Hi!

Any opinions or reviews about Gath helm with Full Retractable Visor?
Does it protect your face from board impact?
How about fogging of the shield?
Would you recommend it or better just plain Gath helm without visor?

Thanks
Matej

well, there's always water on the visor and
you look very funny if the visor's used.
i don't think it'll protect that good (the visor)

...

if there's a good offer, take the visor, if the visor's a lot more expensive than the regular gath, go for the plain one ..

I used the Gath helmet for windsurfing and it was fine for that application. What really protects your noggin is the thickness of the padding. Gath's imo are too thin to protect you from land based obstacles s.a. in a lofting incident.

The face shield I used ended up fogging up when I exherted myself but cleared once I got going. As a beginner who ended up swimming alot, the fogging was a nuisance as the water level came up to my chin which suffocated air flow temporarily. After about 3 days of use, the face shield became too scratched up and impeded clear vision. Today I would only use it for windsurfing with the shield up as a sun visor.

For windsurfing, don't spend the extra dough for the face shield. For kiting, buy a beefier (cheaper) helmet.

I've been using the Gath helmet with face visor for about a year. I don't pull the visor down all the way. Only enough to shield my eyes like a ball cap. I like it allot for this purpose. I also use goggles. Ultraviolet rays from the sun will do your eyes in sooner than later if you don't protect them. It's also a good idea to block the glare from your vision so that you can keep a close eye out for swimmers or other partially hidden obstacles in the water.

In 1990, the 1st, and vary biggest waves I ever paddled out at pipeline, hawaii, I saw a guy with the full visor helmet.
Liam Macnama ra: I saw him drop in, get at least 10-15 feet back in a solid ten foot barrel, pull the visor down(way back in the barrel), then get spit out, almost running me over.

I guess he pulled the visor down in the tube to protect his eyes from the spit.

Guy looked like darth vader coming out of that tube, I'll neve forget it.

Hello Joe,
that was fuckin funny, I can really imagine that, we all need these kind of memories!!!
Have a good one,
Peter