Helmets protect both brains and ears. They should be comfortable and provide good sound attenuation while allowing radio communications. The latter grieves the designers more than anything, it seems, since there are so many radios with equally varied connectors. Rarely do standards exist. Aviation radios are all pretty standardized but few paramotor pilots use them. That’s understandable since they’re expensive and there’s really only one frequency for air-to-air communications: 122.75 Mhz.
| Radio Helmets | ||
| Make, Model, Works with | Experience & Comments | |
| 2007 Fresh Breeze Icaro
Works with: FRS and Aviation radios and comes with multiple plugs that work with a variety of FRS radios. |
My comments come from radio expert and PPG Instructor Robin Rumbolt who has done work for me on helmet electronics. He checked out the helmet and says that it works as advertised but I have not yet tried it out in flight or with any radios.
The significant development is that it works with multiple types of FRS radios AND with the Icom A6 aviation radio. To my knowledge, it is the only helmet that can do that. I’ve never flown with an Icarus helmet so cannot comment on how comfortable they are or how effective the noise attenuation is. See review on the Icom aviation radio that this helmet is said to work with. 2007-09-24 Robin Rumbolt says this helmet WILL NOT work with the Icom IC-A5/A23 due to an incompatible microphone impedance (the plugs don’t fit anyway). |
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| 2002, 2004 Comtronics
Works with: FRS or Aviation radios but must be ordered from the factory according to what radio type you use. Most PPG dealers who carry this helmet have them made to work with FRS radios. |
I’ve owned one of these since I got into powered paragliding and have over 300 hours flying with them.
This is the best radio helmet I’ve used although it’s heavier than some others. In spite of its weight, comfort is very good. The microphone is on an articulating arm that is annoying because lines get caught in its supports. Transmission and reception quality is very good as is noise attenuation. It did not come with a PTT button but rather relied on a coiled remote. You velcroed a small transmit switch to your hand and the coiled cord went to a plug. That was very handy until it went through my prop one day. I now wired a PTT on an earcup. |
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| 2000 Paratour | A friend bought a used one of these from about 2000 and I’ve flown with it only about 5 times. This is the lightest weight helmet I’ve worn and comfort was good.
The chin straps go through the ear cups which lets noise in. That also reduced the quality of radio reception. Microphone clarity was average according to other pilots. |
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| NAC | I’ve owned two of these and have at least 100 hours with them.
Very comfortable, lightweight with good noise attenuation and radio sound quality. Microphone clarity has been reported as average. Some pilots have reported very good microphone clarity from their NAC helmets so it depends on your radio and noise environment. A loud paramotor will reduce clarity. It comes with a “pigtail” that can adapt the electronics to support different radio styles and purportedly allows plugging music into. The music input, however, is an RCA jack. I’ve NEVER had a portable stereo system with an RCA jack. So you must buy an adapter. Even after I bought the adapter, I couldn’t get the music to play. It may have been something I was doing wrong but, if you intend to use that feature, make sure it works with your setup first. |
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| Nikkovox Helmets
No longer being produced |
I own one of these and have flown about 30 hours with it as of Feb 2007.
Various configurations were made but the one I have comes with two plugs. A standard 1/8″ plug that connects to your music player and the other is the thin plug found on most FRS radios except Motorola. That’s a pain because motorola FRS radios are quite common. If you have one beware that the hole is just barely deeper than on most other single-plug FRS radios. You can solve the problem by carving out the plug hole about 1/16″. I used a drill bit to shave away enough plastic and now even my motorola FRS’s work with the Nick helmet. The mic is a solid aluminum gooseneck. Once it’s positioned, it doesn’t move around which you’ll love. And it’s very stout but takes a fair amount of force to reposition. They came with built-in nick-o-voxes which mute the music when a radio transmission comes in. |
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