Helmets not made in China

[jtmllr]

I do my best not to buy Chinese made products. Usually very difficult to get around and sometimes necessary to buy Chinese. Lots of times I end up deciding I don't need whatever it is badly enough.

Any suggestions? They obviously don't put that spec out on web sites, but they should be required to. Even a multi-sport helmet with water features would suffice.

[rick stoehrer]

I do my best not to buy Chinese made products. Usually very difficult to get around and sometimes necessary to buy Chinese. Lots of times I end up deciding I don't need whatever it is badly enough.

Any suggestions? They obviously don't put that spec out on web sites, but they should be required to. Even a multi-sport helmet with water features would suffice.

i'll bring an extra lid tomorrow....you can try it.

[jtmllr]

WRSI looks promising. I sent an email to find out about it. WRSI also ships one size and gives you fit kits which is great, especially when trying to guess the size online. I could measure my head but still noggin shapes differ. If the fitting is easily changed then that makes it good to switch between bare head and wearing over a neo in cold weather. I came across a few others but they are handcrafted, marketed for whitewater, and I don't need a carbon/kevlar for what I plan to do. I wear lights and a battery on my bike helmet and a basic plastic kayaking helmet shouldn't weigh much more than that. Still more research to do.

Thanks for the loaner. I look forward to not being glad I had it!

[ccarlson]

I think Suncook Canoe and Kayak in Barnstead, NH, sells the WRSI if you want to check one out. While fit kits are nice, helmet shell shapes do vary and, depending upon your head size and shape, some will just never be comfortable.

Good luck!

Carl C.

WRSI looks promising. I sent an email to find out about it. WRSI also ships one size and gives you fit kits which is great, especially when trying to guess the size online. I could measure my head but still noggin shapes differ. If the fitting is easily changed then that makes it good to switch between bare head and wearing over a neo in cold weather. I came across a few others but they are handcrafted, marketed for whitewater, and I don't need a carbon/kevlar for what I plan to do. I wear lights and a battery on my bike helmet and a basic plastic kayaking helmet shouldn't weigh much more than that. Still more research to do.

Thanks for the loaner. I look forward to not being glad I had it!

[jtmllr]

I think Suncook Canoe and Kayak in Barnstead, NH, sells the WRSI if you want to check one out.

Are they still in business? No direct hit in Google for their site and all sites' links to www.SuncookRiver.com, including WRSI's, are broken. They are the only NH dealer listed on the WRSI site. One in Charlemont, MA, but unless I go to Mt. Greylock that's not on the way to anywhere. I don't even use the Pike much since moving to NH. There was a direct link to a helmet on REI's site but it said it was no longer carried and a search on REI for "WRSI" turns up nothing. Not as sexy a brand as the skater types I guess. They are listed on many sites but nobody local I can find. If the organization gets back to me with the right answer I'd try ordering online without much worry.

Thanks

[ccarlson]

As far as I know, they're still in biz. A friend bought a boat there a couple of weeks ago. Kerry has never been big on websites so try giving him a call... last phone I have is 603-269-5185

Are they still in business? No direct hit in Google for their site and all sites' links to www.SuncookRiver.com, including WRSI's, are broken. They are the only NH dealer listed on the WRSI site. One in Charlemont, MA, but unless I go to Mt. Greylock that's not on the way to anywhere. I don't even use the Pike much since moving to NH. There was a direct link to a helmet on REI's site but it said it was no longer carried and a search on REI for "WRSI" turns up nothing. Not as sexy a brand as the skater types I guess. They are listed on many sites but nobody local I can find. If the organization gets back to me with the right answer I'd try ordering online without much worry.

Thanks

[EEL]

As far as I know, they're still in biz.

Definitely still in biz. While mostly a WW shop, it is definitely a shop worth checking out. Especially for stuff like clothing, gloves, hoods, etc.

Kerry is a great guy and helpful. His prices are very competitive and he has some nice used sea kayaks from time to time. Rumor is someone got a great deal on a Pintail there.

Ed Lawson

[jtmllr]

I'd probably get a Romany next but an purposefully not looking at boats so I won't buy one.

Gas money is better spent on gear, not looking for it. I doubt I'll bother taking the trip just to see if there's anything I need. I like to check the Internet before going some place, but to each their own. He should reconsider. Thanks for the tip.

[cathyfoley]

I do my best not to buy Chinese made products. Usually very difficult to get around and sometimes necessary to buy Chinese. Lots of times I end up deciding I don't need whatever it is badly enough.

Any suggestions? They obviously don't put that spec out on web sites, but they should be required to. Even a multi-sport helmet with water features would suffice.

SWEET A.S.

Sweet helmets are made in Norway..not cheap...but good quality kayak helmets

http://www.sweet.no/snow/#/hardware/helmets_kayak/

[jtmllr]

I never got a response from WRSI but bought one of their helmets. No country of origin on the box or helmet, so I assume US or they would have to specify? I own it now so moot.

Nice feature is that it comes with 3 sets of pads you can interchange to fit your head size and shape, wherever it varies. 3 or 4 pieces makes up the lining, and each piece can be selected from the three thicknesses. Note there are two size ranges in helmets rather than a single one-size-fits-all.

You can also add ear protection if white water usage. Comes with a mesh sack for storage and transportation.

http://www.outdoorplay.com/store/Product.a...p;SKU=EHE_WICUR

[subaruguru]

I do my best not to buy Chinese made products. Usually very difficult to get around and sometimes necessary to buy Chinese.

Hey Jeff,

Did you feel better knowing that whereas our venerable old yellow NSPN caps were made in China the newer ones are sourced from Bangladesh?

Tongue firmly ensconced in cheek,

Ern

[Gcosloy]

The only sure way to buy only" American " these days is to buy US stocks and bonds, insurance, cable and cell phone subscriptions and entertainment. You could also either get really sick and need medical care or really stupid in need of higher education. Too stay completely safe grow your own food and become a nudist. My tongue is only lightly planted in my cheek.

[jtmllr]

I don't need it to be American - US made products don't have a particularly good reputation or history - I just try to avoid Chinese if there are alternatives. The lengthy search usually digs up some really great things I'd never have found if I just took what was on the shelf.

I don't need others to care about country of origin, I was just asking for leads since it matters to me. I do buy Chinese if the most appropriate product is made by a company I have good experiences with. Squeezebox, Macbook Pro, Mountain Hardwear gear, and probably a few other decent things in my place were made in China. I'm not happy about it, but I'm not obsessive about it. If I had to pay 200 dollars for a carbon helmet just to avoid Chinese, I probably wouldn't have done it. 90 bucks was bad enough.

[jtmllr]

Discriminating against products made there of course means I have a problem with something about it, but every conscious choice revolves around discrimination or no choice would be made. No explanation of why I don't want Chinese made goods leaves for speculation, and interpretation of my stated reasoning probably serves to raise specific questions where none had existed before. I've had a few different interpretations to the posting. Bigotry and one as simply "Buy American." Neither is true. Both are far too superficial to come from me.

To be clear, my issue is not with people making the products (in this case Chinese people.) They'll make something as well or better than anyone else, but it is the management that controls quality and policy so that's what I'm targeting. I do have political issues with the government, but I have plenty of issues with ours. The difference is a nationalized economy directly supports the government, especially when it isn't democratic. I have concern that by purchasing products made there I'm perpetuating the abuse of their environment, waste, their unconditional support of abusive regimes, blah blah. I don't need nor want people to care about this part but it is the part most easily misconstrued if I don't address it. I'd rather keep my postings to direct reasoning rather than underlying indirect intangibles but don't want to alienate anyone by remaining ambiguous.

Although it is starting to shift, my objective beef and main concern is companies tend to manufacture there because it is The Place to make inexpensive things, factoid. Inexpensive things often correlate to being cheaply made. This is where my issue comes from as I've been burned too many times with things I thought were made by good brands but ended up being junk in a short time. There are many other countries where things are inexpensively made, such as Bangledesh, but for the most part only apparel is made elsewhere and that isn't what I'm posting for. I'm having some trouble with seams coming apart on many of my clothing articles (I don't think they were made in Bangledesh) but I'm posting for a helmet not a shirt. The rest of the products are generally made in China so that's why I singled it out. In fact every helmet I saw in the stores was made there.

I wanted a helmet and couldn't get the information I needed from the company sites or online stores. Only a few brands are on the shelf around here and they didn't meet my origin criteria. I'm aware that the quality aspect to a plastic helmet is pretty minimal compared to that of a coffee maker or TV, but there is the possibility that a company striving to make a product as cheaply as possible would have a lesser design, and this thing is supposed to protect my head after all. WRSI was conceived for the explicit purpose of creating a helmet that would do the job and address design flaws in existing helmets that could render them ineffective under certain circumstances, mainly in the whitewater environment but maybe I'll do whitewater some day.

I have beefs with companies too so my issue isn't limited to China by any means. Since Verizon doesn't make helmets and Walmart probably doesn't carry them I didn't list them on my helmet blacklist. The other specifications of interest to me I was able to find on my own, leaving "not made in China" as the single loose end.

I didn't join NSPN to be a troll, so please either assume the best, find humor, disagree openly, or just write me off as an idiot but don't get offended. If you think something is potentially offensive let me know and I can rewrite. I don't think in terms of offense so I normally don't pick it up as a nuance in my writing. However I'm now recalling a potential slight towards Palm dry suit wearers as I stated I didn't understand the sizing dimension choices when shopping them online and being cheeky proposed the body type they were made for. Having since met several of you with them, I can see at least the top half of you is normal. We'll leave what's under the skirt a mystery. I may or may not buy a product made by you but rest assured it isn't because of your dimensions. I probably just don't like you because you have a different boat than me.