I need to preface this post with this: I am not an expert in ballistics, so as such, this post does not focus on the ballistics aspect of this helmet, but rather, value, weight and practicality. I have no military/law enforcement/contractor experience.
Introduction:
The 3M Ultra Light Weight Ballistic helmet is an interesting helmet with its advertised selling points being:
extreme light weight due to the Polyethylene shell
boltless (which is HUGE)
modern combat helmet features such as WARCOM 3 hole shroud, arc rails, the whole 9 yards
D3O pads
This helmet may not exactly win in the looks department, since in my unprofessional opinion, the Ops-Core and Team Wendy helmets look way more fly, but it's still a streamlined design and offers the lower weight benefits that should be expected in modern day combat helmets. Now there are a few drawbacks I will get into with this helmet, but the major one I want to address now is that this helmet is not very available to civilian purchases. Optics Planet, where this was bought from, limited the sale to MIL/LE only. I only have this helmet in from a friend in the military who wanted me to test it and compare it to my Ops Core Maritime.
Why the 3M/Avon N49?:
As stated before, this helmet is a lightweight ballistic helmet, and I believe 3M and Avon did a phenomenal job with the materials research when designing and conceptualizing this helmet. This helmet is made of the same material as the Marine Corps issued ECH helmet, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. In organic chemistry jargon, this really means a high density polymer with great ballistic potential. However, unlike the Marine Corps issued ECH helmet, the N49 is thinner while still maintaining the NIJ Level 3A ballistics rating. NOTE, when companies such as Ops Core or 3M put out shell weights, one should do their due diligence to note that this is a SHELL WEIGHT and not the actual weight of the helmet with everything else such as straps considered. The size large shell is 1.26 pounds, but with everything considered on it, it weighs 2.29 pounds.
Let's compare that to the weight of my Ops Core Maritime, in size XL (so larger than the size L from the 3M/Avon), which is 2.73 pounds with the Ops Core VAS shroud. We're looking at a 0.43 pound difference or 6.88 oz. Make of that difference what you will, but it's not an entirely reliable comparison due to the size differences to begin with. But it is lighter!
A huge selling point on the 3M/Avon N49 would also be its boltless design for the helmet straps. Basically, putting large holes in your helmet shell creates ballistic weak points on the helmet, which is why moving towards the boltless design is a big step. HOWEVER this does come with its own drawbacks in that there's a dearth of boltless, let alone, boltless straps that are compatible with the N49. So if you're not a fan of the N49's stock strap... well you're pretty much SOL there until there's a standardization of boltless helmets. *I do find it a bit odd that the NVG shroud doesn't utilize a boltless design as it's still held in place with 3 Wilcox style nuts and screws.
I believe that the fact that the N49 uses arc rails is a huge win for the N49 since the aftermarket availability for arc rail accessories is huge. Boltless arc rails? Hell yes. The 3M arc rail adapters seamlessly slid on the rails without a struggle.
The shroud! It's ugly as SIN, however the bottom of the shroud has such a large open space for hooking the bungee retention back in place, which is a massive win to me. Traditionally, Ops Core VAS and Skeleton shrouds have a smaller space for placing the bungee retention cords back in place which is problematic for butterfingers such as myself. Just that little design makes a huge difference for night vision shroud design.
Why NOT the N49?:
I would not consider the N49 for civilian usage for the following reasons:
Lack of availability to civilians, this helmet is pretty much MIL/LE restricted with a lot of vendors such as Optics Planet
Availability of other ballistic helmets at a lower price point that are available to civilians such as the Gentex TBH, but at the cost of weight savings
The helmet strap design is.... odd. So I love a few aspects about the N49 helmet strap, for one it uses the Cam Fit style buckles which allows for secure size adjustment. Also the ratchet wheel has an extremely positive click which puts the OCC-dial's gummy adjustment dial and the Team Wendy's limp-dick boa adjustment clicks to shame. HOWEVER, the plastic brow and side retention feels overbearing, possibly even moreso than the OCC-dial.
The D3O pads are effective for preventing TBI, but due to how they're designed, you may experience initial discomfort before fully acclimatizing to it. THAT SAID once you get the strap and pads adjusted and correctly repositioned, it's not as bad. THAT BEING SAID, you could always switch to 4D pads.
Conclusion:
From a price-point perspective when comparing this helmet with Ops-Core for military/LE buyers... yeah I'd argue in a lot of ways this helmet is better than Ops-Core. At 1.1K as compared to spending 1.8K on an Ops-Core SF FAST helmet, you're getting a lightweight shell with similar capabilities to the Ops-Core SF FAST. HOWEVER, you are losing out on being able to switch out the helmet straps, if that matters to you. But this issue doesn't outweigh the fact that this helmet is stupidly light, boltless, etc.
For us civilians, however, it's better to take our business to Ops-Core and Team Wendy.
Additional notes:
For Size Large N49s, M/L or modern size Large Ops-Core Maritime covers will fit this. But it has to be the Ops-Core maritime cover since both cuts are very similar.
If you are at the upper quadrant/edge of the sizing charts for the helmet, jump a size. So if you're upper for Size L, buy a Size XL since you'll have less issues with comfort and 3M arc rail adapters clicking out.
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