Ski Helmets : Question and Answer

A:

Since ear buds can start to hurt after a while when you are wearing a ski helmet, helmets with built-in audio capabilities are becoming increasingly popular for those who want to listen to some tunes while they are on the mountain. In general, ski helmet manufacturers will design some helmets with headphones already built into the ear pads and some helmets with removable ear pads, allowing you to purchase an audio system separately if you want. That said, fit and safety should be the most important factors you consider when buying a ski helmet, so we don't recommend making purchasing decisions based on a helmet's audio capabilities. Since most helmet manufacturers will sell audio systems separately, we suggest narrowing down the certified helmets that fit you the best and then checking which ones have removable ear pads that can be replaced with audio ones. You can find audio systems sold separately for a little as $30 (ex. Giro), but our favorite system is the Smith Optics Skullcandy™ Bluetooth® Kit for $200. In addition to being able to easily control your music and volume from the "glove-friendly" buttons on your ear pad, you can also quickly switch between listening to your music and handling incoming phone calls. No more worrying about dropping your phone off a chair lift or missing calls because you couldn't hear it ringing on the slopes - Genius!