will feel the tug well before you get close to setting off the vest.

Airflow blockage. This is a problem in the summer. If you have a mesh jacket or a jacket with chest vents the vest will block them. For our temperatures in Tennessee this proved to be a problem for me when commuting. My solution was to purchase a Bohn Airtex Armored shirt in Hi Viz yellow. It's much lighter than a jacket but has a full compliment of armor and flows air extremely well.

https://www.bohnarmor.com/catalog/proddetail.php?prod=BGSAY

Now that it is winter the extra layer the vest supplies is a plus.

Fortunately I have not had to test the vest in an accident but I am confident if the day were to come that I will be better off with the vest than without it. For me I view the vest like my helmet. It's now part of my all the gear all the time list.

Updated Note: It is also a very good safety vest with the hi viz color and very big reflective bands. I had put away a couple of jackets that I had that were black or blue in favor of hi viz jackets. I am now able to once again wear these with the vest providing the needed visibility.

The vest also contains a level 2 CE approved back protector. This protector is better than the protectors that come with most jackets. I was able to remove the back protectors from my jackets which saved some weight and helped somewhat with ventilation.

 

[Gabe]

Glad to hear you got the vest! Hopefully you'll never need it, but like air-bags for a car they are there for worst case scenarios. The fully-inflate time for many vests for the newer generation of airbag jackets and vests are now .25 ms or less (faster than the blink of an eye, literally) and offer some protection even while they inflate - you need only break the tether. Newer (electronic) generations can auto-inflate even faster before the bike separates when they detect the bike's angle changing to something that is not recoverable or even impacts, but those are not affordable yet.

For what it's worth, I lost my balance and fell over with my bike onto my lawn with a bikebone airbag jacket system. I jumped off and away from the bike just before it would have pinned me (probably about 45 degrees give or take) and the system triggered fully before I hit the ground with a gentler landing. So in a roundabout way, I can verify they trigger very quickly and provide enough protection to reduce the impact with the ground. There was even neck and tailbone inflation to limit head travel and immobilize the head and neck.

I also consider these airbag systems as part of my ATGATT and also got the bikebone high-viz vest (both the jacket and vests have armor to supplement the airbag). The mesh airbag jackets also help with summer heat. They are no substitute whatsoever for skill, but it's there in case of an accident - much like helmets, gloves, boots, jackets, pants and armor.

 

[Gabe]

Hit-Air USA (Bikebone.com) vests tend to run in the $400s depending on style, model, etc. so I'd say that range is about right on par, with more for the jackets.

http://www.bikebone.com/page/BBSC/CTGY/MotorcycleVests