Helmet Issues

[Ryan]

If there's another place to shop for Gentex - Horay.

 

Amen to that. Never had such garbage customer service as I have with them. I was able to buy a helmet thru them last year, but sounds like we Canadians can't now. Sounds good....saves us the headaches of dealing with them.

 

Sneaky buggers installed gear into my helmet they knew to be faulty. It had actually been recalled. When it failed, they told me to send the helmet back to them on my dime, and they'd fix it free of charge... and it would also take 2-3 months for me to get it back. I told them to get stuffed and send me the proper gear and I'd do it myself. Was two months later that the proper pieces finally arrived. :angry:

[w squared]

So will TransAero sell me a new HGU-56 spec'd out the same way as flightsuits will? I don't really want to get a military issue one, and then have to get a converter (or replace all the comms gear) in order to use it with civilian intercoms/radios. I'd also prefer it if I can order it the way I want it, and not have to pay for two sets of helmet speakers (stock speakers, and then ANR units)

[chopper_guy]

So will TransAero sell me a new HGU-56 spec'd out the same way as flightsuits will? I don't really want to get a military issue one, and then have to get a converter (or replace all the comms gear) in order to use it with civilian intercoms/radios. I'd also prefer it if I can order it the way I want it, and not have to pay for two sets of helmet speakers (stock speakers, and then ANR units)

I would advise getting both high and low impedence nicrophones in case you move up to bigger machines. Also, I would never advise getting leather lined helmets. The leather deteriorates rapidly from the sweat. A large skullcap will help this out somewhat and will prevent that head sticking to helmet feeling. I bought an HGU-55 from Flightsuits 7 years ago that turned out to be marginally too small but when I sent it in the leather had already been damaged. It was replaced with a new one at no charge. Pretty good service!

[w squared]

Purchasing ANYTHING from TransAero is proving to be problematic. I've made five phone calls to them today, and I still can't get anyone there to talk to me about helmets. Voice mail messages go unanswered, the whole office shuts down for 90 minutes at lunchtime...who would have thought that it would be so bloody difficult to give them my money.

 

I've already tried talking to flight suits, but apparently TransAero has madea stink abou them selling to Canadians, so they're not allowed to do anything of the sort.

[Skidz]

Find a friend in the US who'll do the drop-ship for you. Then you buy at Flightsuits, have 'em ship it to your friend's place, and they ship it up to you. TADA !

[w squared]

I thought of something similar to that...but it turns out that the billing adress on the credit card used to purchase must be in the US. Unless TransAero gets their thumb out in the next day or two, I'm going to have to order a reconditioned surplus helmet from New Zealand.

[w squared]

Wow. I've dealt with companies that provide poor customer service before, but TransAero seems to be in a league of their own.

 

I've spent three days...calling, e-mailing, you name it. Up to five calls a day. These people don't respond to voice mails, and it takes a PILE of e-mails to get thier attention. They promise to send you specs/pricing/etc. and you have to follow up repeatedly to get what you need. After three days, they still haven't gotten around to giving me a price quote on an HGU-56. And FORGET about calling them after 4pm Eastern.

 

I know folks complain abou the customer service at flightsuits...but it's GOT to be better than this!

[BOOMER]

A friend of mine also has quite the melon(and no neck) and he found that the new Alpha Eagle was the perfect fit for him. Just a thought...

[Flinger]

The new Alpha Eagle - Width 175mm, Length 218mm, Circumference 622mm

 

Same goes for the Alpha 200

 

You don't have to get them from the UK either. There are distributers here in Canada too.

[otas]

Flinger, are you still a distributor for alpha? if so, pm me with contact info.