Review: Bern Muse Helmet

Intended Purpose: The Bern Muse helmet offers up a women’s specific low profile, comfortable fitting protective lid with a visor to protect your head on the mountain.

Appearance: I ended up with the matte black hatstyle with black knit.  A color choice that featurs a pink brim, black and grey helmet.  The color combination didn’t have me won over at first because I’m not a very “pink” girl but after the entire winter in the helmet, I finally bought into the pink and matched it with a pink Mammoth sticker to rock on the helmet.

Fit: During the on-snow demos I wanted to try one of the women’s helmets since I had been rocking the men’s baker helmet but was ready for a better fit.  I ended up getting the muse helmet in the large because it was more snug to my head and less movement.

Goggle Compatibility: I’ve had a mix of goggles with this helmet from smith ios to spy soldiers to roxy goggles.  The best fitting have been the smith’s and spy’s which work really good in the fit of the helmet.  The roxy goggles I’ve been rocking have a wider frame and don’t feel as compatible with the helmet.

Features: The Bern Muse features a thin shell or hard hat design.  I ended up with the thin shell helmet which means that it can withstand one good hit and does it’s job.  I was fine with this because I’d want to know if a helmet was finished instead of using it when it won’t offer as much protection.  The Muse comes with sink fit which is Bern’s trademark deep low profile fit and feel.  The helmet is specifically designed for women.  My favorite feature is the black knit ear flaps, they keep my ears so warm during the cold winter days and I can pull them out when it gets warmer on the mountain.  There is a goggle strap holder in the back of the helmet that holds my goggles in place.  The visor on the helmet does it’s job of keeping snow out of my lenses but i’ve noticed some lens combos with the helmet, snow can still get crunched in there on the deep pow days.

Durability: The helmet fits snug with my head and doesn’t allow any movement so I feel confident wearing it that it will do it’s job.  The Muse I have is thin shell which means it’s meant for one hard hit and it’s done.  It’s supposed to break apart after that one hard hit and I know then that the helmet needs replaced.  At first I wasn’t sure about how I felt with a helmet breaking but then I realized at least I’d know when the helmet was done and it was time to replace it with a new helmet that would protect my head again.  After a good 50+ days on snow this season already, the helmet is in good condition with minor scratches on it.

Thoughts: When I flew out to Denver for the SIA Tradeshow and On-snow, I intentionally didn’t pack my helmet because I wanted to demo helmets to try out new ones.  Immediately I found Bern and ended up taking out the Muse helmet which wasn’t love at first sight but it was love at first fit.  I ended up being the horrible demo’er, taking the helmet for the entire day and returned it as they were packing up.  I was in love.  The Bern guys said to stop back at the end of the next day to see if I could take it home.  The next day I rode a RED helmet for comparison and it didn’t compare, the fit wasn’t there and I went back to Bern hoping I’d get the Muse.  Thanks to Bern, I left Colorado with the muse helmet in my carryon…and since January a ton of winter days have been spent in this helmet testing it all winter.  It’s been my helmet for the majority of days on snow on the sunny days to the powder days.

From the Bern Baker helmet to this helmet, I like the snug fit to my head better.  I’m missing the audio component that the Baker had with the 8 tracks system because I miss having music while riding but I don’t mind wearing earbuds with the helmet.

Review Disclosure: I received this helmet from Bern.