Crye Airframe Helmet review (replica)

[Fallen]

Here is a quick review on the Replica Crye Airframe helmet deluxe version that I found at airsoftdepot.com.

Be nice with my english ;p
After a long time thinking of what helmet: Fast, Bump, Airframe, Mich...
When I decided to buy a crye air frame replica, I wasn't sure what brand to buy and where. The reviews I read about Emerson or TMC/FMA were sometimes good, but most of the time disappointing.

Most of them about TMC's helmet show poor padding with a ''acceptable'' chin straps , problems with the BNIB helmet covered with sratches and painting chips and rail not fitting securely accessories.
But the worst is that for most people, those replica helmet are too small
http://airsoftcanada.com/showthread....light=airframe

Then I found this thread : http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=135907
Huang form Airsoftdepot.com was trying to bring us a nice airframe replica at a good price without all the problems that TMC and Emerson have. That was back in early 2012.

When I saw that airframe in ''Large size''
http://airsoftdepot.ca/catalog/produ...oducts_id=3007

I told myself, let's give it a try and see if the extra 30$ worth it




Here is what you get when canadapost brings it to your door ( of most of the times, brings the paper saying to go take your package at the post office... )




First impression: Fast helmet box
that looks like the Emerson helmet box. FOr a few second, I was confused and hoping for an airframe, not a fast ;p
The box is nice and the helmet seems to be well protected.







A quick overview of the helmet:
This helmet is quite heavy =/ I thought it would be lighter. But it's the first one i buy and i can compare with anything else at this point. I'll try to find a balance to see the exact weight.




There's no visible molding mark or scratches on the helmet, except one hidden in the space between the 2 parts of helmet. Overall, it looks very nice =) Color is good too







The helmet comes with a W 3 holes shroud (not sure if I said the good one)
which is probably in plastic with a metal piece inside ( I really dont know anything about shroud)

And two siderails for accessory. At the moment, I can't tell if these one will fit securely every accessories, I don't have any to try. But they look solid with a nice color that match with the helmet.




Now the padding inside:


It comes with 2 big 3 X 3 1/2 inch pad and 8 smaller 2X3 inch pad. All pad are 3/4 inch thick




When I saw the inside at first, a few pad were loose inside. After trying to place them at the right spot, they hold up nicely on the velcro. They don't stick very strong, but don't move easily either, so it's fine.

There are a few ways to set up all the padding inside, I dont know what's best, but I tried to do what i saw in the crye AF owner's manual:



The fitting on my head is good but tight, it hold nicely without the chin stap in place. Normally, I wear large size from waht I remember when I was playing hockey and football. My current bike helmet is Large too.
This one is a little bit tight.
Foam inside the pad is very dense, hard to compress, so I feel like it's squeezing my head after wearing it for some time. And I feel that my head doesnt sit deep enough inside the helmet. But it hold good.

Chinstap
The chinstrap looks like all other strap from TCM/Emerson. It allows 5 differents points for adjustment. They are easy to adjst and hold in place.





After tyring several set-up, I finally found that I had to adjust 3 of 5 to alomsot minimal lenght (the hohorizontal one on each side and the one behind the head)
So there is enough space to ajust everyting.

Overall: I'll give this one a 8/10,
Pros: -Quality chinstrap
-Nice finish
-Price
Cons: -Weight!!!
-Padding thickness for me and confort... I am not sure I would be abl to wear to for a long game

I'd like to change thepadding for that or somehting more confortable:
https://www.skydex.com/store/200394

[siggypoo]

A fine review, thanks!
I'm windowshopping for a bucket to replace my PASGT, and have been considers this.


Location: YYZ VOR 062 radial, 17.5 DME

[Enthusiast]

Thank for the review, nicely done

[Zack The Ripper]

I'm sure this replica with some Ops-Core padding would make a world of difference compared to the stock pad set.

[SuperHog]

It looks heavy. Can you post the weight of it please.

[Wrath144]

How big is your head and how well does it fit you?

[Fallen]

My head is around 59 cm of circonference. And i'd say this helmet fits me well. It's a bit tight, but still fine.
When you change te padding set up a litttle bit, its more confortable for big head. You just hâve to play a bit with that.

For thé total weight, it's a a little bit more then 2pounds ( 2lbs 06.66 oz)

[Drake]

Nice review, Fallen.

I had the TMC one (Med) and I was able to wear it okay (I usually wear Large / 7½ - 7¾) by using real pads from a MICH (pretty much like the ones you have, except I was using 1/2" instead of 3/4).

I'm curious how the rails are on this version? The TMC's rails seemed a bit off and some accessories didn't sit quite right -- notably Sordin adapters, which fit properly on an ARC rail.

This one also seems a bit heavier than the TMC version (which was quite a bit lighter than my MICH, which is 2 lbs 7.1oz)

[SuperHog]

If there are several companies cloning these helmets, some will be dead on and some will be way off on specs.