hey guys, im on the hunt for a decent helmet to wear kitesurfing, any suggestions on type or good shops, or just any info on helmets at all.

Cheers

I wear an Ice-Hockey helmet when I'm kitesurfing.... The are cheaper than kitesurf specific helemts, and provide much more protection...
Mine even has a full face guard which is probably a bit over the top, but I have knocked my teeth out a couple of times before I started wearing it, and a new helemt every couple of years is much cheaper than dentistry every few months...

I was glad I was wearing it today as well, as I had my kite totally depowered which meant the depower line was and flapping about, and on a few occasions the hard plastic ball at the end of the depower line smashed into my helmet... There were a few times when it would have smacked me in the face if I hadn't been wearing the face mask.

Al.

Protec helmets are really good, super comfy and really solid, (* the one suggested as a wake helmet is perfect). Think www.powerkiteshop.com may sell them, but not sure.

A lot of people seem to use Gath or Gecko helmets, guess this may come from already owning them for windsurfing/surfing, not sure how much protection they offer but bound to be better than nothing at least.

Powerkiteshop also offer a kitesurfing specific helmet:

http://www.powerkiteshop.com/accessories/3dxtrmhelmet.htm

Although have no personal experience of these they look substantial...

I have to say that for long time i have been using Gath helmets, and even back before i was kiting I used the gath's for big wave surfin' in Cape Town...Do remember that Gath's are really good for when your board nails you on the head by a wave/shorebreak/boardoff...BUT they are designed by a dude in Perth, strictly for surfing...so the problem relies on what you really want to use it for. If you get slammed into a wall or rocks with your melon due to some freak kiting incident like that which happened in Porthcawl after the BKSA comp then it ain't gonna help one wee bit!!!

I have recently been steering more towards the idea of using probably the best watersports helmets in the business and those are the wakeboarding PRO helmets...I still need to buy one..

Very true Leo, I have a Gecko which is similar to a gath, but made in the UK, theyre great for surfing, however if you look in side both brands they used to have a warning inside to state that they are puerly for protection against the elements, mines saved my melon from a few reef bashings mind. Wake helmets are defo the way fowrard.