Anon Logan WaveCel Review

The Anon Logan is one of the first helmets within the snow sports industry to use Wavecel. Wavecel is a helmet safety technology that blends the benefits of Koryod and Mips into one product. It can crumple to dissipate forces and also rotate to help minimize rotational impact injuries. Wavecel states on their website, “WaveCel behaves like a network of hundreds of interconnected shock absorbers connecting your head and the outer shell of the helmet. It distributes the impact energy through its network of cells. It absorbs impact forces like the crumple zone of a car. It diverts rotational forces by flexing and gliding.” Here at GearLab, we don't have the technology to test the validity of these statements. But Wavecel is the first helmet safety technology to receive funding for development and testing from the National Institute of Health and a 5-Star safety rating at the Virginia Tech Helmet Testing facility. More information about this tech is readily available online, including peer-reviewed papers and other details about their research.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The Anon Logan is one of the most comfortable helmets we have tried, and it earned a score to match other high scorers of the group. Its low weight and low profile make the helmet less noticeable and easier to wear, especially for those who do not enjoy the feeling of riding in helmets.

Thanks to a few critical construction and adjustment features, the Logan is barely noticeable when riding. The low weight allows it to maintain riding comfort when traveling across bumpy terrain or riding in the terrain park. There's no bobblehead effect that often accompanies heavier helmets. The Logan also uses a BOA Fit System to make micro-adjustments in the fit around your head. Adjustable dial systems are pretty standard in snow helmets these days, and we strongly recommend them. The Logan has a different and functional dial placement compared to other models. The dial is located on the shell, making it easier to access and operate with gloves on. The adjustment system evenly distributes pressure across your head to avoid any pressure points and provides a secure fit.

The Logan also has a very versatile fit across various head shapes, which is not something every brand can accomplish. Most brands generally favor a particular head shape. This helmet has a magnetic buckle that makes taking the helmet on and off easily and can even be quickly performed with one hand gloved hand.

The earpads and general padding provided with this helmet are thin but offer a pleasant and supple next-to-skin feel. The earpads do lack specific contours to support wearing earbuds. We experienced some ear pain when using earbuds and the pads, which led to frequent micro-adjustments. But if you don't plan to use earbuds, the Logan is a comfortable helmet for all-day riding.

Warmth

The Anon Logan helmet is best paired with a thin buff, beanie, or balaclava to add warmth on colder days. It uses light Polartec padding along the forehead and the top of the head to add warmth, but the inability to close the vents allows for heat loss. As with most helmets, the ear pads substantially add warmth. The earpads are removable for warm-weather skiing.

Ventilation

The Logan helmet provides some serious ventilation because of the ten fixed vents, Wavecel construction, and easy-to-remove ear pads. It earned a respectable score in this metric. We hiked up 700 vertical feet of steep terrain as part of our testing and were thoroughly impressed with how well this helmet moved excess heat.

It uses ten vents, two near the temples, which help cool the sides of your head, three on the back to allow air to exit, and six on the top to allow excess heat to dissipate. Ten is not a large number of vents, but the WaveCel insert also supports its ability to move air. The Wavecel construction offers plenty of space for heat and air to move through the helmet in between your head and the EPS foam shell. The earpads are easy to remove as the harness is not incorporated into the padding. These ventilation features create a freestyle/skate-inspired helmet that makes more compromise in its ability to keep you cool and move heat.

Weight

The Anon Logan is a relatively lightweight model. Whether that's on the scale or on your head. Its lightweight makes it an appropriate option for backcountry and resort use.

The helmet weighs in at 17.1 ounces, which is pretty lightweight for a resort-oriented helmet. It is made using an in-mold construction to help keep the helmet low-profile and lightweight. It's even more impressive when you look at the helmet and realize that EPS foam still covers the entire helmet in addition to the extra protection benefits that come from the Wavecel material. It is lightweight enough that our riding experience was unimpacted and is a weight that we will happily venture out into the backcountry with.

Goggle Compatiblity

This helmet was seamlessly compatible with all the goggles we tried. When testing, we diversify the brands, frame sizes, and lens types to fully assess the helmet's ability to provide a gap-free fit with different styles. We used goggles from Smith, Giro, Von Zipper, Oakley, and Shred Optics when testing this helmet.

This helmet lacks the two front intake vents that are typically helpful to increase airflow through goggle vents, meant to reduce the likelihood of your goggles fogging up. Fortunately, in our testing, we did not encounter any issues with goggles fogging related to the lack of venting. As winter progresses, we will continue to monitor this. It also has a simple plastic goggle strap retaining clip standard across most ski helmets. These provide okay security and are easy to use. When we were riding in the terrain park, one of our bails resulted in losing the goggles from the goggle strap retainer. We were surprised by this as the forces involved did not seem to warrant a goggles strap retainer failure.

Style

The Logan is a great-looking helmet. It has a classic skate and freestyle look but offers modern protective technology. We are used to many newer helmets with additional protective technologies taking on a futuristic look to the helmet, and we're glad the Logan avoids this approach. When evaluating for style, this helmet was one of the most highly ranked models.

Freestyle skiers and riders tend to look for a discrete and low-profile skate-inspired helmet, which often comes at the expense of advanced protective technology and ventilation. The Logan adds another option for snowboarders looking for that skate-styled helmet with rotational impact protection and impressive ventilation. It is this balance that helps this model gain our favor.

Should You Buy the Anon Logan WaveCel?

The Anon Logan Wavecel helmet is a skate-style helmet that does not compromise advanced performance features or ventilation abilities to achieve a freestyle aesthetic. It has a premium feature set like a magnetic buckle, Wavecel, and a BOA Fit System to improve the product's fit, user experience, and protective efficacy. It is a great helmet for freestyle or freeride-oriented skiers and snowboarders looking for a discreet low profile helmet that they'll consistently wear.

What Other Ski Helmets Should You Consider?

The Anon Logan is a premium-priced helmet, but its user-friendly feature set and innovative protection technology make the price more understandable. It's pricey but not over-priced relative to other high-end helmets we have tested. However, if your budget is limited, there are more affordable helmets that you may want to consider. The Smith Mission Mips is a reasonably priced ski helmet that checks all our boxes and even has some features in common with higher-ranking options.