THIS SITE USES GOOGLE ANALYTICS TO ANALYSE TRAFFIC. CONTINUING TO USE THIS SITE MEANS YOU ACCEPT THE USE OF COOKIES.WE DO NOT COLLECT PERSONAL DATA LEARN MORE OR SEE OUR PRIVACY POLICY
SEVEN DAY CYCLIST
CYCLING, BUT NOT USUALLY RACING
LATEST UPDATE DECEMBER 9th 2025
HOW DO WE REACH THE OVERALL RATINGS FOR PRODUCTS WE REVIEW?
Unit 1 Neon MIPS Smart Helmet
490g Large Charcoal Black £119 Remote control 20g £34.90 Magnetic Visor Pro Clear 58g £34.90
The Unit 1 Neon MIPS Smart Helmet is a thoroughly urban helmet, is one of a growing number of lids coming to market that aim to do a great deal more than protect your head. With numerous additional features operable via an app, the ability to link to other devices, and a range of after market enhancements, the purchaser is buying into a system as much as getting a new helmet. As a self-confessed lover of the simple, is this genius or does it seek to do too much?
Pros: high rating for protection, numerous smart features, easy to set up, pretty intuitive app, decent padding, compatible winter liner available, part of a wider lighting and safety team, crash alert function.
Cons: weight, after-market purchases necessary to exploit full potential.
Specification
Where to start? Well, the basics. The Neon MIPS Smart Helmet is very much an urban helmet. It's pricier cousin, the Aurora, is designed for a wider range of cycling activities, including all day rides. Virginia Tech testing rated the Neon a tad lower than the Aurora.
​
The Neon MIPS also has a sibling, the Neon SE, which is a little lighter but comes without the MIPS system and the Fidlock magnetic buckle. This makes it a little lighter.
Multi-directional Impact Protection, MIPS, is designed to mimic the skulls own way of protecting against rotational forces. Whilst it has become the most prominent system for doing this, it is not the only one. There are also some research organisations who doubt the effectiveness of these outside the lab. However, it does not add much in the way of either weight or cost. Your call.
IPX6 is the water and dust proof rating. IPX6 is protected in case of full immersion; IPX5 is not, but is protected against low-pressure water jets, rain, splashes etc.
With a deep back section and a comfortable, adjustable cradle (usual wheel type adjuster), and small peak, the Neon MIPS look that little bit different, some have said more stylish than the most. There are seven vents, which can be plugged up against rain, although a helmet cover can be fitted over the top, instead. It may not fit perfectly, but it can be done. Inside, the pad layout is, again, different to the pattern in regular cycle helmets. That matters, take care of them if you replace them with the winter liner. Pads are quite plush, but not bulky.
The broad straps feel a little stouter than most, and held together by a Fidlock magnetic buckle that slides sideway and took me a little while to get used to.
​
​Of course, there’s a light to the rear. This thin strip curves around the helmet, gives a mini light show when powered on or off, and should give strong additional presence in
traffic, or act as an emergency rear light) even if not a legal one) if you find you’ve mis-read the charge indicator on your regular rear light. The light has the same turn signals as the Smart Lights, and can be synced. Follow the on-line instructions. The switch is quite small and not easy to locate or use on the fly, but that is why you have the app.
A number of features can only be accessed by the app: safety ID, crash alert, customisable lights, battery tracking. Others require the remote – another after-market purchase, but one you’ll need if you want to take the Neon to its peak performance: remote power, brake light, and turn signals. Right atop the helmet is where you scan for medical aid, if you have it set up and if you can manage to do so.
An adaptive visor available for £99.90, rain plugs, £10.90, and silicone inserts £10.90 are all available as after market purchases.
The Neon MIPS is available in three sizes and five pastel colours; charcoal black, slate grey, mineral grey, steel blue, and pine green.
Size and fit 4/5
Three sizes; small, medium, large. Needless to say, I went for the large. Follow the size guide. Having said that, and this is a bit on the unusual side for me, I have found the large pretty generous. That is not to say I should have gone lower, but that I’ve had to keep the adjustments – strap length and dial on the tighter side. The benefit of this generosity has been an nice comfortable fit for the winter liner (review to follow, but, here’s the spoiler – it is a really nice bit of after-market kit). Given the investment you will be making in this helmet, it is worth measuring carefully.
The padding is designed specifically to go with this helmet. Comfortable, without encasing your head in cotton wool, it seems robust and has survived a wash. Easily removable and replaced, it continues the theme of sturdy construction.
Charge and run times 3.5/5
Run times are stated as 3-30 hours, depending on how you tune the light. I can confirm that this is pretty much spot on for the solid light at full power. Brake lights, turn signals will impact on this, too. However, you’ll get around three hours. That’s three one-way commutes, in my primitive way of thinking about these things. However, for much of the way it is not really necessary. You’ll have your own take on these. Personally, I see this as, primarily, a very useful auxiliary light, as opposed to a necessity.
However, the app allows you to do basic customisation with the pre-sets that are on offer. Even better, you can use the app to add your own modes. Usefully, you get to see the likely run time of these.
The light also acts as a charge indicator.
Charge time from the mains has been two hours from zero. As ever, best to get it on the brew before it dips to nothing.
Care and durability 4/5
Care is easy, if you follow a few basic rules. Above all, remember this has a battery and electrical stuff in the helmet. Give it a wipe with some mild soapy water to keep it clean. Avoid bleach or anything too powerful. I’ve run the padding through the wash and it has done it no harm. For the inside I’ve used some G-Techniq Tri Clean on a cloth; same for the straps
Unit 1, amongst others, point out that helmets have a lifespan. They generally go for three years, although taking care of it and usage may impact on this. With that in mind, durability is really a question of keeping good looks; give your helmet a proper bash and its integrity will be compromised.
Scrapes with undergrowth and masonry on low bridges have, to my delight, not made a mark on the matt finish. Things still look good after some four hundred miles. The interior looks good, too. Pads are not fraying. I see this as a testament to good worknmanship.
Remote control 4/5
This is an after-market purchase. You’ll need to use the remote and the app to get the most out of the Neon. Take some time to get everything paired up and practice using the remote. It is quite a chunky little fellow and easily operable with full-finger gloves, including the Castelli Estremo Gloves. It’s held in its own bracket, which only mates with it one way round. Power on and off, turn signals; check them out, but remember, they are supplementary to bicycle mounted lights and hand signals. In fact, in some jurisdictions they are against the law. Check that out, too.
Visor 3.75/5
A range of after-market visors are available at a range of prices: clear, tinted, and adaptive or reactive (clear to 80% tint). Ours was the clear version All just fit into a slot the front of the Neon helmet, just under the peak. Held in place magnetically, I’ve not managed to dislodge it, even with unwanted and accidental impact between the Neon and eighteenth-century canal bridge masonry. You’d not expect it to budge, but it is good to know.
The wrap around design is perfect for keeping your eyes protected. That can be handy per se, but especially on those windy commutes with trees shedding anything loose; likewise, swarms of small insects on summer nights (but I have not been bothered by that in November and December in the UK), or just wind and rain.
I wear spectacles. These fulfil some of the functions of a visor – as well as allowing me to see where I am going, which helps – but I don’t generally wear wrap-arounds. With visor on as well as specs, there’s no interference with visibility, but – and this is partly down to the design of my spectacle frames – there is some contact between glasses and visor. This is annoying and may well, eventually, cause some damage to the visor. The Neon’s Aurora sibiling – pricier – has a removable peak which, according to Unit 1, allows flexibility in terms of face space. That maybe a better option for jam-jar lenses. However, I have not tested it.
When not needed, the visor can be kept safely in a nice little pouch or placed in the rest position on the front of the helmet where those magnets hold it in place. Rather nicely, careful design means that this will not block any of the vents.
Again, you are buying into a system. The ability to make after-market purchases may be very attractive.
Performance 4.5/5
At first donning, there was a distinct feeling that this was heavier than my usual helmets, which it is. It felt a tad bulky, but that is to be expected: it is full of various gubbins which the others are not. I quickly got used to this and have found the Neon to be very comfortable for commuting and utility rides. My average commute is ten miles each way, generally taking around fifty minutes to an hour. The max I have worn the Neon for is two hours, and I haven’t felt any neck fatigue. However, I’ve not taken it on eighty-milers. That is not what it is designed for, although the Aurora model may well be.
Initially, as well, I found the magnetic closure to the straps a bit confusing, but this was solely down to my familiarity with more usual buckles.
The vents have proved very effective. They seem to be ideally placed to make the most of a slightly more upright commuting position; I have Jones bars on my commuting bikes. Having said that, on the drops they have still
performed well. For wet or cold weather bungs are available to stop-up the vents. I’ve not tested these, but have used a variety of helmet covers. These have been a bit of a bodge, but the larger ones, such as that from Raval​, have done the best job. Many others have fitted, at a stretch.
I’ve not tested the Virginia Tech safety ratings by bashing my head on the asphalt. I hope to take them at face value for the rest of my cycling life. As above, the biggest threat repelled by the Neon has been a scrape from low bridges. Unit 1 point out, as do other helmet manufacturers, that the protection offered by helmets deteriorates over time and if they get a big impact.
Unit 1 also point out that the light and the turning signals are supplementary to lights mounted on the bike and your own hand signals and turning procedures. Indeed, they are forbidden in some countries. That in mind, the light is bright enough to make a real impact, without being dazzling. The slight curve gives a tad more side-on presence and it sits comfortably in the view of drivers in higher vehicles. I’ll admit to having to use it as a main light after failing to notice that the usual rear lights where getting low. Naughty boy, slapped wrist. However, Neon did its stuff and I got home with no blasts of the car horn or sound, if vigorous advice, from motorists. A neighbour told me that, amongst traffic, I had very clear presence around a hundred metres away.
Likewise, the turn signals. Judging impact on motorist’s perception is hard to judge, but some research suggest that flashing lights draw more attention. In that sense, they’ll do more harm than good, and drivers should quickly work out that these are showing a turn. However, stick to the rules and make your intentions clear.
Cutting the output down to 50% gave a hearty extension of run time, with reduced output. Even so, this still gave decent presence, especially where traffic was lighter. Have a play and see what you fancy. A good option if charging is a problem.
It is worth noting that the app took me a bit of getting used to, but there are plenty of Unit 1 tutorials on YouTube to smarten up tech toddlers like me. I’ve even come to enjoy fettling my own pre-sets.
Anecdotally, the brake light give a sharp burst of additional light, clearly differentiating as you put those brakes on.
Value 3.75/5
Well, it looks like a lot of money for a helmet, and then there are all those extras to get the most out of it. Such was my first reaction. Only it is not really, given the top price you’ll pay for a more traditional helmet at the priciest level (generally a compromise between weight, ventilation, and protection). Not to mention cheaper than many other systems with similar characteristics. The real decision is whether you want to buy into a system.
It is entirely possible to get a good value helmet, such as the Oxford Metro, with an auxiliary light to the rear, or to add a helmet light with front and rear functions, and spend a good del less. Those are not really fair comparisons.
Lumos offer several smart helmets, with the Ultra E.Bike coming with front and rear lights, as well as side lights. It has some similar features and some after-market purchases. RRP for the MIPs model is £199.95
Rock Bros have a cheaper model at £109.99, with front and rear lights, tuneability, especially for group riding, and turn signals. It looks more like a road helmet. Lighter than the Neon by about 100g, it is more suited to longer rides.
The Livall EVO21 costs £99.99 and has an impressive range of features, without having all the options available in the Unit 1 systems.
It is also worth remembering, amongst the tech, that Unit 1 currently have the top two smart helmets in the Virginia Tech list for giving protection for your head, which is, after all, the primary function of a helmet. The Neon comes in second, after the Unit 1 Aurora.
Summary
Overall, I have come to like this very much for day-to-day riding. I’m not tech-orientated, but the features on offer here have great potential to make your ride safer. The ability to tune and link to other Unit 1 products adds to this, and all controllable through an easily operated remote. OK, some of these are after-market purchases, but that is what the system offers, rather than demanding that you buy it all at once.
Verdict 4/5 More, if you are keen to buy into the whole system.
Steve Dyster
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2025
