Petzl "Elios" Helmet

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Postby Caver1402 » Sep 27, 2005 6:48 am

That is a great photo! Thanks once again for the tips, guys. :D I actually purchased an Ecrin Roc yesterday ... I have two caving trips coming up the next two weekends in a row and I desperately needed a new helmet. Hopefully I'll get lucky with the Ecrin Roc, but if it doesn't fit me I'll return it and just deal with my old one. I believe I did try one on about a month ago on my last caving trip and it seemed all right. There is one REI in the suburbs out here, but not a suburb near me and with my insane life right now I don't have time to get there before the weekend when I'm leaving. It's a crap shoot I know, but what the heck, I've been lucky before.
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helmets

Postby Dangerjudy » Sep 27, 2005 5:38 pm

I concur with trying on helmets first. I sold my Ecrin Roc after struggling with the fit of it for four years, and bought the junior Elderid.
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Postby GoHighGoDeep » Sep 28, 2005 10:10 pm

I've got a Elios that i use for climbing... and i like it in that sense... but i'm not sure about how well it would stand up to caving... considering i had one of the rivits that holds the strap to the helmet pop in my pack this past weekend (fixed under warrenty though!)...

for caving i've got a ecrin roc and an ecrin best (same as the roc, cept no vent holes, and rated for construction)... and while they are heavy, some of the scrapes/gouges in them testify to the punishment i put them through... i've worn a few other helmets, and so far i like petzls the best... but as with what everyone else has said, go out and try them on!!! don't buy a helmet based soley on looks or price, its what it covers and protects that counts, so it might just be worth the extra few bucks...
c'mon, you can fit through that
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Postby Caver1402 » Sep 29, 2005 8:44 am

I got my new helmet (Ecrin Roc) in the mail the other day ... it fits well. I'm caving this weekend so it'll get put to the test, but I'm certain it'll be good!
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Another Opinion

Postby lukewilkins » Nov 8, 2005 1:06 am

Hopefully the Ecrin Roc works well for you. All heads are different.

I personally use the Elios and am very satisfied with it. I suppose I have a "long" head so it (as well as pretty much ALL helmets) sits a bit high, but something you just get used to. The weight is exceptional! Before I had the Elios I could certainly feel the weight of the helmet at the end of a trip.

This information is for anyone else considering the Elios. BTW, I recently noticed that some of the Bill Stone's Cheve Cave team use it:
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/caverace/week2/image11.html. Hope this helps.
--Luke Wilkins
Smoky Mountain Grotto
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Re: Petzl "Elios" Helmet

Postby CaverA » Feb 16, 2012 3:39 pm

Hey there, I literally just got my Petzl Elios in the mail and it's currently on my head with my headlamp. I have a small head, so that was the biggest attraction for me. It sits very comfortably (I have used one before when an Ecrin Roc was falling over my face) but my only concern is that it cuts across the head about 1" over the ears. I feel like others that I've used have come down lower but perhaps that's just in my mind. I'm a beginner caver (It's been 6 months) so I'm not vertically proficient but I can't wait to use this bad boy while digging and hitting up WV. Hope this helps.
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Re: Petzl "Elios" Helmet

Postby Jon » Feb 17, 2012 12:33 am

Lids.....so many options. I had an Elios, now it is a loaner for bump caves only. The Elios relies on a crushable foam liner to save your brain. Mine is just too hot I sweat like a pig in it. Yes it comes in small and large and yes once the straps are adjusted it is a one knob adjustment. Reling on foam it is a lower riding lid. Now the Ecrin Roc is a Suspension helmet, It relies on space to protect youir brain. Suspension lids tend to be cooler but slightly taller. The Ecrin Roc makes it's major size change with a different thickness padded headband. Yes it weighs a bit more but if that slight difference cramps your neck then I sugjest you do some neck excersises to build up some muscle. Honestly listening to people complain about the weight of an Ecrin Roc baffles me. Having raced cars and done some fairly tough offroad motorcycle riding, a Roc with a Sten and two Apexes as backups, is light.
Seriously if you must have light and lowriding then check out the Petzel suspension lid that I think they call the Vertex. It costs more than the Roc but is lower riding and can be had with closeable vents. Personally I don't think there is enough "space" to protect my brain but to each his own.

Just a side note, my brain is worth more than the cost of any lid, brain bucket or whatever you want to call it. ANY hard hit and CERTAINLY ANY "SUPER HARD HIT" retires the lid. There are stresses you can't see and you can't magnaflux a plastic helmet. If I ever get a hard hit I'm taking the lid out to the range for target practice or driving my Blazer over it just so NOBODY EVER puts it on and trusts it. To do otherwise is negligent at best, and criminally stupid at worst. Also plastic has a life. Depending on the material that might be 1-2 years or 3-5 at best. If you want to live, and live outside a wheelchair, I'd say no harness, rope or lid is any good past 5 years, less if used hard or abused.
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Re: Petzl "Elios" Helmet

Postby activeshooter » Feb 17, 2012 12:44 am

i have tried a few different lids ecrin , vertex vent, ect... I have two elios lids it is my preference and i believe the best value, for any one who cares. I am pleased with mine, gets some hard use also nothing too major and no real hits yet, i try to avoid that.





eta grammar sucks but it is late...
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Re: Petzl "Elios" Helmet

Postby chh » Feb 17, 2012 6:43 am

I'll add one thing to Jon's post specifically about the Vertex for anyone interested since they are no longer producing the Ecrin-Roc. I have both the slightly older version and the newer version at work. Both are a suspension helmet. Both have a slight cutout around the ear area to allow for hearing protection and the slots for these above the ear. The older version has a single knob adjustment in the rear, whereas the newer one has the dual knobs on the side of the helmet. I personally prefer this particular type of adjustment. The newer vertex also incorporates some foam in the lid, maybe a four inch square directly above the top of your noggin. If you look inside the older vertex or at the ecrin-roc, you'll see a grid pattern in the apex of the helmet. In the newer vertex this is where the foam is placed. Whether or knot that grid system still underlays the foam, I don't know. Also the newer vertex has the slot for Petzl's new blade mound headlamps and also a slot in the rear, which is I assume for a power source a-la the Duo. A slight difference also, that cavers probably don't care about is that while the addition of a face shield is possible for both, on the older vertex it attached to the ear protection. On the newer vertex I believe it attaches seperately so that if you don't want ear protection, but you want a rated face shield (think ice climbing) you can do this. The newer vertex also comes in more colors I think :grin:
All in all the newer vertex is the Ecrin-Roc, with a few more bells and whistles. It ISN'T any lighter.
Another tradeoff for lightweight foam lids is that they aren't near as tough as far as daily use goes. I bought my wife a Petzl Meteor (lightest helmet at the time, maybe still is) and on our way to or from a climbing trip we checked it in a bag and it got what looks like a compression crack just above the ear, like a lot of weight thrown on it. Now granted, it was packed in a bag stuffed with cams and other hard, pokey climbing gear, but it isn't something I would have worried about with a different helmet. The plus side of foam lids is that if they are damaged, you can SEE it. There's no guessing.
Though I LOVE how light the meteor is, since I have the tendancy to sort of abuse my lids (sit on them, kick them around, throw them in a truck with some chainsaws, entrust them to baggage handlers), I'll stick with one that's a little burlier.
Your words of caution are no match for my disaster style!
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Re: Petzl "Elios" Helmet

Postby polrbear » Feb 17, 2012 2:44 pm

I've been a bit choosy about helmets for many years. For bicycling, I bought what was, at the time, a good foam-based helmet. I didn't know they were as seasonally susceptible as they really were. I do winter bicycling and one time a 3 pound cross peen hammer fell on it from 3 feet when the temperature was about ten degrees. I stopped the piece counting after twelve. Glad it wasn't for anything vertical.

A climbing rated helmet will probably fare quite a bit better than that one did from a small impact, but it still makes me leary of any helmet that relies on foam for structural intergrity. If the outer shell is exactly the same, I readily believe a foam-lined helmet is probably a better choice for safety. However, I'm one of those people who sweats pretty much anytime it gets above freezing, and that temperature line and the amount of sweat change with activity beyond an average walk. I really overheat with a foam-lined helmet on my head. As a result, I'm not wearing it when I don't need to wear it. In a cave, that puts me at risk should something happen when we take a rest break.

I ordered a new Ecrin Roc once I heard they were placed to end of series status. It's been a great helmet for me. I have a first generation Vertyex Vent that I don't like. Since Wisconsin DNR has given us some goofy laws about equipment decon (FWS is reasonable; WI is illogical), so I needed a dedicated helmet for that state. My Vertex now sits at the equipment shack at a cave I frequent over there.
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Re: Petzl "Elios" Helmet

Postby wyandottecaver » Feb 20, 2012 10:26 am

Just FYI

one of the certifications for climbing helmets is a cold weather (0 deg C) rating. You can check to see if your particular helmet meets it.
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)
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