At its price-point, the Scorpion is a good helmet. Its a little heavier than top tier helmets but still has some nice features.

 

For safety, I look for the Snell certification if I can possibly afford it. Nevertheless, this is one of the many areas where "you get what you pay for" is false. What is _true_ is that you don't get what you don't pay for. The two aren't the same thing at all. Fit/finish, paint quality, features, and safety performance aren't nearly as expensive as Arai, Shark, Shoei, etc. would have you believe. Or maybe I should say, it's not as expensive as their advertising and sponsorship budgets require? You can see this by looking at the quality (and safety certifications and performance) of a number of the low-priced helmets available now, and also from the webBikeWorld reviews. In the interest of full disclosure, I say these things as I'm trying to acquire an Arai helmet, because I have a head shape that's tough to fit w/o causing me a headache, and I believe Arai makes the right shape for me. If it fits well, doesn't give me a headache, and is Snell M2010 certified, it's worth it to me.

Are you guys aware of the SHARP helmet testing, out of the UK (UK gov't testing)? Helmets available there are often different than even the same-name helmets in other markets, but the testing is still very interesting. Arai, for example, only scores fair in side impact testing, despite their wonderful reputation.

EDIT: Sorry, I meant to link to the SHARP site: http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/