Product Image:
Product name: Leatt 3DF Airfit Hybrid
Price paid: €300
Score (out of 10): 5
Review: There are various types of body armour out there. For many Knee pads is a step too far, for others you can't have too much. I'm the latter.
My main goto "body armour" - for the upper body has been the TLD 7855 for some time now. We've had a lot of scrapes together and both have been pretty much undamaged.
Recently I had a harder, more unfortunate accident which involved a stump, a tree, some logs and ended in lots of fractured bits and general pulping !
I decided I wanted something similar ... but ideally with better chest/back/shoulder protection.
After much research, I settled on the Leatt Airfit Hybrid.
For many, adding armour will be a minimalist thing, you want the least amount possible. It will be lighter, cooler, maintain flexibility.
If you want something which will be like an airbag - it's there but you hope you never use it, it might be for you. If you want something like "Grandma's Bumpers", i.e. something which could be getting scuffed up every day, it's not for you.
Compared to the 7855, it's a lot heavier. Once on it's not really noticeable weight wise though.
The mesh is nice, very open and doesn't feel like it will chafe (the tld7855 will cheese grater your nipples off if left unprotected).
The Elbows feel nicely protected and the additional "hybrid" plastic armour on the outside would protect them from long term damage.
The rest is a bit disappointing.
The zip feels like it will last about a week, it was difficult to even get it in to zip up. This seems to be a general Leatt trend with zips and velcro, they use the cheapest bits they can find for some reason.
The hybrid's additional hard plastic is a compromise. They obviously didn't want to add weight but wanted to give some more protection without making it too rigid.
In reality it's the worst of both worlds. It's not much heavier than an Airfit, but the plastic panels make the airfit's flexible panels much more rigid, so as you move around you can feel the suit moving around your body - something like the 7855 just feels like it sits there like a sweater. The plastic panels are also so thin I can't actually envisage them giving any additional protection in a decent fall.
In terms of protection, it's hugely disappointing. It rates "23" on leatt's own protection scale. Only their 5.5 protection suit rates higher with "25" ! Wow, I thought ... Maybe my pre-conceptions are what made it so disappointing.
I can only guess this is either calculated by the testing a couple of specific areas for impact, or it's the % of upper body which is actually protected.
To try and not just be negative I'll break the rest into positives and negatives.
The shoulders :
Positive, not overly bulky.
Negative, not much protection except to well aimed direct shoulder impact. The coverage area is smaller than you'd expect for such a high level protection shirt.
The Back :
Positive, Not that big so should be reasonably cool.
Negative, just doesn't feel like it protects enough of the spine especially for how cumbersome it feels. Just looks so much MORE in pictures.
The Chest :
Positive, again, not that big so should be coolish.
Negative.. not very big so minimal protection area, also they've cut out the top half so you can use a neck protector. In it's place they've left a piece of thin foam which Leatt describe as "Extra upper-chest impact protection layer for non-neck brace users". It just feels like very soft squidgy foam ... "impact protection layer" sounds like a huge exaggeration ..
The other armour areas :
Positives : There isn't not much armour coverage , so it should be quite cool.
Negatives : There are two more tiny bits of squidgy kitchen foam on the biceps which should protect you from fast moving fly impacts and limit them to a tickle. The "Flank protection" as Leatt describe it, is two beautifully formed pieces of useless foam stuck on the sides. The OH was kind enough to hit me on one and it did absolutely nothing to reduce her joy. It's great they've gone to the effort to put them there, but they just seem severely lacking in protection on what is the highest level Airfit you can buy.
In terms of fit, it's nice. It's comfortable. Build quality is average. If you want to spend lots and have mediocre body protection, this is for you. If you like the Leatt armour, you're much better off with the Airfit or the Airfit Lite.
For me, it's an absolute no no. I honestly felt naked with it on. I painfully squeezed my way back into the 7855 afterwards and it felt like an old friend. The chest/back/shoulder armour isn't as heavy duty, but at least my upper body actually feels protected.
If you wanted a Leatt top with reactive armour, the best choice is actually the airfit lite. The chest protector comes all the way up, unlike the Airfit and the Hybrid. So for a light top with basic protection to the important areas, it's the logical choice.
It's not a bad shirt .. it's just not a brilliant shirt.
Product name: Leatt 3DF Airfit Hybrid
Price paid: €300
Score (out of 10): 5
Review: There are various types of body armour out there. For many Knee pads is a step too far, for others you can't have too much. I'm the latter.
My main goto "body armour" - for the upper body has been the TLD 7855 for some time now. We've had a lot of scrapes together and both have been pretty much undamaged.
Recently I had a harder, more unfortunate accident which involved a stump, a tree, some logs and ended in lots of fractured bits and general pulping !
I decided I wanted something similar ... but ideally with better chest/back/shoulder protection.
After much research, I settled on the Leatt Airfit Hybrid.
For many, adding armour will be a minimalist thing, you want the least amount possible. It will be lighter, cooler, maintain flexibility.
If you want something which will be like an airbag - it's there but you hope you never use it, it might be for you. If you want something like "Grandma's Bumpers", i.e. something which could be getting scuffed up every day, it's not for you.
Compared to the 7855, it's a lot heavier. Once on it's not really noticeable weight wise though.
The mesh is nice, very open and doesn't feel like it will chafe (the tld7855 will cheese grater your nipples off if left unprotected).
The Elbows feel nicely protected and the additional "hybrid" plastic armour on the outside would protect them from long term damage.
The rest is a bit disappointing.
The zip feels like it will last about a week, it was difficult to even get it in to zip up. This seems to be a general Leatt trend with zips and velcro, they use the cheapest bits they can find for some reason.
The hybrid's additional hard plastic is a compromise. They obviously didn't want to add weight but wanted to give some more protection without making it too rigid.
In reality it's the worst of both worlds. It's not much heavier than an Airfit, but the plastic panels make the airfit's flexible panels much more rigid, so as you move around you can feel the suit moving around your body - something like the 7855 just feels like it sits there like a sweater. The plastic panels are also so thin I can't actually envisage them giving any additional protection in a decent fall.
In terms of protection, it's hugely disappointing. It rates "23" on leatt's own protection scale. Only their 5.5 protection suit rates higher with "25" ! Wow, I thought ... Maybe my pre-conceptions are what made it so disappointing.
I can only guess this is either calculated by the testing a couple of specific areas for impact, or it's the % of upper body which is actually protected.
To try and not just be negative I'll break the rest into positives and negatives.
The shoulders :
Positive, not overly bulky.
Negative, not much protection except to well aimed direct shoulder impact. The coverage area is smaller than you'd expect for such a high level protection shirt.
The Back :
Positive, Not that big so should be reasonably cool.
Negative, just doesn't feel like it protects enough of the spine especially for how cumbersome it feels. Just looks so much MORE in pictures.
The Chest :
Positive, again, not that big so should be coolish.
Negative.. not very big so minimal protection area, also they've cut out the top half so you can use a neck protector. In it's place they've left a piece of thin foam which Leatt describe as "Extra upper-chest impact protection layer for non-neck brace users". It just feels like very soft squidgy foam ... "impact protection layer" sounds like a huge exaggeration ..
The other armour areas :
Positives : There isn't not much armour coverage , so it should be quite cool.
Negatives : There are two more tiny bits of squidgy kitchen foam on the biceps which should protect you from fast moving fly impacts and limit them to a tickle. The "Flank protection" as Leatt describe it, is two beautifully formed pieces of useless foam stuck on the sides. The OH was kind enough to hit me on one and it did absolutely nothing to reduce her joy. It's great they've gone to the effort to put them there, but they just seem severely lacking in protection on what is the highest level Airfit you can buy.
In terms of fit, it's nice. It's comfortable. Build quality is average. If you want to spend lots and have mediocre body protection, this is for you. If you like the Leatt armour, you're much better off with the Airfit or the Airfit Lite.
For me, it's an absolute no no. I honestly felt naked with it on. I painfully squeezed my way back into the 7855 afterwards and it felt like an old friend. The chest/back/shoulder armour isn't as heavy duty, but at least my upper body actually feels protected.
If you wanted a Leatt top with reactive armour, the best choice is actually the airfit lite. The chest protector comes all the way up, unlike the Airfit and the Hybrid. So for a light top with basic protection to the important areas, it's the logical choice.
It's not a bad shirt .. it's just not a brilliant shirt.
