Review: Bern Baker Hard Hat Audio Helmet

Intended Purpose: The Bern Baker Hardhat offers a comfortable fitting helmet with audio capacity so you can rock out to tunes on the mountain.  The Hard Hat offers some protection from hard hits but it is not EN/AST/CPSC certified.

Appearance: I’m a huge fan of Tj’s artwork and when the drawing on the Tj’s helmet caught my eye I knew that I was won over immediately.  It’s a plain black matte helmet with a almost crayon like drawing of a skeleton with a sword.  It’s dark, mysterious and protects my head that’s really all I wanted.

Fit: I was surprised that the men’s helmet fit me, I went into Powdertools to check out helmet options and just see what Bern was like.  I ended up finding out that the Baker hardhat fit my head, was snug and comfortable for me, plus quite warm.  It was a helmet that I didn’t need to wear a beanie under and I was fine with that.  The cold weather knit earmuffs is my favorite fitting feature, they keep my ears warm and snug around the helmet so I never have to worry about feeling cold from the head.

Goggle Compatibility: This is where I’ve heard mixed results with the visor on the Bern helmets.  However I’ve been switching up goggles a lot this season, Ashbury, Smith, Dragon, Airblaster are the main ones I’ve been rocking on this goggle and so far no gaper gaps and they all work with the helmet in fit and not interfering with the visor.

Features: The Bern Hardhat has 3 layers of protection with a soft inner foam layer, a denser secondary foam layer and a hard plastic outer shell.  It comes with adjustable straps to keep you locked in tight, Bern 8 tracks system build into the cold weather knit earmuffs and a goggle strap twin clip for keeping your goggles so they stay on your helmet and comfortable.  I’ve found that for me the best feature is the cold weather knit earmuffs which have kept my ears warm this winter and on cold days, I never feel cold from heat escaping.  The Bern helmet has a visor lid which I was hesitant about in the beginning, but soon found out that on snowy days the visor helps keep snow from the top of my goggles and offers good coverage overhead.

Durability: Well so far I’m still conscious and living so I’d say it’s durable so far.  I’ve taken some good falls this season, slammed my head a couple days in the pipe and the helmet has no visible damage to it over than some scuff marks from hitting tree branches.

Sound: My helmet has the Bern 8-tracks sound system built in to the cold weather knit earmuffs and so far I haven’t had any issues with rocking music in the Bern Baker helmet.  I’ve found that I can crank it or keep it low volume if I want to be able to hear sounds around me.   There is also easy access to control the volume from the sound cord that plugs into the helmet.

Thoughts: The Bern Baker Hardhat Audio Helmet has been my main winter helmet throughout this season so far, it’s gotten a good amount of days in because it keeps my head warm and I can listen to music while riding.  I’ve had some rough falls on it, slammed my head a couple times and I’ve been thankful to have the helmet after those falls since I am getting up and riding out of them.  It’s not a certified (save your ass helmet) but it does the job I need which is protect me better than not wearing a helmet.

The reason I went with the TJ artwork helmet is because I totally support Tj and wanted to keep supporting him by buying the helmet.  Plus the artwork is fun and even though it’s a black helmet, there’s some radness to it.

Review Disclosure: I bought this helmet from Powdertools in Steamboat Springs, CO.