With every passing season, manufacturers somehow manage to produce lighter and lighter gear to meet the needs of players at the highest levels of competition. In recent years, the focus has been on skates and sticks, with breakthrough products such as the Bauer Supreme TotalOne Skates and CCM U+ Crazy Light Stick. 2010 marks the year that Easton produced the lightest high-performance hockey helmet ever made: The Easton Stealth S19 Z-Shock Hockey Helmet. Weighing in at less than 350 grams, the S19 helmet is nearly 1/2 the weight of most other high performance hockey helmets, putting it in a class of its own.
Easton was able to accomplish this lightweight design by implementing several subtle changes to the traditional design. First, Easton eliminated a large amount of excess shell material with their "Monocoque" construction, a one-piece shell design which enabled them to pad the helmet with more EPP foam while streamlining the contour of the shell. Traditional helmets are constructed with two separate shell pieces which can be compressed and elongated to make size adjustments; the S19 Z-Shock is a one-piece design so the adjustment mechanism is an internal band which operates the same way as the adjustment strap on a baseball hat (pictured below).
With as much EPP foam as they were able to stuff into the S19 Helmet, you'd assume that comfort would be compromised for the sake of protection – not so. The S19 Z-Shock is lined with comfortable, antimicrobial pads that are strategically placed to provide a soft, snug fit. Minimizing the amount of hardware used was also one of the keys to constructing the lightest helmet possible. The one piece design required no adjustment screws and the ear pieces were attached flush to the edges of the earholes on the helmet to further reduce material overlap.
Every feature of the S19 helmet combines the innovative technology of Bell Sports with the well crafted touch of Easton's hockey engineers. The result: "The Next Big Thing"... the Easton S19 Z-Shock Helmet.
Buy the Easton S19 Z-Shock Helmet at HockeyGiant.com
I have been using this helmet since it came out. I love the lightweight of the helmet. The biggest problem I have is that I use a full wire cage on the helmet, and the weight of the wire cage is too heavy for the helmet. You really feel the weight in the front which takes some getting used to. Easton or somebody needs to develop a lightweight cage to compliment this helmet. If I could play with no cage or even a half shield it would be perfect.
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