A little more expensive of a helmet than I'd like to spend, but I bought it on sale with some store credit, so it made it a little more manageable. It's a very comfortable, light, and breathable helmet. I love the bright pink and it's very easy to spot on the road. This would only be a problem with someone with long hair, but my only complaint with it is it doesn't have a good spot on the backside to pull a pony tail through and have the tighten spot properly sitting on my occipital bone. So I have to result to a VERY low pony or a braid straight from my skull. A little annoying in comparison to my old helmet, but not enough to suffice returning it.
I used the helmet for one year before the crash and it was perfect for fit, comfort, and breathability.
I landed on my back, and the back of my head immediately whiplashed onto the pavement hard with so loud a sound I thought the helmet would be trashed. While there are four markings on the helmet from the impact, it wasn't destroyed as expected.
Most importantly, I didn't get a concussion. I had a crash three years ago that involved a bad concussion, and you don't ever want to get one trust me. I could not believe how softly the impact was on my head, especially considering I cracked a rib.
For me, the choice is clear. The helmet must have Spherical Tech. I bought an Eclipse to replace the Aries for my road riding and will continue to use the Aries for gravel because it doesn't appear to be compromised.
There are other helmets that I think look way cooler, and I wish the Eclipse didn't look so heinously Martian Domed. I had just bought a Utopia Y on backorder, then right after the crash canceled the order and bought an Eclipse. Funny how priorities can change in a NY minute.
I've been riding with the POC Octal Mips Helmet now for about a month and I find it does a nice job of keeping me cool on these very warm Arizona summer rides. The helmet was a breeze to fit as it required very little adjustment and fit well almost directly out of the box. The straps are very easy to adjust even while riding. I find the helmet to be nice, light and comfortable to wear. The only downside is the straps in the front are attached to the helmet about 1/2" from the side of my face which makes wearing my sunglasses on the outside of the straps ... as I do on all my other helmets ... not practical. Overall, the POC Octal Mips is a nice product.
The onyx visor, the stock one that comes with the helmet, has a silver mirror and grey rose lens. The lens has relatively low light transmission suitable for bright sun conditions, acceptable for cloudy daytime conditions. I need to turn up the screen brightness on my head unit to improve readability when using this visor.
The emerald visor's mirror is green in the center and fades to purple at the left and right edges. The lens is a punchy pink tint. Light transmission is greater than the onyx visor, suitable for cloudy conditions or low sun and dappled shadows. This lens has a visible color shift based on the incident angle to the lens meaning if I look straight ahead through the lens, colors appear differently than when I look obliquely through the edge of the lens in any direction.
While the contrast boost that the emerald visor offers is sometimes helpful, I find the vividness to be unsettling to my nervous system. The onyx visor is better in this regard though I wish both were a softer tint.
