Last month, Virginia Tech researcher, Dr. Stefan Duma released the results of testing 24 different whitewater helmets from five different brands that are on the market. Specifically, they were evaluating the helmet’s ability to reduce concussion risk.
The report is available here. Dr. Duma and his team gave the helmets a rating from 1 to 5 stars, which came from their test scores. It’s slightly confusing at first look, but the lower the score, the better the helmet performed in their tests. This testing system is based on the STAR evaluation system, which you can read about here.
The top five helmets according to their report all belonged to Sweet Protection helmets. The highest-rated helmet went to the Sweet Proection Wanderer model, which earned a 5-star rating after scoring just 0.25 points in their tests.
The full list of ratings can be found in the report.