Eye in the sky: The Lazer GoPro mount positions the camera where its weight is least noticeable and the vantage point gives it a good filming angle.
Lazer Helmets, Mr. Brian Lopes’ lid
provider of choice, has added a feature
to their Oasiz trail rider’s helmet. In
addition to all the Oasiz’ key features,
Lazer now offers an integrated GoPro
camera case mount. The Oasiz helmet
sells for $145, plus $10 for the GoPro
camera mount option.
Tech features: The Oasiz uses
Lazer’s Rollsys, an integrated mechanism that surrounds your head and is
tightened or loosened by turning a
thumb wheel located on top of the hel-
met’s shell near the rear of the helmet.
The helmet’s retention strap is secured
by Lazer’s Magic Buckle, a small mag-
netic buckle that takes the place of a
conventional mechanical snap buckle.
The head basket is adjustable. The
Rigidity Brace System, an in-molded
structure to improve impact resistance,
strengthens the helmet’s co-molded
shell and liner. Our large helmet
weighed 12.7 ounces (with the camera
mount, but without the camera) and is
available in a number of colors, but
only in medium and large sizes.
Field test results: Trying a new
retention strap buckle makes us ner-
vous. It took a long time for us to trust
mechanical snap buckles after years of
using D-ring-secured helmets. We over-
came our fear of the Magic Buckle
after the first few rides. It is conve-
nient. It is a one-handed operation to
snap it, and a two-finger operation to
release it. It is secure. Once snapped, it
is not going to release accidentally.
The Rollsys snugs the helmet evenly
around your head and is easy to use,
even with gloves on. We like the transparent visor on our neon yellow helmet. The helmet ventilates well, and
we never sensed a pressure point from
the interior pads or liner.
The camera mount takes away all
the hassles of strapping a camera
mount to the helmet. The GoPro case snaps in and out easily and is positioned in the optimumal position to
hide its weight (centered on the helmet
shell). But, therein lies the problem:
weight.
Shot from the top: The helmet-mounted camera gives a sweet vantage point and much smoother video than a handlebar mounted option.
The GoPro camera and case weigh
6.5 ounces. That’s over half the weight
of the helmet, and it sticks almost 4
inches above the shell of the helmet.
The added weight may not be an issue
for downhillers who use full-face helmets, but that much weight gain is
intolerable for a trail rider. After a few
hours of riding with the camera, you
will begin to feel every seam of the
liner. Even the soft pads start to bug
you. Just turning your head to set up
for that off-camber turn reveals the
camera weight.
The Oasiz is an innovative, stylish
and comfortable helmet that we can
recommend. We can’t, however, recommend attaching your GoPro to the top
of it for more than a section at a time.
Luckily, the camera clicks in or out
easily.
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