Thanks for tuning in
today we're going to be reviewing the
POC Ventral Air SPIN
NFC cycling helmet.
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Modern cycling helmets have not only
become safer during an accident but even
after an
accident. What we have today here is
a very good example of that,
this is the POC Ventral Air SPIN NFC.
This takes the POC Ventral Air
SPIN and combines an NFC chip inside it
where you can store
your medical information in the case of
an accident. It's a really cool
passive device that doesn't rely on any
batteries or cell phone connection to
operate.
Let's go ahead and take a look at the
packaging like a lot of POC items
really cleanly done.
You have white cardboard you have the
information here, it's a medium size
and you have the reflective
POC logo on here otherwise
really simple. I'll go ahead and take it
out of the box and we'll go over these
specs.
Retail price on this is $275 dollars
that's only $25 more than the
Ventral Air SPIN.
The part of the SPIN is the
their Shearing Pad Inside design. This is
a replacement for MIPS that absorbs from
the rotation in an accident.
It's highly ventilated as it has the
same ventilation design
as the Ventral Air SPINi. It has CFD
optimized airflow so the vents are
designed to
funnel air through without creating a
lot of aerodynamic drag
and as we mentioned this has the NFC
chip
embedded inside the helmet itself. You
also get the 360 degree
adjustment system which is this nice
wrap around dial to really
dial in the fit, so one of the most
comfortable helmets we've actually worn.
Now this is only available in one color
scheme which we have here
it's Uranium Black with Hydrogen white
as the accent color
so it definitely pops in person and on
camera.
Inside the box you get the helmet
some tags on here about the helmet
and how to operate the NFC chip
as well as a fabric bag that's POC
branded
to store the helmet. Its a nice
way to prevent your helmet from getting
dirty when you're storing it. so now
let's take a look at the weight of the
Ventral Air SPIN
NFC. This is the medium size variation.
If I put that on the scale that comes in at
272 grams so quite light.
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Now let's take a look at the twICEme
application. What's nice about this
application is that you don't need any
Facebook logins or registering
you just launch it and it's available
both on Android and Iphone.
The application is pretty simple you
simply create a profile
and with this design it's really easy to
put everything in place whether an organ
donor or
all your identification information. so
i'll put a little bit in here
you can put all
relevant information in here
nationality, native language
everything that you might need
in the case of emergency as well as
contact information for emergency
contacts.
The nice thing about the twICEme
application is that it's really
organized well
and easy to use so we'll go ahead and
save that and now to upload it to the
POC helmet really simple we click upload
put it near the symbol and then profile
saved and that's it.
You can also clear it or manage multiple
profiles if you have the
multiple people using the same helmet
Now you don't have to use the twICEme
application, we also have
NFC tools this will also read it so i'll
show you that
again. You place it close and you see the
downside of not using twICEme
is that all information is just a giant
text field it's not a
formatted the same way so that's one big
downside
an emergency responder might not have
the same application but they can read
the information
it's just gonna be harder for them to
process it.
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Now let's go over the fit and finish of
the POC Ventral Air SPIN NFC helmet.
As with all of POC products they
really share a distinct and modern
design language.
You can see here the single color this
Uranium Black and Hydrogen White scheme.
It is a good looking color, high
contrast
and you rarely see a white foam helmet
so it really stands out
in the market. Now this shares
the same sleek aero profile as the
Ventral SPIN
but they've taken the Ventral SPIN and
added a bunch of vents
which makes it the Ventral Air and then
with this helmet they simply add the NFC
which makes this the
Ventral Air SPIN NFC so definitely a big
product name but a lot of nice features
here. Now with this helmet
with the black and white scheme they've
blacked out the
strap so that all matches and a blacked
out rear retention system.
The rear vent design is a white surround
which really blends in with the white
foam it's a very distinct looking helmet.
Now if we go to the front of the helmet
because it shares the same profile as
the Ventral
SPIN it's a lot more narrow so lower
profile
sleeker design less bulky than some of
the older helmets like the Octal.
Now you can see full vents here you can
see all the way front and back
right through the helmet as it funnels air
through internal air channels
all the way to the back and out. Really
nice sculpting
so it's a very clean design and one of
their most ventilated helmets they
currently offer.
It also has the sunglass garage which is
simply this little grippy pads here
so you can see they're actually color
matched to the white of the foam.
If I take my POC AIM sunglasses here
this provides a little
convenient storage here
so you can see if I throw
the glasses through here to actually sit
against this and prevent it from
bouncing around
and also the way it's designed is to
actually sit flush here so it shouldn't
be too painful when you're actually
riding with it. You won't have the
temples into your
head it's a very clean design. Minimal
branding again POC on the front
POC on the side and then again on the
rear
so you won't look like you're a Tour De
France rider.
Now the side has the aerodynamic profile
from the Ventral SPIN so very
aerodynamic almost flat on the top and
this blunt trailing edge with nice
sculpting on the sides.
Very smoothed out you can see it's a
two-part shell
with the seam kind of hidden here
but it looks really nicely finished. You
can see how the
shell actually extends all the way
inside gives it a very premium look
which matches the
premium price. The NFC
chip is located on the left side of the
helmet and it's indicated with the
twICEme graphic here so you simply
bring your phone up to here
in close proximity to read it otherwise
the same as the Ventral Air SPIN helmet.
Now the rear you have very thick foam so
you can see
it's a couple inches thick so really
designed to protect your head in the
case of an
impact. Very aggressive venting design so
very open
with the cage kind of sticking out on
the bottom. I really like the surround
here too
I wish it was reflective but with the
matching white color of the foam
it really blends in provides a nice
contrast.
Now on the inside this is probably one
of the best features of POC helmets
by not using a MIPS liner it's very open
and minimal.
So you can see the air channels all the
way through a very nice and airy helmet.
Now the SPIN pads themselves they're
simply gel filled pads
that replace the normal foam pads and
they provide a little
shearing so in the case of an accident
it will slide out.
They're simply velcro attachments so you
can take these out and wash them
and otherwise really simple. I also like the
straps they're very lightweight nylon
and they're curved to match your head so
you can see here
the side straps that connect the two
individual straps into one
really nice design and then soft on the
inside too.
You don't get a magnetic buckle but
you get a standard plastic buckle that's
also
curved you can see that it's actually
curved inward and again
really sit flush against your head
without any pressure points.
As you would expect the cradle is
adjustable back and forth
and you have a dual direction dial on the back
that
makes it really easy to get the dial to
fit really dialed in.
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Now let's do a little comparison
between the POC Ventral Air SPIN NFC
and other helmets on the market.
Now here at The Sweet Cyclists we've
actually done quite a few helmet reviews
this year
so we can actually show you quite a few
comparisons as well as the full
development of the POC helmet itself by
showing you the full lineup.
So we have the Octal this is one of
their first road cycling helmets
and really has the distinctive design
language we expect from POC with these
long
elongated air vents and nice sculpting as
well as the bright
colors they've really become popular for
now. One reason POC helmets are typically
thought of as more mushroomy or bulky is
you can see how wide this is and then
the profile of the Octal
it's very bulky so it sits higher in
your head and is quite thick due to the
thick foam design. Now to address some of
the concerns
from the Octal they introduced the
Ventral
SPIN. This is their aero helmet you
can see it's actually more narrow
than the Octal, flatter top design
so more aggressive and a lower
profile design.
This was designed to share the same
design language as the Octal
but designed from the ground up to be
aerodynamic.
Then they introduced the Ventral Air
SPIN
and the Ventral Air SPIN NFC which we
have here today.
So you can see both helmets share the
same outer profiles
while the Ventral Air SPIN as the name
implies
allows more airflow so you can see where
this sculpting ends.
This one continues up with an additional
vents, more side vents and
more vents along the top and larger
vents on the front that extend further
through.
Definitely nice to see them side by
side if you're looking for
an aero helmet the
Ventral SPIN is a great option
while
a more ventilated option that doesn't
have high drag either
is the Ventral Air SPIN.
With the NFC with this you get the
extra safety for
additional 25 bucks which I feel is like
a no-brainer so if you're looking for
the Ventral Air SPIN already
the NFC is a nice little upgrade that
doesn't cost very much.
Now to compare the helmet to others on
the market aside from POC
we can look at a Bontrager Wavecel.
This made a big splash when it was
introduced as it has a lot of safety
claims with the the three-dimensional
structure on the inside.
It replaces a MIPS liner with their own
three-dimensional
Wavecel design. You can see
this is the Specter version profiles are
quite similar,
premium
helmets have this more aggressive design
full wrap around shell for that premium
look but of course the POC is a little
more distinctive with the
matte colors and the accents. You can
definitely mix and match the POC
and has more aggressive rear ends as
well.
We've also recently looked at the Bbolle
Furo MIPS.
This is a convertible aero helmet so
you can essentially
pop out these vents and then turn into a
more ventilated helmet.
Now you can see they share a similar
aerodynamic side profile.
The Furo MIPS as you can tell it's a
much lower profile helmet and flatter
it's almost exactly flat on top which is
really impressive with a little air
scoop on top.
But again the POC is a little more
distinctive design with the contrasting
colors
and then if you really want to get wild
you can get the Smith
Get Wild Trace helmet. This is really
nice especially in this color scheme
it really stands out. You can see they
have their own Koroyd technology
which is this honeycomb structure as
well as the MIPS liner integrated in
here so
double safety factors. Putting these side
by side again very similar the Smith is
lower profile and has
less aggressive venting. The NFC is one of
the first road cycling helmets with the
NFC chip though
so it's definitely distinctive and then
again color schemes
with the POC they're more subtle a
more euro design a lot more
unique variations out there.
Now let's get the helmet on the road
this shares the same ventilation and
aerodynamic design of the Ventral air
SPIN
so it's a great helmet for summer riding.
As you can see it has very aggressive
vents that extend from the front to the
back
it's only offered in this black and
white color but it still looks quite
sleek.
As you can see it is still a little bit
bulkier than other helmets on the market
due to the thicker foam but the more
aerodynamic design looks pretty good.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for
the Ventral Air SPIN NFC helmet.
What we like about the helmet is that
it's highly ventilated it's a great
helmet for the summer days and long slow
climbs.
It also has a really comfortable and
easy to adjust fit system with their
SPIN pads integrated into the interior
of the helmet.
With the NFC technology you don't
need any batteries or internet
connection compared to crash sensors
or QR readers. Some of the cons for the
helmet is the premium price
as it's a lot of other POC items you're
paying a premium
for the design and finish.
It's also only available in black and
white for the NFC version
which provides less customization
compared to the other helmets in their
lineup.
Finally the data privacy issues with
NFC chip anybody can read to it anybody
can write to it
even though you have to be in close
proximity that does mean someone could
clear it
or take your information without you
knowing. Taking everything into account
we'd give the Ventral Air SPIN NFC an
8.9 out of 10.
It's a very innovative safety helmet and
it's great to see new technologies like
this integrated into them.
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@TheSweetCyclists.
This is The Sweet Cyclist reminding you
to enjoy the ride.
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