Met Revo review: a sweaty MTB helmet with a particular fit, but its safety rating will make you want it

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MET's Revo is a good-looking helmet that’s packed with safety features; when it was launched, it scored five stars in independent testing by Virginia Tech.

Virigina Tech’s test criteria has since changed, bumping the score down to 4, however the lid is still as safe as it was before.

The MIPS Air design means there’s no squeaking or noise when you ride, and it’s impressively stable on your head.

But the pads don’t absorb sweat well, so it quickly runs into your eyes. It’s also not the most comfortable lid, with two distinct hotspots on the top of your head caused by the pads and the expanded polystyrene (EPS) interior.

Despite extensive research, it doesn’t feel any cooler than other open-face helmets when you’re moving slowly. Verifying how good it is at venting heat – beyond experiential reporting – is impossible.

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MET Revo specifications

Met Revo performance

The Revo’s a good-looking open-face helmet that offers plenty of protection thanks to its deep rim.

Unfortunately, its looks aren’t enough to redeem its rather uncomfortable fit.

Feeling narrow and long rather than wide and short, or more neutral, I struggled to get the front and rear of the retention cradle tight enough on my head before the sides became too snug.

Adding to the narrow fit are two intrusive hotspots on the top of your head. The rear-most part of the longest internal pads and ribs focuses pressure directly on your head, creating discomfort after only minutes of wearing it.

Releasing the retention cradle’s pressure helps alleviate this slightly – because you can lift the lid away from your head – but this creates instability, potentially negatively impacting protection levels.

Cutting the tail end of the pad off or shaving away some of the EPS liner would be a better bet, if you can stomach mutilating this rather costly lid.

But I wouldn’t recommend either solution, given the implications it may have on its ability to protect you in a crash.

This is a shame because when it’s tightened up correctly – despite the pressure being uneven across your head – it’s very stable on rough ground and needs only infrequent adjustments.

That stability is helped by its relatively low weight; the lid doesn’t have any inertia to bounce about or make your neck muscles work too hard to keep your head straight.

Your vision is unrestricted by the peak even in its lowest setting, and true to MET's word, it releases easily and deforms when manipulated in a way to mimic a crash.

Unfortunately, the lid’s front rim contacts the upper frame of modern, large MTB glasses when the helmet’s retention cradle is set to its correct height.

Not only does this make the two rattle against each other, it also pushes the glasses down your nose.

Lifting the lid’s retention cradle helps reduce the issue, but could impact protection.

To boot, the helmet’s lower rim and retention cradle contact the glasses' arms as they sit above your ears. This squashes them onto the tops of your ears, creating intense hotspots and can cause the glasses to move about.

I abandoned using my riding glasses with the helmet given the lack of compatibility.

At medium-to-high speeds, there’s plenty of airflow; enough to feel it flowing over my rather bald scalp, but whether that’s measurably more than the brand’s Roam helmet is impossible to say for certain.

When you’re stationary or climbing at a crawl, which is possibly when you need the most venting, it’s no cooler than any other trail-focused open-face lid.

Frustratingly, the slim MIPS Air padding barely absorbs any sweat before becoming saturated. Traditional helmet liners store up the sweat, delaying or trickling its release down your forehead into your eyes.

This means you can choose when to release the Niagara-Falls-like sweat drips by squeezing the lid against your head, dubbed by Gary [ed’s note: not our Gary, Wyn Masters] as a “good squeeze bro”.

This isn’t so with the Revo. As soon as your head or forehead begins perspiring, any droplets of moisture make their way instantly down your forehead and into your eyes or down the backs of your glasses (if you’ve still got them on).

A silicone band around the helmet’s front rim – like the one found on the Troy Lee Designs A3 – would help redirect sweat away from your eyes and would be a vast improvement for the Revo. Better yet would be absorbent pads.

Met Revo bottom line

The Revo promises the world with its proven safety features and extensive cooling research, but on the trail, it’s uncomfortable, sweat-ridden and isn’t compatible with a host of riding glasses.

If the Revo is comfortable for your head type – as it is for my wife’s, who has been using it a great deal – and you’re not as sweaty as me, then it’s as good as other lids on the market.

But the adage ‘try before you buy’ couldn’t be more applicable. With my head shape, if I’d dropped £170 on the Revo, I’d be gutted.

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