Before I dive into this TSG Pass helmet review, there’s one thing I need to tell you this early. The TSG Pass is among the most full-face helmets for riding downhill e-skateboarding, downhill mountain biking, and other chock-full-of-risks outdoor pursuits. This downhill e-skateboarding helmet looks really badass, so if you don’t want a brain bucket that stands out too much (well because…police), the TSG Pass got your back (head?).
Here, I’ll do whatever it takes to give you a balanced product review. Rest assured I’ll mention every bad thing about this lid, and I won’t praise the good excessively to have you thinking a certain way. Now that we’re done with what to expect from me with this TSG helmet review, let’s get the ball rolling…
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TSG Pass Helmet Specs and Features
- Helmet weight: 2.3lb
- Outer Shell: Fiberglass
- Design and Shape: Oval
- Head Protection Technology: EPS Foam
- Comfort and Fit: Washable Yaoli Fabric liner & Removable Cheek Pads
- Safety Certifications: Certified to EN 1078 and ASTM F1952
- Ear Slots for Outside Noise perception
- Visor: Removable spherical visors with anti-fog treatment. You can switch from one to the other
- Closure: A helmet latch and a metal fastener
- Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large (Hard to find)
- Colors: Black, white, red, and purple available
- Now that you’ve learned what specs and features, let’s look at what this brain saver that folks on the downhill electric skateboarding community can’t stop praising.
Design and Style
The TSG Pass is mostly an oval shape and best suits oval and oval/round shapes. Most American heads have an oval-round shape, which means this helmet design should fit most heads without issues. The TSG Pass is a full-face helmet designed to offer properly certified head and face protection especially riding downhill. But while it looks like any good full-face mountain biking helmet, it’s not as light.
But it’s not as heavy and bulky as a motorcycle helmet. Nor does it look ridiculously big on heads sitting or rather trim bodies. The overall design is cute, and the workmanship is great.
The outer shell is crafted from high-quality fiberglass rather plastic which is what you get with most cheaply produced lids. Being a fiberglass outer shell means that it’s light and super tough at once. Then there’s an EPS liner that’s responsible over the helmet’s noggin protection department.
Finally, there’s cheek pads that can be swapped out in case the helmet squeezes your face way too much. Also, you can insert extra padding in there if what’s in there doesn’t work very well for your face shape. The chin bar seems well-made, too, and the ear slots correctly positioned. Lest I forget, the closure system consists of three parts namely nylon straps, a ratchet, and a snap.
But how helpful are all these design features offered by this helmet from TSG, an increasingly popular protective gear company? Well, that’s what this TSG Pass review is all about so read on…
Comfort and Fit Profile of the TSG Pass Helmet
I won’t talk your ear off on the reasons to have a properly fitting helmet. Don’t have the helmet too tight or too loose blah blah….But I must say that the TSG is one of the best fitting full-face downhill riding helmets on the skateboarding market.
When Jason, my significant other, wore the TSG Pass for the time after the package arrived from Amazon, it didn’t feel super comfortable. He has a pretty thick neck, and while he could turn his head sideways and even glance over his shoulder with relative ease, his heck ended up sore.
Well, everyone must break in their helmet, but no one wants to pay a heftier price than might seem reasonable. His neck felt exhausted and sore after e-skating around for a couple hours. But as the days passed, the soreness and discomfort reduced, and these days, it’s probably the most comfortable helmet Jason owns. Maybe that’s because there’s a comfort liner made out of Yaoli fabric, and this material conforms to the e-skateboarder’s head shape over time.
Then there’s the cheek pads that are supposed to improve comfort and help fine-tune the fit. Jason’s cheek pads seemed to push against his face muscles a little too much, but that’s likely down to him having a somewhat large head, larger than most. After removing the cheek pads, he could easily fit his big head in there and ride in great comfortable.
What if your helmet feels a little loose but not lose that you should return your TSG Pass? Just order some extra cheek pads and fit them in there so you can have a snug fit.
TSG Pass Helmet Sizing
One thing to thank TSG for is their helmet sizing chart. They seem to have put in a lot helmet fitting knowledge and thoughtfulness there…because the size chart is super accurate. If you have someone measure your head circumference using a tailor’s tape or a string and use the measurement to choose the right size, it’s like you’ll order the right size.
Jason’s melon measured large according to TSG’s size chart, and he ordered Large.
While the helmet he received squeezed his face a bit, it’s not snug to necessitate sending this brain protecting gear back to Amazon. Most of the e-skaters that bought and used the TSG Pass said it fit their heads perfectly and they didn’t need to size up or down. So, take down your head measurement correctly and order the size TSG’s helmet sizing chart prescribes for proper noggin protection.
Helmet Certifications and Head Protection Profile
Maybe I should have kicked off this TSG Pass review with describing the lid’s head protection capabilities. Protection is the MAIN reason anyone ever invests in any kind of riding head gear.
In the noggin protection department, the TSG stands head and shoulders above many options. The lid brandishes two safety certifications that promise to keep your brain safe in a mild, moderate, or major crash.
ASTM F1952 Certification
The first of these two certifications is the ASTM F1952 that satisfies every safety standard that governs downhill riding. There’s always a chance that you might eat crap after falling face-down after your e-skateboard suddenly halts and sends you flying into the space in front.
Provided the visor stays down during the entire ride (and it does if that’s what you instruct it to do), your nice-looking face and head should be safe. Specifically, the ASTM F1952 concerns itself with testing the front of full-face helmets for impact resistance against bad forward falls. To test whether a helmet meets these stringent face and head safety protection standards, the helmet is subjected to various kinds of riding environments such as hot and wet conditions and high and low temperatures.
But that’s not to say you won’t or can’t sustain a mild concussion. Nor does this ASTM F1952 certified protection ever promise to prevent any kind of accidents that culminate in sudden death. You’ll have to use your head’s faculties fully as you ride, avoiding collisions and falls at all times.
But some spills are inevitable, and when that happens, this ASTM F1952 certification should do whatever it takes to prevent cranial or brain damage. Jason has taken a fall or two, and these were pretty mild, and the TSG Pass did its job and did it well. As long as the impact from the crash isn’t beyond 300g, the TSG helmet has been tested and proven to keep e-skating heads safe and protect against brain injuries.
Certification EN 1078
Now, there aren’t huge differences between the ASTM F1952 and the EN 1078 safety certification. A European Union-focusing certification, the EN 1078 formulates various safety regulations that govern critical aspects such as the helmet’s field of vision, impact absorption, and helmet fastening gear. Designed with biking and skateboarding needs in mind, this safety and protection certification works best for crash impacts below the 250g limit.
The Helmet’s Visibility and Field of View
The design of the TSG Pass allows the wearer a decent field of view. Few helmets trump the TSG Pass as far as visual capabilities. The lid offers a really wide facial opening so that you can see the area right in front really well as well as sights that can only be seen from the corner of the eye. With a helmet with as good peripheral vision as this brain protecting gear offers, you won’t miss any breathtaking sight as you skateboard.
The visor works as it should. The anti-scratch visor serves to prevent dust, wind chill, and flies from assaulting your face as your ride different environments.
This helmet comes with two visors by the way and they’re easily switchable. One is clear while the other is a silver visor just so you can have options. The easiest way to switch from the silver visor to the clear spherical visor is to use a quarter instead of any kind of tool.
When it comes to riding in hot or sunny weather, you get great visibility. But when things start getting wet and foggy mid-journey, you’ll have to endure a little fogging up. The same goes for when you’re walking up a hill after your e-skateboard’s battery dies off on you and you’re exhaling hard. But it’s not like fogging up is a problem that happens only with this lid. I’m not sure there’s a helmet out there that never fogs when riding in cool, wet weather.
There’s another little issue relating to the visor you should know. Even though TSG says the visor has received anti-scratch treatment, lots of customers lately have received their visor with a few scratches. While not showing enough to have them returning the helmet, it’s a shame that a company of TSG’s stature can’t take enough care packaging to solve the scratching issue.
Strapping the TSG Pass on
There’s something to be said about securing the TSG Pass on your head. As mentioned above, the helmet’s fastening infrastructure comes properly certified to the EN 1078 European Union safety standards. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the durable chin strap works flawlessly.
To secure this helmet on, you need pretty good manual dexterity. And if you have missing fingers, you’ll find that operating the closure system of this lid isn’t easy at all.
Is the TSG Pass Properly Ventilated?
The issue of ventilation in a skate helmet becomes vitally important when it comes to zipping around on wheels in hot weather. You’re going to sweat, especially if you mainly pump and push a regular motorless skateboard. Sometimes, you’ll sweat up a storm especially if you’ve been pushing really hard and the temperatures outside are quite high.
When riding in these kinds of conditions, you’re going to need a helmet that ventilates really well. And you know what? The TSG pass isn’t that helmet. While this lid beats many others hands down in many design and performance parameters, it’s pretty lame as far as ventilation.
But it’s not like TSG hasn’t done anything to address issues such as breathability and fogging up. The helmet comes with little air vents around the nose that help stave off wind resistance while letting air to circulate without hindrance.
In addition, the TSG Pass boasts a fog-blocking feature that’s incorporated into the helmet’s design to boost air circulation. This fog blocker is located around the nose and mouth, and it makes sure that the air you exhale comes down and leaves the helmet.
The fog blocker works perfectly when the environment inside of the helmet is pretty sealed up. And the best way to lock up this helmet is to have the visor all the way down so that no air from outside enters the bucket. That way, it’s not as hard to create fog-free conditions inside the lid. But hey, there’s always going to be a little fogging up no matter what you do if the weather conditions outside are cool and wet.
When Jason rides his regular skateboard under a scorching sun, he ends up removing the helmet as things do get really hot inside. And when the temperatures outside drop to sub-zero degrees, there’s always a little fog to contend with. Luckily for my man, the fogging and sweating are never excessive, and they’ve never negatively affected ride quality.
Verdict: the TSG Pass could do with improvements as far as ventilation. But it offers remarkable protection, which is the first and most important WHY of splurging $200-ish on an e-skateboarding helmet.
How Noisy/Quiet is the TSG Helmet?
When out riding an electric skateboard in an area with vehicular traffic, you want things to be quiet inside the helmet. You want to escape all that ear-destroying ambient noise. But you also want to be able to hear approaching vehicles and every other sound you’d like to perceive for your safety.
But it’s not like you get exceptional sound perception with this lid. To be sure you’re safe the entire time you’re out there riding alongside cars and other motorized vehicles, choose to be extra attentive. In the end, your personal safety is a function of your helmet’s reliability as well as how careful you are as a skateboard rider.
TSG Pass Helmet Price
Let’s face it: the TSG Pass isn’t a cheap product, and for most people it may take weeks of consist savings to amass the required investment. But it’s your brain safety at stake here, friend. The helmet isn’t a budget downhill riding protective companion, but since it protects like the pro it is, it’s worth the money.
What if you’re a beginner rider and don’t feel like sinking hundreds of dollars into a helmet that might be overkill for your riding level? In that case, it’s best to choose a cheaper helmet that offers enough protection without emptying your bank balance.
You may want to check out cheaper options with decent protection credentials such as the Triple Eight Gotham dual certified.
What’s to Like About the TSG Pass
- Fits comfortably
- A badass look about it
- Size chart pretty accurate
- Several sizes and colorways available
- Solid protective abilities — dual certified
- Made of fiberglass instead of cheap-quality plastic
- Cheek pads included to customize fit
- Protective EPS liner for max protection
- Tons of positive reviews within the e-skateboarding community
What’s Not Great about the TSG Pass
- Relatively expensive but not prohibitively so
- Fogs up a bit
- Ventilation could be better
TSG Pass Helmet Review: Worth the Money?
Is the TSP Pass helmet worth its price point? Yes, this dual-certified downhill skateboarding helmet offers more protection than the typical skate helmet. While it may not be as light as some of the best regular skate helmets on the market, it is light enough for e-skateboarding and other such riding use cases.
As you might expect, this helmet is pricier than most, but its brain injury prevention credentials speaks volumes. Breathability and ventilation sure need some work, but these aspects aren’t so bad as to make the helmet less usable.
If you want a badass helmet that has friends and strangers commenting on its build quality and aesthetics, grab this product.