After much deliberation and research - I've just bought a Hit Air Jacket

cptrayes said:
I believe that both products were originally for the motorcycle market and both have been around for quite some time.

The P2 time is, as I understand it, time to full pressure = full protection. The Hit-Air time, apparently is time to be seen to be blown up on a video, ie not actually tested for pressure. The difference is crucial. Whichever reaches full pressure quickest will be the safer product. We need both tested to time-to-full-pressure.

It bugs me that people lambast P2 time and again for their aggressive marketing and lack of testing when it is they who have done the most relevant bit of testing and not Hit Air.
Click to expand...
You are mistaken in that it is P2 who time given is to trigger not full inflation.Agree maybe a strict comparison test is needed but I am not sure P2 would agree to it as far as I am aware their product has not been tested as extensively as you think,They certainly would not do the testing BE required.
Hit air have been about longer than P2 ,when P2 could not get people to use their product on a motorbike they looked for another market.Hey presto horses namely the racing industry which although they got a few advocates ie JF they found the racing industry was not interested.So plan 3 BE and so on.
Who told you point 2 have done all the testing P2 by any chance ,dont be fooled by the CE label they keep on about that has nothing to do with the jackets being tested.
One of the things the ASA pulled P2 up on was when they said that Hit Airs were of a lower safety standard as they did not have the CE mark when infact they have approval in Japan which has some of the strictest safety regulations in the world.
Hit Air are used by all the mounted forces in japan.
 
Time to trigger can't be what they test, can it? Time to trigger is simply how long it takes you to fall out of the saddle far enough to pull the ball out of the hole, so I am not sure what you are talking about???

Are you saying that P2 are lying when they tell people, as in the earlier quoted email, that they have tested to inflation by pressure monitoring, and not tested to inflation by slow motion film????

There is no point in them testing for BE. They will never meet the standard required to be worn without a normal body protector, because they only protect when inflated. Therefore, provided they are not banned for BE there is absolutely no advantage to P2 whatsoever in paying for any additional testing requested by BE. They are running a business, they can't throw money away.

P2 did not go for BE first, they were originally launched as an everyday safety product with a waistcoat that you could wear into town and no-one would realise it was an air jacket. I had one. Their use for BE was secondary and the slimmed down version for competitive riding with a body protector came quite a long time afterwards.

Hit Air may have more experience overall, but P2 have years head start on equestrian orientated use in this country, so it's about swings and roundabouts since they are both using the same technology.

I would probably have bought Hit Air on price, but I was forced by circumstance to buy a P2 which I am very happy with, especially since the airbags are not exposed when it blows up and I am wearing it hunting with thorn hedges.

Hit Air is a Japanese product, it is hardly surprising that the Japanese police wear them. I could not find any testing details on the Hit Air site at all.

You seem pretty anti P2, to the point of unjustifiable bias it seems to me :o ?
 
Last edited:
Vetwrap said:
after reading testimonials on biking websites from people who have had the dubious pleasure of using them in motorcycle accidents, I was convinced that, however fast they inflated, was going to be fast enough.
Click to expand...

I would really like to see the two tested the same way to compare. In a motorcycle accident it is uncommon for the rider not to be thrown well clear of his machine. It is common for a horse rider not to be thrown well clear of his horse. If you stay with the horse until it is well into a fall (as can be seen very often in sets of hunting pictures) then the time to inflation will be absolutely crucial as to whether you hit the ground or the horse hits you before the bag is properly blown up.

Other than that, I personally think that the two uses compare, though I know some people think they don't. But for me, time to full inflation is crucial.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top