Hi all, I was combing through some documents and ran across this review I wrote a couple of years ago. I can't remember if I posted it here or not. If I did, my apologies. Since both helmets are essentially unchanged, this should, hopefully, still be helpful to someone. -------------------------------------------------------- Since I'm probably one of the few nutcases who have both helmets, I thought I'd write a review. Shoei X-2 Hornet vs. Arai XD-4 We all know that motorcycles are cool but I also think motorcycle gear is just as cool. I’m a gear junkie to be honest. And I think it’s ultra-cool when rider and bike match, whether it’s a guy on a Rothmans liveried NSR250 with matching leathers or a dude in full Paris-Dakar gear riding his KTM 1290, it’s just so…cool. So when I bought my white 2017 Ducati Desert Sled, I had to get a matching ADV helmet. I mean, it’s only right, right? The problem was that I had no idea which one to buy. I did some research and with the idea that I wasn’t going to spend a lot of money, I eventually ordered a Bell MX-9 from Revzilla. The quality was underwhelming and it was painful to wear. I’ve had all kinds of helmets and I’m usually a size Medium in all of them so I thought it was just the helmet shape that wasn’t working. I sent it back, bit the bullet, and ordered the helmet I really wanted but was too cheap to buy in the first place, a white Shoei Hornet X2. I was so excited! When it arrived, I tried it on and it seemed a bit tight but not too bad. I figured it would loosen up a bit after a couple of rides. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out for a ride for over a month. When I did, I found that the X2 bored a couple of holes right in my forehead. I’ve had Shoeis in the past and their Mediums always fit me well but this one was excruciating. It was obvious I couldn’t wear this helmet for any rides over 30 minutes. I couldn’t return it because I had gone past Revzilla’s 30-day return policy. I despaired that I had just wasted $600+. I wore the X2 for commuting and short rides and it loosened up a bit and wasn’t as bad but it still wasn’t comfortable. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and succumbed to the lure of the beautiful Ducati liveried Arai XD-4 on display at Ducati Austin. It was very expensive, $789.00, over $800 with taxes, but I needed to have a comfortable helmet. I bought a size Medium and it fit me perfectly. So now I have two, very expensive, ADV helmets. So aside from the way the Shoei Hornet X2 fits my head, how do the two helmets compare? Both helmets are premium pieces with reflecting prices. The Shoei feels more substantial, like a cushy, ADV styled, street helmet whereas the Arai feels like a dirt-bike helmet gussied up to be a street helmet. The fit and finish on both are superb. The Ducati graphics on the Arai are just beautiful and while they result in a substantial price hike over a plain color XD-4, my moto-vanity ego says they are worth it. That feeling of substantialness carries over to the screens with the Shoei’s being thicker with more positive clicks as it goes up and down and it closes with a positive thud. The Arai’s is thinner and moves up and down more smoothly but with vague detents and no thud when you close it. Both helmets offer greater visibility than regular helmets but visibility out of the Arai is compromised by the appearance of the visor in your upper peripheral vision. Well, you don’t even have to use your peripheral vision, you can see it just with regular looking-straight-ahead vison. You can see the Shoei’s if you try real hard but for the most part, it’s invisible. Curiously, even though the Shoei’s visor is heavily slotted, ostensibly for improved aerodynamics, and the Arai’s is not, I felt no difference between the two in drag both when I’m looking straight ahead and when I turn my head. Annoyingly though, the Arai’s visor produces a whistling sound when I hold my head in my regular riding position. If I angle my head up or down 5 degrees, the whistling stops. Unfortunately, holding my head up or down is not sustainable so the whistling is almost unavoidable. I put my hand in various positions over the visor and managed to stop the whistling so I’ll be experimenting with some tape to more permanently solve this problem. My friend who also has an XD-4 reported no whistling noises but he rides a Suzuki V-Strom which of course has a windscreen while I ride naked (ha!) on my Sled. Also, I’m 5’ 3” while he’s 5’10” so there’s that. So perhaps it’s up the type of bike you ride and your height. While both helmets offer ventilation in the chin bar and on top of the helmet, I felt more airflow in the Shoei. The Arai’s vent system works ok but I found the Shoei’s to move more air. On a plus for the Arai, it was easy to reach up and click the upper vents open or closed while on the Shoei you have to reach up between the visor and the helmet to reach the vents on the forehead and they’re fiddly to operate. I haven’t tried either helmet with googles but if airflow is your primary concern, that’s probably the way to go. I wear earplugs when I ride so am sensitive to noise levels and the Arai is noticeably louder than the Shoei. Even when holding my hand on the Arai’s visor to stop the whistling, the Arai is still the louder helmet by a large margin. The interior padding in the Shoei appears thicker and more insulating so perhaps that’s what’s going on. This goes back to the Shoei seeming to be a cushy street-bike helmet and the Arai more of a dirt-bike helmet. Both helmets have D-ring closing chin straps but the Arai’s is a lot shorter than the Shoei’s so it’s a little fiddly to run it through and cinch it up. Not a big deal but something noticeable. If weight is an important issue to you, the Arai is lighter than the Shoei. I haven’t weighed them but you can tell by just hefting them in your hands. But helmets are Snell 2015 approved but the Shoei is also DOT approved. I don’t think this is a big deal since I prefer the Snell approval and both have that. The difference between Snell and DOT approvals is way too complicated to describe here but if you’re interested, it is a fascinating subject worthy of your research. Back to the fit issue. I found out (I forget where) that Shoei changed the shell shape of the X2 compared to their street helmets. Which explains why their RF1200 is so comfortable to me but this X2 kills my head. The Shoei also crushes my ears. I ordered thinner cheek pads and that helped with the smooshing of my face but not much with the ears. The Arai’s padding feels thinner but the fit is sublime. You can adjust the fit of the Arai’s cheek pads by peeling off layers of foam inside the pad but I didn’t have to do that to get a great fit. Lastly, even if the Shoei fit me well and despite the interior feeling more substantial, I still don’t think it would be as comfortable as the Arai. The fabric and foam in the Shoei Hornet X2 give a chunkier, coarser, harder, feel than the same in the Arai XD-4. Both helmets are pricey, beautiful products of their respective manufacturers. The solid colors in both helmets are close in price, the Shoei Hornet X2 goes for between $594.99 and $603.99 while the Arai XD-4 goes for between $609.95 and $619.95. Both offer a ton of features that other lesser helmets can’t quite match. If the Shoei Hornet X2 fits your head, I think it’s the better helmet. If your head can’t fit into a Shoei Hornet X2, the Arai XD-4 is the cool helmet to have to satisfy your gear junkie moto-vanity ego.