Vicis Zero1 outperforms competing smart helmets in NFL/NFLPA safety tests

By Kelly Hodgkins Updated January 5, 2018

VICIS ZERO1 TECH SYNOPSIS

The sport of football is increasingly under scrutiny for its high risk of brain injury from repeated concussions. After years of denial, the NFL acknowledged this risk and started funding research that will produce technology to reduce the risk of concussions. One company, Seattle-based Vicis, used this windfall to develop the Zero1, a football helmet designed to absorb an impact and bounce back much like a car bumper. The technology is so effective against impacts that the Zero1 ranked highest in a recent NFL/NFL Players Association Helmet Laboratory performance test that evaluated 33 of the best helmets available.

The Zero1 uses a multi-layer design that is finely tuned for the impact types and velocities observed in professional football. The helmet has an impact-absorbing layer comprised of a series of columns that flex in response to an impact regardless of its angle or location. Because of their arrangement, these columns can absorb both linear and rotational impacts. This inner absorbing layer is paired with a shell that bends much like a car bumper. It flexes upon impact and immediately bounces back to its original form before the next impact. Safe and comfortable, the Zero1 is equipped the company’s Axis Fit technology which allows players to dial in a custom fit.

Earlier in 2017, the NFL/NFLPA Helmet Laboratory tested 33 different helmets in a series of tests designed to simulate head impacts experienced by NFL players. The team of researchers divided the helmets into two groups and evaluated each helmet’s ability to reduce the severity of the impact. When the testing was completed, the Zero1 had the best overall score, beating competing helmets from Riddell, Schutt, and Xenith. The Zero1 will undergo another round of testing this summer, but this time the helmet will be evaluated by players in real-world situations. More than 25 NFL teams are expected to wear the Zero1 helmet during their upcoming pre-season activities.

Topics

Contributor

Kelly's been writing online for ten years, working at Gizmodo, TUAW, and BGR among others. Living near the White Mountains of…

Outdoors

Goodbye, coolers. The EcoFlow Glacier doesn’t need ice — it makes it

The EcoFlow Glacier is a fridge shaped like a cooler with its own battery,

Every cooler operates on borrowed time. It leaves for your camping trip brimming over with crisp produce and ice-encrusted beer that looks straight out of a Super Bowl commercial, and returns with a soggy block of foil-wrapped cheddar cheese floating in a pool of mustard water. Mother Nature always wins.

Perhaps that’s why I was so enamored when I saw the EcoFlow Glacier at CES 2023. Less a cooler than a mobile battery-powered fridge on wheels, the sleek electric Glacier not only obviated the need for ice, it would make ice for me in 18 minutes. My home fridge can’t even do that, and I didn’t even know I wanted it to until just now. When EcoFlow offered to let me try the Glacier, I envisioned sipping a perspiring glass of whiskey in the tropics and accepted the occupational hazards of my job.

Outdoors

I was wrong. E-bikes are so practical, they’re a transit cheat code

An Aventon Level 2 ebike sits outside a grocery store.

Confession: Despite loving both bikes and gadgets, e-bikes never excited me. Compared to my bicycle, e-bikes seemed unfair. Compared to my motorcycle, they seemed slow. Compared to my car, they seemed impractical.

But with $1,500 federal e-bike rebates potentially on the horizon at part of E-Bike Act, I decided it was past time to reconsider. Not just because 30% off would make them way more accessible, but because the entire idea that e-bikes could be worthy of a rebate changed the way I looked at them: less as toys, more as transit. Had I written off an entire way of getting around because I was looking at it the wrong way?

Outdoors

Upway launches one of the best marketplaces for certified e-bikes, new or not

Man holding ebike from Upway in a field, lifestyle image.

This content was produced in partnership with Upway.
It wasn't too long ago that e-bikes were a rare sight, but all of that has changed, and rightfully so. Electric bikes are all over the road these days, and there are many brands either venturing into the technology, to launch their own versions of the sustainable transportation option or reiterating existing and traditional designs. From Aventon to Schwinn, or RadPower to Momentum, with so many opportunities, the prevailing question is, where do you go to find the best deals and the best information about these brands and their e-bike models? The answer is Upway, the number one certified electric bike provider and an official partner to many of the aforementioned brands.

What is Upway, exactly? It's a marketplace, specializing in e-bikes, featuring an inventory that's sourced from some of the best brands in the world. There are American brands -- like Specialized, Cannondale, and RadPower -- and European brands -- like Riese, Muller, and VanMoof. The best part is the discounts, offering up to 60% off retail, for a plethora of brands. Upway is on a mission to make sustainable mobility affordable for everyone. It's also one of the best places to go for a new or pre-owned e-bike, and here's why: