Easton E700 Helmet

[Chadd 916]

First of all, a big thanks to Terry at Easton for the time he spent going over the helmets and gloves at the trade show. Of course, the opportunity to test out the helmet before it hits the shelves isn't bad either.

For the initial stuff, JR did a fantastic job in this topic of covering all of the out of the box details about the helmet. It makes no sense for me to go over all of that again.

Out of habit, i took off all of the certification stickers before playing. Given all of the hassles, and the potential for referees thinking the helmet has been repainted, I would suggest leaving them on. If you do decide to take them off, the CSA sticker is a major pain in the ass. Even if it comes off easily, as mine did, the adhesive that they use is really thick stuff. DO NOT use any chemicals to remove the adhesive or it will mark up the helmet permanently. Patience, hot water, a towel and a lot of elbow grease is the only way it's coming off without leaving a mark or picking up dirt.

I mounted my Oakley straight small in just a couple minutes with only a cross threaded screw (oakley screw) preventing me from claiming no issues there. The helmet sits a little lower than my CCM V08, so even the small visor seems to sit a little lower than I'm used to, but it wasn't an issue on the ice. It's just something to consider for those of you that use a visor. The new padding is very comfortable and much, much better than any other EPP-type helmet I've ever owned.

So tonight I took it to a monday night pickup session that I attend whenever I can and was ready to get razzed by all the old guys for going with something so stylish and modern. Funny enough, all the jokes stopped as soon as they picked up the bucket. Even with the visor, it was lighter than any other helmet in the room on it own.

On the ice, the ventilation was nice, it seemed to be noticeably cooler than my CCM V08. The new pads did seem to soak up a fair amount of sweat and the helmet fit a little looser at the end of the night than at the start. I would suggest making sure that the fit is very snug when you start. Obviously not so much that it hurts, but you don't want any slippage at all. Not sure if this was a one time thing breaking in the pads or if this is something that is going to happen every game. I will continue to monitor this and report on it. It's not a deal breaker as it's just a matter of making sure the helmet is very snug to start the game. It's also something to consider when sizing yourself. I would make sure you don't buy a size that only fits you at the extreme small end of its fit range. There is enough overlap between sizes for you to move down a size.

As I won't be skating the rest of the week, I passed the helmet to a teammate to use in our next game. I'll get his feedback and incorporate it here as well. If you have any questions or comments, please use the topic JR started. We would like to keep all the discussion in one place.

[Chadd 916]

I've used the helmet a handful of times, and loaned it to friends a couple times. My biggest concern was with the constant adjustment, from one head to the next, but it seems to be holding up well. It still seems like a potential weak point if you constantly adjust the helmet, but it has held up well so far.

I've had no issues with my visor, or with the padding at all. The padding hasn't broken down any more and the sizing has stabilized. I still love the helmet and thank the folks at Easton for sending it to me. So far two of my teammates have picked up their own and a couple refs have been asking me about it. The matte finish certainly makes it stand out and people recognize it right away.

[Chadd 916]

Only down side so far is that the helmet has to come out of my bag for the padding to dry out. The padding retains water very well, even if you really don't want it to do so.

[Chadd 916]

I was packing my bag before my game last night and noticed several white marks on my helmet. It looks like it doesn't take much for the matte black finish to get nicked up. I strongly suggest going with the normal polished finishes.