Thanks for tuning in today we're going
to be reviewing the
Lazer Jackal MIPS mountain biking helmet.
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If you spend more time offroad than
on-road it's very important to have a
safe helmet.
That's what brings us to today's review.
This is the Lazer Jackal MIPS and it's
one of Lazer's top-of-the-line mountain
biking helmets. It
combines a lot of the features with more
premium touches.
Now packaging wise it's really simple
you have a cardboard box with a
slide-out design Lazer graphics on here.
A little information about MIPS that's
about it we have the medium
north america version here so i'll go
ahead and take it out of the box and
we'll go over the specs.
So retail price on this is 199.99
in non-north american markets you can
also get a non-MIPS version for about
20
less. This has the MIPS liner
on the inside it has a five-star
Virginia Tech
rating which is really impressive so
well rated in independent studies
You have a three-position
visor which is really nice so if you
have goggles you can lift this up
put the goggles away if you're riding in
sunny area you can drop it down again.
You have their turn fit advanced fit
system
so it's a dual dial direction
design with a wrap around
cradle so it keeps you nice and safe. You
have a low profile
design that really protects you so you
have more protection on the lower part
of your head
which is really critical for off-road
riding.
You also have a magnetic buckle
system which is a feature you see
in more expensive helmets which makes it
really easy to take on and put on.
Now in terms of what comes in the box
you get quite a few features which is
really nice to see.
You get a fabric Lazer bag and these are
really nice to have for storing the
helmet or to travel with it.
You get the instruction manual and some
of the crash replacement
information they also include this nice
GoPro mount. So I'll take that out
that's really cool to see so with most
helmets you can throw a GoPro on top
with the straps
with this one it's actually specially
designed for the helmet.
So you can see it's actually
form-fitting so it goes right in the
spot
so it's perfect for mounting a GoPro
bike headlight
or other accessories right on top. Now
let's look at the weight of the helmet
again this is the medium-sized north
america variation which
can be a little bit heavier. So it comes
in at 396 so not too bad for a mountain
biking helmet.
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Now let's look at the fit and finish of
the Lazer Jackal helmet.
It's a really sleek looking helmet with
a two-tone finish this is the matte blue
variation.
So you can see you have this lighter
blue here and a darker blue here
and actually extends along the front
along the visor and
all the way through the rear v.
Then you have this nice complementary
color here
that really sets off the rest of the
curves of the helmet
and again you have the accents in the
lighter color on the rear.
It's also a very premium helmet so you
can see that external shell
extends all the way along the inside and
around so it gives a really premium
appearance at all angles.
Lazer also offers two other colors
currently for the north american market
you have a matte black and you also have
a matte gray. It'd be nice to see some
more
interesting color options but i think
these are pretty sleek looking.
Minimal branding on the helmet as well
so you only have Lazer
here as a sticker on the front which is
almost not visible when the visor is
down. You have Lazer embossed on the
visor itself
and then the only other Lazer indication
are these little
side indicator on the strap.
It's a really minimal branding clean
helmet if you take off the MIPS sticker
and a medium nice two-tone blue color.
What really sets off the helmet is the
front visor too you can see it extends
quite a bit
from the front almost two three inches
so really good protection from the sun
and what's nice about this at the
premium price point it is adjustable.
So three positions you have all the way
down you have in between
and then you have all the way up. So when
it's all the way up you can actually put
goggles or big sunglasses here
to store them and it keeps them out of
your eyesight so you can see if you're
riding
you can't see it at all and when you
need it it actually blocks out the sun
really well.
You can also take off the visor by
popping off the cover
and then unscrewing the bolts for a
cleaner look if you don't need the
sun protection. Also being a mountain
biking helmet you can see the side
profiles really thick
so it extends quite a bit further down
and on the sides for additional
protection off the road.
The other nice thing about this helmet
is that it's really well ventilated, you
have 19 total vents
so you can see large front vents that
really funnel the air through
these side vents that also double as
sunglass storage. So you can actually put
them up here
and then big rear vents on the rear to
really funnel that hot air out.
It also has little internal air channels
between the MIPS layer
to really funnel the air through the
helmet and out.
The other thing we really like about
this helmet is the adjustment system.
This is their ATF design and it has a
really nice dial.
You can see it's really textured and
it's large with micro adjustments in
both directions.
Really comfortable you have this nice
thin a little plastic
cradle that wraps all the way around the
helmet so provides custom fit. The cradle
also can be moved up and down
by simply lifting this above and then
moving it up or down.
What i like about this system is
that really stays out of the way so if
you have longer hair you can easily
put it between and Lazer even offers a
tail light so you can actually stick it
in here
and it's a really nice integrated design.
The other thing is with this premium
price you get a lot of other premium
features
and what i mean by that is this little
nice details. So you have a color matched
side strap so same blue on both sides
with Lazer written on there
and then on the other side you have the
red Lazer
logo on here so really sleek looking.
These nylon straps are also really thin
and flat
you also get a magnetic buckle which is
a really nice feature
so if you're used to plastic buckles
it's a really nice way to
nice upgrade. You simply get it
close and the magnet will do the rest
when you want to take it off you don't
pull you just simply push down on one
side and it'll slide off
so nice feature to have and really easy
to use. Now in terms of the MIPS liner
it's really well integrated
so you can see it's actually cut around
all the vents
and has really nice movement so you can
see as i rotate around
it's a nice minimal feature that adds a
lot of safety. I also really like the
padding on the helmet
you can see it's nice and plush and it's
also just
velcroed onto the MIPS itself. So you can
take it off and wash it as needed
the other thing i wanted to show was the
accessory mounting system.
So Lazer includes this with the helmet
it's a great way to mount a
bike light or a GoPro right on top of
your helmet. What's nice about this
is they've actually safety tested it
together
so you will know that the mount will not
intrude into the helmet so you don't
have to be concerned about injuries
because of that
which is a really nice thing to have.
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Now let's take a look at the helmet on
the road. It's a pretty sleek looking
helmet especially with the
dual matte finish and you can see here
on the trails it offers really good
protection. We really like that front
visor
it sticks out about two or three inches
and really blocks the sun and when you
don't need it you can easily
flip it up into the upward position. It's
also really comfortable helmet that rear
dial is easy to use and has nice texture
to it
and the magnetic
buckle it's also really easy to put on
and take off one-handed.
Overall it's really good looking helmet
and offers good protection off the road.
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So now let's do a quick comparison
between the different categories of
helmets on the market
against the Jackal mountain biking
helmet. You can see I have the Lazer
Sphere here
and compared to the Jackal the Sphere is
a lot
thinner and more ventilated as the road
cycling helmet. That's one of the big
differences between mountain biking and
road cycling
you want more rear and side protection
off-road while on the road you want
something really light
thin and highly ventilated. You can see
they both have decent ventilation but
the
Lazer Sphere obviously has larger vents
and more
airflow through it as you have to go
through higher speeds.
Otherwise the rears are significantly
different again the
mountain biking one's a lot lower with
better protection
and the visor obviously really sets off
the Jackal helmet versus the road
cycling helmet.
The other category helmet that's really
popular is commuting helmet
and you can see the Bern Hudson here has
a MIPS liner
very similar features you have a bill
the fabric built a little more stylish,
integrated rear taillight you can see
similar profiles you have the
deeper section on the rear and sides but
as a commuter
it has less air vents and
more commuting style benefits like
lockable
side vents for parking somewhere and the
integrated tail light that typically
comes with it.
Now let's compare mountain biking helmet
with mountain biking helmet
we have the Sweet Protection Dissenter
MIPS helmet on the right
and the Jackal on the left. You can see
very similar designs you have the front
visor that sticks out quite a bit the
large profiles on the side and rear for
extra protection.
Large vents on the rear to let air out
with the
dial system fit system the big
difference here
is that the Jackal is much more
expensive than the Dissenter.
It's about almost double the price and
the difference is really the details
so you can see with the Sweet Protection
helmet you have exposed foam on the edge.
Also a non-adjustable visor that you can just
pop out.
You have a much smaller rear dial that's
a little harder to use with gloves
whereas the Jackal has this nice large
rear dial fully finished on the interior
so really you can see that when you put
it side by side
it looks a lot more complete and
polished. Then having the adjustable
visor is another really nice feature to
have
so it really makes it more versatile on
the road and even
accommodates goggles where the Dissenter
does not.
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Now let's go over the pros and cons for
the Jackal helmet. What we like about it
that it has a really comfortable fit.
The ventilation is nicely done and that
rear cradle system has enough
flexibility to really get a comfortable
and custom feeling fit. The adjustable
visor is
also really nice to have, you can move it
all the way down to block the sun or all
the way up to store
goggles or bigger sunglasses. We also
like the glove friendly magnetic buckle
and the rear dial, both of them are
really easy to use even if you have
thick
winter gloves on and easy to modulate.
Some of the cons for the helmet is the
fact that as a premium price,
at 200 is definitely on the higher end
of mountain biking helmets.
It also lacks reflective elements or
graphics on the rear that's something we
wish a lot of helmet manufacturers would
start adding as it
would be nice for nighttime safety. Also
the color selection is currently
limited to about three colors and
they're all matte it'd be nice to see
some more
creative options on the market. Taking
everything into account we'd give the
Jackal MIPS helmet an 8.8 out of 10.
It's a premium mountain biking helmet
with really nice fit and finish
thanks for watching this review. Don't
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