Who here wears an air-bag jacket/vest as im looking for advice on buying one | Page 4 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Who here wears an air-bag jacket/vest as im looking for advice on buying one

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Phalanx said:
this is not true at all lol. saw a video the other day of a guy doing 200km+ and wasn't wearing a helmet. he claims theres no point of him wearing a helmet at that speed as it wont help -- was that you?

you can go see guys doing over 200km in motogp that crash with full gear and walk away. theres also a video of a female rider who was going about 200km and had a full crash and basically walked away. imagine that without a helmet, she'd either be dead or brain-dead for the remainder of her life.

gear and a helmet will make a huge difference in any crash, including a high speed crash. your logic if it were just your logic i wouldn't care about, as you would only be killing/injuring yourself and thats your business... but you're here on a public forum all but encouraging ppl to not wear helmets and gear... basically insinuating that its pointless at high speeds. lol.
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I've never said not to wear a helmet. Slow down the crazy train.
 
So I bought the Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 the day it came out.
- it protects quite a large area, especially in comparison with other vests (shoulders included)
- it is worn on the inside of the jacket, which allows me to easily switch between jackets (I commute daily, rain or shine, throughout the year)
- it includes a Level 1 back protector (so less bulk overall) -- and you still have some peace of mind on the off-chance that the airbag does not deploy.

Impressions so far (bear in mind it has never deployed):
- it's a bit heavy, but not uncomfortable
- phone app that comes with it is not much use to me
- following firmware updates it takes a long time to initialize and be ready to use the first few times I turn it on.

Keep in mind that there are maintenance costs associated with this vest, whether it deploys or not (have to send it in for "servicing" every few years). This may be a deal breaker for some, but it gives me extra peace of mind to know someone knowledgeable is giving it a thorough once-over once in a while.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about this model.
 
D-3vil said:
So I bought the Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 the day it came out.
- it protects quite a large area, especially in comparison with other vests (shoulders included)
- it is worn on the inside of the jacket, which allows me to easily switch between jackets (I commute daily, rain or shine, throughout the year)
- it includes a Level 1 back protector (so less bulk overall) -- and you still have some peace of mind on the off-chance that the airbag does not deploy.

Impressions so far (bear in mind it has never deployed):
- it's a bit heavy, but not uncomfortable
- phone app that comes with it is not much use to me
- following firmware updates it takes a long time to initialize and be ready to use the first few times I turn it on.

Keep in mind that there are maintenance costs associated with this vest, whether it deploys or not (have to send it in for "servicing" every few years). This may be a deal breaker for some, but it gives me extra peace of mind to know someone knowledgeable is giving it a thorough once-over once in a while.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about this model.
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they are ok, but my problem with them is they have no neck protection. a human neck is probably one of the weakest and most susceptible to major damage in an accident. also no lower back protection or hips
how much u pay, and how much were taxes?
 
looks like alpinestars and helite electronic vests are having some small software issues and they're trying to push updates to fix them.



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Phalanx said:
this is not true at all lol. saw a video the other day of a guy doing 200km+ and wasn't wearing a helmet. he claims theres no point of him wearing a helmet at that speed as it wont help -- was that you?

you can go see guys doing over 200km in motogp that crash with full gear and walk away. theres also a video of a female rider who was going about 200km and had a full crash and basically walked away. imagine that without a helmet, she'd either be dead or brain-dead for the remainder of her life.

gear and a helmet will make a huge difference in any crash, including a high speed crash. your logic if it were just your logic i wouldn't care about, as you would only be killing/injuring yourself and thats your business... but you're here on a public forum all but encouraging ppl to not wear helmets and gear... basically insinuating that its pointless at high speeds. lol.
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Really? You got all that from his simple statement? Wowza!

Sent from my SM-A530W using Tapatalk
 
Phalanx said:
they are ok, but my problem with them is they have no neck protection. a human neck is probably one of the weakest and most susceptible to major damage in an accident. also no lower back protection or hips
how much u pay, and how much were taxes?
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I'm not sure an all-in-one solution exists for what you're looking for. Airbags absorb shock, whereas neck protection is achieved by limiting head movement. This is what neck braces accomplish, and I don't know that you can achieve this with an airbag.
I paid about $830 CAD for mine (tax included), but I'm currently out of the country so I'm not sure how it compares to Canadian pricing.
 
Phalanx said:
looks like alpinestars and helite electronic vests are having some small software issues and they're trying to push updates to fix them.


Click to expand...
I don't know how it works for Helite, but software updates can be done at home with the Alpinestars (I've done it twice for mine already).
 
D-3vil said:
I don't know how it works for Helite, but software updates can be done at home with the Alpinestars (I've done it twice for mine already).
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I don't know whether to give this thumbs up or thumbs down. I miss the old days where there would be a lot of validation and testing because they wanted it to be right before they sold it. The current program of continual updates for everything (which half the time break things that used to work) is not great. Especially when the I am using the device to try to keep me alive.
 
They all immobilize the head somewhat with the shoulder being against the bottom of the helmet super happy with my d air vest hardly know you have it on and extra protection.

Sent from my moto g(8) plus using Tapatalk
 
GreyGhost said:
I don't know whether to give this thumbs up or thumbs down. I miss the old days where there would be a lot of validation and testing because they wanted it to be right before they sold it. The current program of continual updates for everything (which half the time break things that used to work) is not great. Especially when the I am using the device to try to keep me alive.
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I'd say both … The intelligent airbags are much more complex than cable-actuated models (which have a single trigger). Data from gyroscopes is continuously interpreted by the on-board computer and complex logic is used to decide when to actuate. Moreover, sensor data is never a smooth, and there is more than likely filtering employed.
Given all of that, it is basically impossible to come out from day 1 with a perfect system, that fits all riders / motorcycles. I mean the inertial sensors would need to account for different motorcycle acceleration rates, suspension damping rates, potholes, heavy braking, etc.
 
D-3vil said:
I'd say both … The intelligent airbags are much more complex than cable-actuated models (which have a single trigger). Data from gyroscopes is continuously interpreted by the on-board computer and complex logic is used to decide when to actuate. Moreover, sensor data is never a smooth, and there is more than likely filtering employed.
Given all of that, it is basically impossible to come out from day 1 with a perfect system, that fits all riders / motorcycles. I mean the inertial sensors would need to account for different motorcycle acceleration rates, suspension damping rates, potholes, heavy braking, etc.
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The system is truly amazing. How far we have come.
I had a previous one that did go off when I left the bike. Most certainly saved me. Low speed crash.

However, will it make me a cup of tea?
 
Here's a post copied from ADVrider re: the Klim Airbag Vest. I purchased one over the winter, using it for the first few rides of this season. Because you're adding another piece of gear, it may at times seem like a hassle or inconvenient and you question whether you made the right decision. This rider's experience has resolved that for me.

I bought a Klim vest a year and a half ago. About two weeks ago I hit a deer at 65mph while on trip from L.A. to Colorado.The doctors and I are convinced it ( and my helmet) saved my life. I still ended up with 7 broken ribs, a bruised lung, a broken clavicle, and a concussion, but it would have been a lot worse without it. Funny thing is, I had been second guessing my decision to buy it because I felt it was at times a bit uncomfortable, and thought about leaving it behind when I left for my trip. Thankfully I didn’t. I wear it under my Held jacket with the jackets back protector removed, but leaving the shoulder pads in. As an aside, my Daytona boots saved my foot/ankle from a nasty injury.

I’ve been riding for 30 years and I’ve never had an accident, and I would sometime wonder if it was overkill to spend so much on the gear i use. I would justify it by saying “it only need to say my life once.” Turns out I was right.
 
thwak said:
Here's a post copied from ADVrider re: the Klim Airbag Vest. I purchased one over the winter, using it for the first few rides of this season. Because you're adding another piece of gear, it may at times seem like a hassle or inconvenient and you question whether you made the right decision. This rider's experience has resolved that for me.

I bought a Klim vest a year and a half ago. About two weeks ago I hit a deer at 65mph while on trip from L.A. to Colorado.The doctors and I are convinced it ( and my helmet) saved my life. I still ended up with 7 broken ribs, a bruised lung, a broken clavicle, and a concussion, but it would have been a lot worse without it. Funny thing is, I had been second guessing my decision to buy it because I felt it was at times a bit uncomfortable, and thought about leaving it behind when I left for my trip. Thankfully I didn’t. I wear it under my Held jacket with the jackets back protector removed, but leaving the shoulder pads in. As an aside, my Daytona boots saved my foot/ankle from a nasty injury.

I’ve been riding for 30 years and I’ve never had an accident, and I would sometime wonder if it was overkill to spend so much on the gear i use. I would justify it by saying “it only need to say my life once.” Turns out I was right.
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As time goes by and these vests get more common, I read more and more stories like this one. I haven't had to use it yet (knock on wood), but I have no regrets with my Alpinestars vest, and mostly don't even notice it when it's on (though I always wear leather, so it might be a bigger deal if I was wearing mesh.) Definitely not cheap, but neither is a decent lid or any quality gear...
 
I have the Hit-Air tether. One thing about the Hit-Air tether models: They won't work if you don't connect the tether, which I've had to pull over to do up a couple of times, but then again, no batteries to run out. They're external so they will fit as you grow/shrink, but they're also vulnerable to road rash. The interior ones tend to be thinner, which potentially gives less protection in a crash. There are also different sizes of cannisters for different vests, some of which are huge.
 
Wearing the Helite Turtle 2. Once you wear it a few times it becomes part of the process of gearing up.

I did deploy mine the first day wearing it as I slipped on my wet garage floor getting off and fell back far enough to trigger it.

This happened after a 300km stint on the bike in the rain without a stop and forgot that I was wearing it.

Replaced the the canister ($50) and was ready to go again.
 
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I've got the Helite Vented Airbag recently. Got quite used to it. I like its inner liner as well and I totally can +1 on @Baggsy point that it works only when attached.. It was quite a few times when I forgot to attach and was like "oops, hope next traffic light will be red".. : )

btw, if someone is afraid that it will deploy when you get off the bike: I've tested it many times - it will not : )
 
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