Japan's Secret HUD Motorcycle Helmet - Shoei Opticson Review

Head up displays on motorcycle helmets have a poor track record. Can the Shoei Opticson buck the trend?

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Directed and Edited by Max Bailey

[thepaperboy]

"Your Ducati is about to explode." 😆😂 Worth it for that one line alone. 👍

[karlquint]

I’m not sure if people realize, but these videos are pure art in themselves. They are sooo incredibly good.

[robertgoerss]

As long as Shoei is working on protecting us from an autonomous hands free Telsa from killing us at a stop light, go for it !

[onseki]

The helmet itself looks phenomenal, well done routing and access ports and their superb liners. My RF1400 has been an utter dream, love it

[cadventures]

That podcast line got me. Excellent work as always, Sir. And should you find yourself in Utah, I have quite a few engined toys with your name on it.

[brendanmcaleer]

I talked with the guys at Damon about this a while back (one founder was in the snowboarding helmet HUD industry), and their take was that visual clutter actually creates more issues for the rider, lengthier reaction times etc. Hence their tactile bar warnings etc. Obviously there's the fighter pilot analogy, but fighter pilot training costs $5-10M.

[donboles]

“You’re being followed by an Albertan”. Love how Ryan likes to Canadianize his vids!

[trooper]

The insta360 was brand new when I first stated looking for helmet friendly cameras and I thought it had a lot of potential. I’m glad it is improving and doing well enough for a sponsor here

[MattSwain]

Definitely looks like a prototype rather than a finished product. The lens thing looks super flimsy and the external battery seems really awkward (although I get that you wouldn’t want the extra weight in your helmet - they need to make it more power efficient). I can see uses for a HUD, but it seems they’re still some time away from being mainstream

[jacobcampbell]

Anyone catch the whoopsy at 5:00 where Ryan went to grab the left grip and missed? Awesome video guys.

[SmallSpoonBrigade]

It seems to me that this would make more sense to be built into the windshield. Camera manufacturers have optical image stabilization down to a science and lasers can beam the light to where it goes with high efficiency.

[LathanM]

This the main reason I wanted Google Glass to be a success. Having a status display that is portable is the way to go. I could take it from track days to street riding to AVD without worrying about it. Seeing Shoie getting into the mix is nice but I agree the lid is a prototype of things to come. The glasses solution combined with a helmet that has a break light on it would be ideal. I presently added on of the addon ones to my lid after noticing another rider with it while I was in the car. He was on a small custom sportbike with tiny break and turn lights. That thing made a huge difference in letting me see him.

[Shrimpycus]

Great point about the 5 year life of a helmet, an issue that is often overlooked when shopping for bluetooth sets and helmet cams!

[bradweinberger]

As an Albertan, I'm offended but I understand

[paullewis]

The glasses seem way more practical to me. I have a hard time seeing with my mirrors when they are vibrating too hard. I couldn't imagine putting blurry information right in front of my face. I hope the glasses come out soon. It would be nice to have blind spot monitoring in heavy traffic.

[quillmaurer]

Great analysis there - evaluating the design and it's future. What impresses me most though is the sponsor bit - while I've seen some entertaining and sometimes relevant sponsor plugs, this one was probably the best yet, making it into a mini behind-the-scenes of the video itself and showing how the cameras were used in this production, making the entire video into a demonstration of their capability that probably wouldn't be possible any other way. Every bit of it aside from the specific mention of them being a sponsor and the code to use would have been a meaningful contribution to the video even if it wasn't a sponsor. The good fortune to be sponsored by the maker of the products used in creative and worth-mentioning ways for making the video itself.

[cgmehta]

This helmet actually looks pretty cool. Give it a few years, and I may even buy one

[mikemillerr]

Man, you are way to good for such a niche topic!! The joke about podcasts is so brilliant! Every episode has so many of this great little jokes that pass so fast but are gold. Really you should consider other subject. On the other hand you make a video about a japanese helmet with a million views! Wish you all the best, people like you make youtube so great!!!!

[kjaubrey]

Back in the early 2000s I came across a fellow Honda 919 rider who had made a fairing from an airplane nosecone and had developed a heads up display in his helmet that projected it directly on his visor.

[djbeste]

The only YouTube show where I do not skip the sponsor part.