Photochromatic visors

[DaytonAndy]

Just wondering if anyone had tried them and if they were any good? The guy in J+S reckoned they were brilliant but then he is trying to sell me something. £120 for the Shoei one though!

[Kwacky]

Ouch.

How quickly do they react and what's the lifespan?

I'm happy with my drop down sun visor.

[DaytonAndy]

From zero to full tint in 120 seconds. A bit slower going back the other way. It would just mean no need to worry about which visor to take out if it might be going dark on the way back. I've been caught with a dark visor on when it's going dark and I've been blinded when ive had the clear on. I did consider a flip down visor helmet but didn't fancy the extra weight at the time.

[DaytonAndy]

I assume the visor would outlast the helmet as that only has a useful life of 5 years I believe.

[Kwacky]

That 5 year life span is really old advice when helmets were made out of a different material. Much depends now on the make and model, how you keep them and how often you use them.

I've found some info about the lifespan of these type of visors

https://www.wikihelmets.com/shields/WikiShift/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good idea as you say, you can get caught out if you're using a dark visor.

[DaytonAndy]

Good info, I didn't know they degraded over time. Is that the same with photochromatic sunglasses then do you know?

[Kwacky]

Yep. I imagine it's about the same for plastic lenses. The reaction times increase until they stop working.

[Monty]

Recon I'd still want pop down sunnies as well with reaction times like that.

[DaytonAndy]

It won't brighten up instantly as you go into shade etc but on a bright sunny day it will be mainly dark, in the evening or cloudy it will be lightly tinted and at night it will be clear. It reacts to temperature and uv light supposedly.

[Rossgo]

To be honest when I was at 675cc fest last year it was peeing it down all weekend and I was using black visor...couldn't see a bloody thing! Think that's a good idea if your going to get your monies worth out it mate...personally would only invest if a bike was my only transport again IMO as 120quid is a fair old wedge for a visor!