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[spgti]

I took advantage of the trial offer to get a new helmet + Nek-Tek for my son. Probably a bit of a different slant on the review to the other "trialists". In the next season he will play U13's and up with probably an introduction to adult cricket. He is currently winter training with the county (u13s). With this in mind he will be facing a range of bowling with the pace increasing and being a caring father I want to reduce any chance of injury.
We received the helmet and Nek-Tek on Friday and he will be netting for the 3rd time in it today. After the initial changing the internal padding to get a good fit and fitting the Nek-Tek my son preferred the fit, weight and comfort compared to his junior specific GN helmet. Just a point on the Nek-tek, I am still not sure the best way to use the velcro tab in the centre, and, to be honest it looks functional but not as neat a fit as the Masuri option, a bit more heath robinson. On the plus side my son said he cannot feel it is there when he is wearing the helmet.
So how does it feel in the nets and compare to the GN (junior specific model)? Like I said earlier, once I got the internal padding sorted the fit was a lot better. The GN  has the adjustable headband, but my son said to have the best fit the band always felt a bit too tight and would be uncomfortable after a long batting period, so far the Ayrtek is far superior and with the inserts I was sent, even though a faff, as he grows we should always be able to get a good comfy fit. I could also see that he messed with the helmet less while netting than with his old helmet. You can see that the grill position is closer to the peak than his old helmet but he said visibility is better, whether this is just that the fit is a lot better.
Overall a good helmet and the nek-tek looks like it will do the job, I just think it does look like an after thought.

cheers

Steve

[Ayrtek Cricket]

@spgti

Thanks for the feedback and comments. The central tab is intended to velcro attach to the EPS liner on the helmet to help pull the guard and shell together so it doesn't stray when in use. It will prob be useful if we produce a video/photos on how it fits so that customers buying them have a guide. Given the Nek-Tek is currently hand made we have the ability to adapt them if needs be.

Glad he's happy with the fit, we have an array of customers with different head shapes and sizes, Juniors with adult sized heads and adult with junior sized heads. We have found the range of thicknesses of padding helps with this. Peripheral visions is always something we have had positive feedback on as well due to the shape of the peak on our shells. It was designed to give the batsmen the widest possible viewing angles whilst still offering a rigid structure.

[spgti]

I would agree with the comments above (Ayrtek). When we received the helmet, I wasn't too sure on just using the inserts for the fit, but after taking some time and velcroing various thicknesses together my son couldn't believe how comfy it felt and it felt very secure even without the chin strap fastened. The fixed grill on the trial helmet also seemed perfect for my son and the first 2 sessions he has batted really well when wearing it, I have just had a message from the wife, who is at the county training with him, that his batting there has been really good as well, so I would say the higher fixed grill is not detrimental to vision.

A video on the Nek-Tek would be good as I like everything to look as neat and "factory" as possible. I understand that this is a first batch of a handmade product and handling it, you can tell it offers good protection though.

Also is it possible to get more of the internal foam inserts if needed ?

thanks

steve

[Ayrtek Cricket]

Steve, George is on the case and has some recorded I believe that we will get uploaded ASAP.

Great to hear hes getting on well with it and finds it less of a distraction to use when in the nets. Spending the time to get the fit right is worthwhile from the outset so its as snug as possible without being overly tight.

No problems re padding if you do want spares as we sell them via our webshop in the event they become worn over the seasons use etc. We also offer the Youth or Adult sizes if people want to mix and match.

http://www.ayrtek.com/product/replacement-padding/

[spgti]

Any luck with fitting video as I am still not happy with the Nek-Tek fit.

thanks

steve

[Ayrtek Cricket]

Ill chase up George now to see if he's done one if not will get on the case.

Regards

Tom

[spgti]

Excellent customer service from Tom (Ayrtek) and George (Stretton Fox). After a 30 min "facetime" with George we have sorted out a temporary fitting solution for the Ayrtek helmet with EPS liner and George and Tom are going to work on a more permanent solution (the EPS liner fits too well !) The fit is now really good, just a few cosmetics to tidy.

thanks again for taking the time to help sort this out.

Steve

[Ayrtek Cricket]

@spgti Steve glad a chat with George helped, we value each and every customer that comes our way and aren't going to blindly take your money and move onto the next person if you should happen to have an issue.

we are always learning from customer feedback and this in turn helps us to further improve products for the end users benefit so thanks for taking the time to feedback your views this afternoon and in the emails we have exchanged.

Hopefully you now have a more positive fit as a result of them.

Cheers

Tom

[spgti]

Just a quick update. My son has netted about 8 times in the helmet now and likes it more the more he uses it. The smaller gap between peak and grill doesn't seem to be an issue. The Nek-Tek looks better with the temporary solution that we worked out with George, just waiting for the more permanent fix. Overall happy with the product.

Steve

[spgti]

Any update for the more permanent solution for attaching the Nek-Tek to this type of helmet ?

cheers

Steve

[Ayrtek Cricket]

Steve

Looking into it but ive got lots on my plate currently with 2 other projects  outside of cricket with pressing deadlines so as soon as we've had the chance to look into it properly ill report back.

Regards

Tom