Scorpion EXO 700 vs. Shoei X-11

[erkishhorde]

It's time to retire my Shoei X-11 and I don't want to spend as much coin as I did on the X-11 so I was weighing the RF-1000 against a Scorpion EXO 700. I went helmet shopping today and ended up with the EXO 700. In the store the EXO 700 and RF-1000 fit almost exactly the same so I decided to save some coin and go for the 700. I did try an EXO 1000 but it was incredibly tight to get on and bordering on uncomfortably tight. I was surprised to find that it didn't fit the same as the EXO 700.

So, how does the EXO 700 compare to my old X-11? For starters it's noticeably heavier. My neck actually started to get a bit sore only 15 minutes after I put it on. The soreness went away quickly and when I took an hour and half freeway jaunt my neck got only slightly sore.

For air ventilation it's not as good as the X-11 but that's to be expected since the X-11 is pretty much the top rated for ventilation. As for wind noise, it's at least on par with the X-11 if not slightly louder (with headphones in). The ear pockets are deeper on the EXO 700 though and I don't have as many problems putting on headphones as I do with the X-11. Also, on the X-11 I would sometimes have problems with the ear buds touching the shell of the helmet and channeling the wind noise straight into my ears. I didn't get this problem on the EXO 700 but I have only taken it on one ride so far. The back of helmet is higher on the EXO 700 too and this prevents the problem I would have with the X-11 pinching my headphone cable sometimes if I looked too high up.

The visor notches on the X-11 are much better than the EXO 700. Each of the X-11 notches will hold up to riding while the only notch the EXO 700 likes to stay open on is the lowest notch. The lowest notch on the EXO 700 is perfect for blowing air directly into my eyes too.  Riding with the visor all the way open actually puts less air on my eyes.

The visor release on the Shoei helmets is top notch and kills the Scorpion visor release mechanism. There's something funny with the left visor release on my helmet that makes it a pregnant dog to take off while the right side just pops right off no problem.  It literally took me 15 minutes to get the visor off to clean it.

Back to the headphones, the EXO 700 is very comfortable to wear with headphones. The X-11 fits slightly looser than the RF-1000 or the EXO 700 (not just because it's worn in but it fit looser when I bought it too). This causes it to tweak my ear buds when I look sideways but this isn't a problem with the EXO 700. Without the ear buds touching the inside shell of the helmet it's much easier to listen to music as well.

That's about it. Hope someone else finds this useful.