Arai VX-PRO 4 Review

by Alex Meyer

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The Arai VX- PRO 4 has an aggressive design that is going to be appealing to aggressive, offroad riders. Arai actually added another 4 ounces of weight to this model from the previous years, so they could include some more robust and complex features on this aggressive, offroad motorcycle helmet. This is a top-end helmet that is designed and engineered to bring the maximum amount of safety and protection to offroad riders. If you are in the hunt for a great moto helmet, the Arai VX- PRO 4 is a great choice for keeping you safe and comfortable, while giving you room to customize and personalize your helmet. 

Arai VX-Pro4 Helmet-Frost Black-XS

Ratings

Comfort:

92%
Comfort

Visibility:

97%
Visibility

Ventilation:

98%
Ventilation

Quietness:

74%
Quietness

Specifications

Outer shell material : CLC (Complex Laminate Construction) shell–fiberglass composite2

Shell size : 2XS,XS,SM,MD,LG,XL,2XL,3XL3

Liner : Fully removable/replaceable Dry-Cool liner4 Weight: 3.34 lbs5

Weight

Pinlock : 6

Strap System : Double-D ring

Safety Ratings

DOT : Yes

ECE : Yes

SNELL : Yes

SHARP : Not tested


Shape and materials

The outer shell is made of a complex laminate construction, which is one of the mainstay features in many of these top-tier Arai helmets.

It is made from Arai’s reliable and durable blend of complex resins and fibers that keep the helmet light while maximizing protection for the rider.

The interior is covered with Dry-Cool lining, to wick sweat from your face and keep you comfortable during hot, aggressive riding. The comfort liner also uses premium padding and sweat-wicking materials to keep you cool and safe while riding. 


Things I liked

  • Great ventilation. 
  • Aerodynamic
  • Great visibility

Things I don’t like

  • Loudness and noise. 

Overall comfort

If you look at the cutaways on the underside of the visor, you can see that Arai added even more open cutaways to allow more air to flow through the underside of the visor. This gives the rider added stability in the head and neck area, especially at high speeds. The problem with riding at high speeds with a pronounced visor that doesn’t have large cutaways is that the wind speed can cause your head and neck to bob around while riding. These large cutaways were added to allow more air to pass through, giving the rider more head and neck stability and less turbulence, while riding. The rounded chin bar design on this model is designed to give the rider more clearance and comfortability from the chin and nose to the front of the helmet. 

The fit for the Arai VX- PRO 4 is intermediate oval, giving you some extra room in the temples. It is going to be slightly longer from front to back, and you have padding on the side that you can change to give you more room in your temples. The cheek pads are replaceable and interchangeable as well, so you can either tighten up the fit or loosen it to give you more room. The interchangeability of the comfort padding on the interior of the helmet gives the rider the ability to finetune their level of protection and comfort, without having to go up or down in a helmet size. It is a really nice feature that the Arai VX- PRO 4 gives you that level of comfort and customization with your helmet. The guts of the mask use Dry-Cool lining that pulls sweat away from your face and keeps you cool while riding. As opposed to materials on other helmets that can feel soggy after a few hours of hard riding, the Arai VX- PRO 4 keeps your face nice, cool and dry. 


Visibility

If you take a look under the peak of the visor, you will notice that it has a grated area, right underneath it. This is a light-dampening area designed to absorb the rays and glare from the sun. This is another premier feature that Arai added to the VX- PRO 4 to protect the rider’s eye’s while giving them more visibility. In the event of a crash or an accident, the visor or peak breaks off easily. The peak is also easy to adjust up or down to either give you more visibility out the top of the mask or give you more protection from the sun. 

As a true moto helmet would be, the front of the mask is fully open. This gives the rider the ability to put on their favorite pair of goggles for their next ride. There are subtle slots on the side of the helmet that let your goggle strap rest securely in place, on the side of your helmet. 


Quietness

With the added ventilation on this helmet, it is going to be loud. The thick padding and comfort liner on the inside of the helmet help to suppress some of the noise, but with an open mask, you can expect that you are going to get a lot of sound leaking in. 


Ventilation

You will notice some pronounced chin vents on the front of the helmet. The chin vents are external and integrated. Arai has made some serious upgrades, in terms of ventilation, from the PRO 3. Most guys that are riding motocross keep their vents open, so Arai kept all of the vents passive on the helmet. They have also a rear, external housing mechanism that helps block debris from coming into the ventilation system. In total, there are 8 passive vents (not including the vents on the front of the mask) on the exterior of the helmet. This helps to maximize cool airflow through the front, sides, and top of the helmet to keep the rider cool when riding moto. The added vents on the back of the helmet are designed to pull that warm, moist air outside of the helmet. The entire vent system is incredibly efficient at circulating cool air through the entire interior of the helmet. The back of the breath guard is even totally removable so that you can get even more airflow into the mask. If you don’t need that much airflow, you can easily adjust the breath guard inside of the mask to be open or closed. 


Safety

The VX PRO-4 is 2015 SNELL rated and meets DOT safety standards for the maximum amount of safety and security while riding. You can see three large chin vents in the front, with a large center vent and two smaller ones on the side. One of the highlight features of the Arai VX- PRO 4 is the round chin bar. In the event of a wreck or accident, the chin bar is designed to break out and away from your face, as opposed to breaking inward on your face or chin. This gives the rider an extra sense of security and comfort in knowing that in the event of a serious accident in which the helmet breaks, they don’t have to worry about the hard materials on the exterior of the mask caving in toward their face. 

The Arai VX- PRO 4 also integrates Arai’s energy management system into the design of the helmet. The energy management system gives the helmet the ability to redirect the sharp, direct force from an accident or impact, and displaces it across the entire surface of the helmet. This works to diffuse and lessen the sharp, direct force of a hard impact on the exterior of the helmet. 

Conclusion

Overall, this is an excellent helmet for moto riding. Arai has put a lot of great work into the design and engineering of this helmet to make the VX- PRO 4 a high-performing and comfortable fit. A couple of premium features that a lot of riders are going to love about this helmet are the incredible ventilation along with your ability to customize the comfort and fit. With superior venting on the front and back of the helmet, this model is designed to let cool air in through the front, maximizing airflow throughout the helmet, and pulling warm, moist air out of the back. With that, the Arai VX- PRO 4 also has eight other vents to maximize airflow during aggressive, hot riding. The level of customization you get with the padding and liner on the interior gives you the ability to customize the fit and feel of your helmet. 

If you are a motocross rider and are looking for something that is high-performing, cool, and comfortable, the Arai VX- PRO 4 checks all of those boxes. 

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