Review: Scorpion EXO-1000

I put a deposit down on one of these puppies last August, it arrived two nights ago (a month ahead of schedule!) and fortunately the roads are still clear (BIG snowstorm en route tomorrow) so I got to use it a bit.

This is my first brand-new helmet, my first lid came with the bike, slightly used, a flat-black "G-Max" modular, that just happened to fit me OK. The Scorpion is a very good-looking helmet, I got a gloss silver with white and red trim, very classy looking. Oh, and a new helmet has a "new car" smell that's great!

I guess I don't have too much to say about the pump-up cheek system; when I put it on it fit my head perfectly as-is. I did pump up the pads but they just squashed my cheeks; guess I'm a jowly good fellow. It did seem to take quite a few pumps to feel a change, I'm glad I won't be using that feature. The helmet is much harder to put on than my old modular, but once its on it was very comfortable.

I was really anxious to see how the anti-fog faceshield would work. Wore it driving to work yesterday morning, it was 32 F on the nose. The faceshield didn't fog up at all, but about halfway to work I started seeing condensation droplets forming on the inside, which were almost as distracting. I got to work and started wiping them off, then noticed that I had ALL the vents closed! d'Oh!!! This morning was the same temperature; with just the front/bottom vent open, the faceshield stayed absolutely clear, even at long stoplights. I'm stoked about that, just hope the coating or whatever they use lasts a good long time. :thumbup:

Airflow/ventilation was fine, but the helmet was pretty loud (think I'd read that on another review too), just a bit louder than my old modular helmet, which was a bit disappointing. I usually wear earplugs on the Interstate so it won't be a big deal to me.

The integral flip-down sunscreen was one of the biggest factors in my buying this helmet. It works well, although the tint is a bit light; it worked fine mid-day yesterday, but that was under low-angle winter sun, don't know if it'll be enough next summer. Maybe if enough people complain Scorpion will come out with a darker sunscreen (they're easily removable).

All in all, I'm happy; if the antifog lasts I'll be extremely happy! :Sport:

Thanks Botch, I noted about the light shield tint on a previous post in another thread. Overall though, it seems like a decent helmet to me.
Was going to let the snow we're sending you be a surprise but seems like you already had some intel on that.....drats. Took the car today and will take it to work tomorrow since the roads are a little messy here. Have a good one.

Did you notice anything unusual about the extra weight of the helmet. I've heard that the helmet is on the heavy side.

VEGASRIDER said:

Did you notice anything unusual about the extra weight of the helmet. I've heard that the helmet is on the heavy side.

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My trusty kitchen scale says it weighs 4 lb 3 oz, 5 oz more than my G-max. I haven't really noticed a difference while wearing it, and I took a 40-mile ride yesterday afternoon (it's been raining all morning here, and SNOWING in the mountains, Wo0T!!!)
Last summer I tried on a carbon fiber helmet (believe it was an HJC) that was wonderfully light, but it was expensive, and black.

EDIT: I just noticed on the webBikeWorld helmet weight chart they list the EXO 1000's weight as 4 lb 1/4 oz; I'm assuming their scale is more accurate than my kitchen scale full of marinara sauce...

web bike world has a very good review on the EXO 1000.
But I'm more interested on the Schuberth J1. Does anyone have any experience with the J1 or heard of it... good or bad (like the price, ouch).

do you have any pics of the hemet, i might be looking for a replacement to my Suomy come springtime.

Well, I couldn't take it any longer. I pulled out the cheek pads and helmet liner and gave them a wash. Something about it smells like chocolate in there when new? Botch, did you have a problem with the smell? The wash water didn't look to good afterwards either. I wonder what they do to it. Anyway, mine is the dark silver Apollo in medium and weights 4lbs, 2 oz, slightly higher than my old Bell Apex at 3lbs, 14oz. I haven't taken it on the road yet so I can't comment on ventilation or noise. Wearing it around the house I felt the cheek pads pressing in around my mouth and found after a while that I start to drool. I thought that would only happen while I was riding on the bike but this helmet does it for you. Overall, I am happy with the purchase. :thumbup:

biker_dude43 said:

I pulled out the cheek pads and helmet liner and gave them a wash. Something about it smells like chocolate in there when new? Botch, did you have a problem with the smell? The wash water didn't look to good afterwards either.

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Congrats on your purchase! I didn't have a chocolate smell that I noticed.
Do have one update: first, Scorpion do sell several different sunshields, but I've found that the "light" tint on the stock one is just fine, driving around in bright sunlit snow didn't make me squint at all. It must have good UV filters built in or something.

Nice looking helmet, looks very comfy.

I am not sure if the visors are the same on the exo-700 & the exo-1000 but for the 700 they have a photo-chromatic (auto tinting) visor. so if the flip down visor isn't quite enough get the photo-chromatic with it and you should be fine! :thumbup: nice lid!

which gmax do you have? I was looking at the exo but when i saw the gmax for 107 i had to try it out. Seems pretty nice out of the box but have yet to ride with it, and was curious how they compared

Botch said:

My trusty kitchen scale says it weighs 4 lb 3 oz, 5 oz more than my G-max. I haven't really noticed a difference while wearing it, and I took a 40-mile ride yesterday afternoon (it's been raining all morning here, and SNOWING in the mountains, Wo0T!!!)
Last summer I tried on a carbon fiber helmet (believe it was an HJC) that was wonderfully light, but it was expensive, and black.

EDIT: I just noticed on the webBikeWorld helmet weight chart they list the EXO 1000's weight as 4 lb 1/4 oz; I'm assuming their scale is more accurate than my kitchen scale full of marinara sauce...

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It's their modular one, can't find a model number anywhere on it It fits and feels great, but I wanted the built-in visor and a helmet that wasn't flat black.

Six-Month Update:
Finally time to pull out the padding and give it a good scrubbing, and TWO of the snap receptacles (the female part that's supposed to stay in the helmet) broke loose. They were the front of the cheekpad snap on each side. I don't feel like I manhandled it or anything, sounds like BikerDude didn't have a problem with them.
I called Scorpion's Customer Service line, and they told me to take it back to the dealer, and they'd send it back for me. He didn't sound surprised or ask for any details, so I'm thinking it might be a design problem or at least a bad batch of snaps; at least they're going to repair it, no problem. I was afraid the dealer wouldn't want to mess with it, but they said, No, we'll take care of that. :thumbup:
So, I'm using the G-max again for awhile. The flat black is still really hot in the sun (it was 98 F on the way home tonight), but now I notice the 5 oz lighter weight :thumbup: and it doesn't crush down on my ears as much, although it probably doesn't provide as much protection in a side impact, either. I did miss the modular feature, hmmm....

Here is my 3000km later update.

The smell is finally gone so that’s no longer an issue.

The noise or wind noise is higher than normal even at 60kph. I’m wearing ear plugs all the time now. If I don’t when putzing around at 60kph, I can’t stand it.

I finally broke down and bought the dark smoke tinted face shield and that was the topping on the cake. Almost 100% of my riding is during the day time. I don’t wear my sunglasses underneath anymore and for the more powerful sunlit days, I drop the inner shield. Sometimes when I’m moving slow, below 30kph on a hot day, the outer shield is up while the inner one is down for better ventilation.

Speaking of ventilation, they’re just okay. The cover on the chin one has fallen off once and I see that one of the catches is broke but it still works. I might get it replaced. Also my Bell helmet had screens on the intakes where the EXO-1000 does not. Yesterday on my 400km road trip, I had a couple of small bugs come through the vents and fly in front of me. That sucked.

I found the helmet strap, the D-ring side to be a little shorter than on my Bell as I find it a little more difficult reach wise to lock the helmet on the FZ6 helmet lock.

I don’t bother pumping up the cheeks as the helmet fits fine without them and if I did, I’d forget they were and practically rip my ears off trying to get the helmet off.

The helmet rides well on the highway, the wind doesn’t really bother me, so no head banging going on there.

Overall, it’s a nice helmet, but if this one got toasted, I might look at something else, don’t get me wrong, I like it, but for the price, it falls short in the ventilation area.

P.S. The front two tabs holding in the liner are not snap ins, you need to slide the liner rearward at those points otherwise you'll pull them out of the foam.

biker_dude43 said:

P.S. The front two tabs holding in the liner are not snap ins, you need to slide the liner rearward at those points otherwise you'll pull them out of the foam.

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Uh-oh. I'd better re-read my instruction manual...

Thanks for your update!

I mentioned earlier that the tab on the chin vent was broken and I hadn’t decided whether to replace it or not. Well, I decided. I went down to my local dealership that I bought the helmet from and mentioned the broken tab. They called Scorpion right there on the spot and said Scorpion was going to throw a new chin piece in the mail to the dealership. That was over 2 months ago and then I get a call last week that it was in. Well I bike down there and they pull a new one out of a Scorpion shipping box, brand new still in the package. I took a quick look and the tab was broken on it too. They fortunately had another one in the shipping box. Guess what, it was also assembled broken. :disapprove: They apologized and would call me again when another one comes in, great, probably another 2 months. Well, earlier this week they called and said they had one. I stopped in expecting to see another broken one, but this one was perfect, because according to the salesperson, they took it off another helmet. Hey, what ever works, I took it and now it’s been replaced. :thumbup:



My final opinion on the Scorpion EXO-1000, slow service from the factory, on the ball service from the dealership, so far no acknowledgement from the factory that they have a problem with the chin vents, still dealing with the wind noise, and for some reason it seems to pipe the engine sound straight up from the bottom of the helmet. Thank goodness for ear plugs. Yeah, I would probably still buy another one but I think the price is a little high for the quality and construction. :eyebrow: