OK, bear with me. Many of you may have seen my thoughts on Shrey helmets, but as they are scattered across various topics in the forum it may not be clear, concise or easy to follow. Some of my previous posts can be found below.
Please do be aware of the pitfalls with Shrey. We are not stocking them due to build quality issues. The plastic grille mounts connecting the grille to the shell are made of the same stuff as your average smoke alarm. I've seen plenty of shrey helmets recently that are cracked in this area straight out the box. Some to the point of impacting on the mounting of the grille and therefore the integrity of the entire helmet
Firstly good to hear he is OK, the Masuri helmet (data correct last time I saw it) has the best rating when it comes to concussion testing so he was in safe hands with their hemet.
If it is a weight issue then Masuri are about to release a new single shell model, which is on a par with Shrey and others (GM, GN etc) in terms of being less protective than their twin shell Vision Series models, but it will be lighter just like a Shrey. It has the advantage of actually being well built, and entirely UK made, and will be a very comparable price to the Shrey helmets.
With all of the above in mind, I can't see a Shrey made overseas at a fraction of the cost warranting the same price for lesser quality.
When it comes to cricket brands, i would never let my personal thoughts impact on variety/selection of product for customers to choose from. As an example i personally have never really liked the GM Icon/Paragon shape, there are many people out there though who absolutely love it, i can't allow my personal feeling to potentially stop someone buying the bat that is right for them.
When it comes to safety products, SAFETY is our only concern. We simply will not sell something that we feel is not up to scratch. I have absolutely zero faith in the Shrey helmet having now seen over 25 of them in person. I don't care that it is lighter, or arguably better looking than a Masuri Vision series. If these are the arguments for a Shrey then as i touched on in one of the quotes above, Masuri are about to launch the Original Test model in steel and Ti that will be as light as a Shrey and traditional looking like a Shrey. Crucially it will be well built, and considering it is entirely UK made really does beg the question whether Shrey helmets produced overseas are worth their hefty price tags?
I must stress that every single Shrey i have seen had some form of defect in the crucial area that mounts the grille to the shell. These are not isolated incidents, as you will see below members on CBF have had the same experience, including one member who works at a major Australian retailer that returned their entire Shrey order for this very issue. Many of these helmets are brand new out the box with customers coming to us for a net to get used to their new lid, it is not a case of wear and tear causing this damage.
I had two of these. On the first one the plastic where the grill mounts to the helmet had cracked clean through from top to bottom without even being struck. I couldn't get a replacement from the original stockist so ordered one from another supplier and this one was much worse. Numerous cracks in the plastic mounts on both sides and even looked as though the plastic had been spot melted to repair some of the cracks. Returned it and went back to Masuri.
Such a shame as I really liked the fit and feel of the helmet but the build quality was poor on the two I had.
This was the second one I had:
We sent all ours back with same issue.
I definitely see that looking at mine, I suppose an advantage of the masuri is that the grille is essentially bolted to the halo system so shows the difference in build quality.
I HAVE DECIDED TO USE THIS TOPIC TO START DOCUMENTING THE SHREY HELMETS I COME ACROSSI'm sure i'll come across the odd example with no problems, of course i'll document those too. But really when it comes to a safety product, you need to have 100% (or as near as you can get) consistency when it comes to product construction, not a few good batches here and there mixed in with loads of rushed, substandard garbage.
Some keys things to look out for if you want to join in.
1. Every Shrey i have seen so far has an issue in the plastic area that mounts the grill to the shell. The principle reason for this is a poorly executed copy of Masuris grille mount design, using a substandard plastic (same as used to make smoke alarms, tv remote casings etc) to presumably save on costs rather than produce something thats as good as it can be. Many are cracked fresh out the box, often in multiple places. Some have obviously been identified prior to dispatch and rather than be withdrawn, have been crudely 'repaired' by melting the plastic back together. Some have cracked so severely that the crack extends into the shell itself, compromising the entire structure of the helmet.
2. Relates to the above slightly but refers more to the new helmet safety test. Due to the plastic discussed above cracking so readily, Shreys solution to get through the safety test (which examines if any debris falls onto a white sheet below the test rig. Any debris = instant fail) was not to address the problem of cracking, but to add a lip of cloth around the mounts to catch the debris, i've heard the debris rattling inside the helmet on occasion.
3. On 3 occasions i have come across a Shrey that doesn't even have the grille welded/mounted into the correct place. I'm sure these are rare occurrences as you've got to really not give two hoots about your products or be having a really bad day to let that slip through the net. Nonetheless i'm yet to see a Masuri with this issue, and Masuri are after all the brand Shrey are so keen to be compared to. Keep an eye out for this, it not only looks poor, but it is incredibly dangerous.
Lets begin with the helmet of county U15 player who in less than a week is going to SA on a tour with Huntingdonshire. He was in for a net today and both he and his mother were shocked and also extremely worried at the condition of his Shrey helmet when i pointed out where to look. Not only is the grille mount cracked in multiple places, but the cracking has extended through the shell of the helmet itself as you can see. This helmet was incredibly easy for me to bend and flex into some really interesting shapes, wouldn't like to see it put under the stress of a hard ball impact with a childs head inside.
I'll update the topic as and when i come across more, feel free to post your own findings in the meantime, or ask any questions, make points etc. I note we haven't heard from our Australian friend who was so pro Shrey a year or so ago, forgive me i've forgotten his name. Maybe someone can nudge him and let him defend the brand he declares to be market leading.
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Topic: Safety, build quality, can anyone really argue that Shrey are up to scratch?! (Read 43989 times)