Hövding Airbag Helmet - Anyone got any Feedback?

Seriously, who looks less encumbered by their protective equipment?

or

To be honest, I think Hövding prove my point for me.

Look at the marketing images for Hövding...

Versus a selection of marketing images found by searching for 'cycling helmet'...

Hövding clearly know that their product will look out of place and ungainly if they photographed it in a summer setting.

Depends if you want that neck brace look or not.

I don't think that, or the one I posted of the girl in the turquoise top, are official Hövding provided images. They seem to favor cyclists dressed in layers and layers and layers of bulky clothing.

You forgot and having hair down to cover product as best they can.

Would you want it exploding open with hair tangled in/around it... I wouldn't want that with my hair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Kb53DCeEc

He definitely wishes he'd just spent £40 on a Giro Foray.

At least he was in the fruit and veg section so plenty other plums around to distract everyone from him looking like one.

Yeah, if you want a helmet you should just buy a helmet. On the other hand, when it is under -3 and you want to cycle, it’s annoying to fit your helmet on top of the woolly hat. Not, like, 300 euros annoying though.

Haha yeah, maybe more like, splash out another £40 on a helmet the next size up annoying.

With the ‘Feel free’ line? No, I don’t really really don’t get it.

Apart from the issue whether this actually makes sense or not, what they're saying is:
with their product you will feel 'free' because there's the wind blowing through your hair unhindered.

What I don’t get is how anyone thinks that wearing a Hövding is less of a drag than wearing a helmet.

Yea, not sure about that either, would have to try it I guess.
I imagine a regular helmet is less annoying in hot weather, and the Hövding when it's cold, basically.

It doesn’t look any less bulky to carry around off the bike

good point

plus you have to be cautious of jolting it

well you have to remember to turn the fucking thing off when not riding the bike,that's what you have to do, until the computer is smart enough to get the difference that is.

there are groups, cities and countries where helmet wearing is absolutely not the norm, I’ve never seen anyone make an issue out of anyone else choosing to wear a helmet or ask what their helmet was.

You must be well submerged in your "group" then. :-)
Here in Berlin hardly anybody is wearing a helmet, apart from a few "serious" cyclists and some odd people who also have hi-viz vests and rear view mirrors and probably should not be on a bicycle in the first place. So yes you really do stand out when you have a helmet. You would also stand out with a Hövding of course - but the Hövding is that cool new amazing airbag thing from the future, a helmet is that lame ugly thing for sissies that ruins your hair :-P
This is beside the point though.

Isn't the most interesting question whether one actually protects you better than the other?
So it would be worth spending the money, and be bothered with this heavy thing around your neck?

Oh and on a sidenote do these Park & Diamond baseball-cap-helmets you posted a picture of work well? They really do look good.

More worrying than forgetting to turn it off and having it explode on accident would be forgetting to turn it on and not having it explode in an accident. A helmet with an on off switch is simply a shit idea.

A helmet with an on off switch is simply a shit idea.

Shit, yeah I never thought of that!

Well I guess it would protect you from whiplash somewhat, even if not turned on.
: ]

Seriously though I agree it definitely shouldn't need an on/off switch but to be fair I don't think anybody ever forgot to turn it on - the button is right on the zip you use to close the thing around your neck.
Hope it gives proper note as the batteries are dying though..

Isn't the most interesting question whether one actually protects you better than the other?
So it would be worth spending the money, and be bothered with this heavy thing around your neck?
Oh and on a sidenote do these Park & Diamond baseball-cap-helmets you posted a picture of work well? They really do look good.

The website does claim it’s the ‘worlds safest helmet’ but so far the only proof I can see of that is a single university study which came to the amazing conclusion that the Hövding was “both thicker and softer than a traditional helmet”. Proper phd material that.

I’d have thought that if the tech was really that good you’d be seeing some version of it implemented in sports where crashes are commonplace ie bmx/dh racing.

Sorry don’t know much about the park and diamond things, just used the image.

I’d have thought that if the tech was really that good you’d be seeing some version of it implemented in sports where crashes are commonplace ie bmx/dh racing.

Well I guess it'd be really hard for a computer to tell apart normal events and crashing with downhill / BMX.
Could imagine manually launched airbags though.

: /

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nVacSoh-zg

I'm not a fan of the Hovding but in those two tests I don't think a traditional helmet would protect the rider any better. I'm especially not sure what is to be done about the second test when the dummy uses its teeth and face as a brake. That's full-face helmet territory at minimum.

park and diamond

Looking into those I gather they're just slowly starting to ship these out to the early backers of the project.
One can actually pre-order for more than 40% off right now (but most likely will not receive the item before fall).

I agree with you! Just posted this as the stated inflation in 0.1s of the Höfding always seems super fast in the slo-motion videos you see online, and I thought the above would be a good reminder that the thing isn't a solution for all scenarios.

Agree some what, the Hovding doesnt seem to / moves from the forehead, so maybe a traditional helmet would help better there?

Looking at that again, it seems conceivable that in certain circumstances it wouldn't activate in time.

Edit: hadn't seen the video in which it doesn't activate in time.

I loved that video, great slow-mo.

Two separate issues:
1) is the Hofding doing what it is supposed to? Looks like maybe not.
2) would have anything saved that dummy facial reconstruction? Quite hard to say.

The path of the dummy's head barely changes in the second crash until it slams into the car. I'm not sure there would be any perceivable force to detect until the impact

That's full-face helmet territory at minimum.

Hövding - 620g, £250, warm and embarrassing to wear...that’s full-face territory.