REASONS TO BUY
Mips Spherical
Adjustable vents
Microfleece liner
Secure fit
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Heavier weight
Slightly bulky
Giro Tor Spherical Review
Giro blends comfort, warmth, and protection into a resort-focused helmet for avid skiers and riders
The earpads are draft-free, warm, and comfortable.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Our Verdict
The Giro Tor is a resort-centric helmet that covers the protection, comfort, and temperature requirements of avid skiers. It differentiates itself through the use of Giro's Mips Spherical technology which uses two separate liners to manage rotational injuries. The microgrid fleece liner enhances comfort and warmth to complement the protective feature set. The adjustable vents are easy to use and help regulate temperature. This feature-rich helmet comes at a premium price, and the Mips Spherical system's added liner makes it slightly bulkier than other in-mold helmets. The Giro Tor is a helmet for committed skiers and snowboarders looking for uncompromised protection, temperature regulation, and comfort. See it ranked against other top products in our review of ski helmets.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Giro Tor Spherical is an eye-catching helmet designed for free-riders looking for the latest safety technology combined with premium features. The Tor utilizes the Mips Spherical system, designed by Mips, Bell, and Giro. It uses a ball and socket system to house two independent liners to reduce the effects of rotational impact forces. The EPP inner liner provides vertical and horizontal movement to manage rotational forces associated with action sports falls. The Mips Spherical system complements the high-end features such as a magnetic Fidlock buckle and adjustable vents to make this a well-rounded helmet.
Performance Comparison
This model is an inbound favorite amongst testers.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Comfort
The best helmet is ultimately the one you will wear, which means a comfortable one. The Giro Tor Spherical is a comfortable helmet that uses the brand's dial-adjustment harness system, a padded microfleece liner, and a wide chin strap pad to achieve all-day comfort.
The helmet's shell fits most head shapes well but is best suited to longer, ovalized shapes. It can still accommodate various head shapes due to the flexible In Form 2 harness adjustment system. This dial is easily accessible and easy to operate even when wearing gloves. The Tor provides a pressure point free ride for all-day comfort on the mountain because of its ample fleece padding and liner that surrounds the inside of the helmet. It is offered in three different sizes to ensure a good fit for you. The helmet is a medium profile that sits between a low-profile in mold product and a higher-profile injection molded model. This is because of the added inner liner of the Mips Spherical system. Our test team noticed this helmet was slightly more noticeable when riding on the mountain than some other models, but ultimately, the secure fit of this helmet provided a bobble-free and high-quality ride.
The adjustable harness and padded liner provide lasting comfort and a high-quality ride.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Warmth
Thick beanies or buffs worn under a helmet can compromise the fit. A helmet must be warm on its own to reduce the number of layers required and ensure a good, secure fit. The Giro Tor is a good choice for a cold-weather ski helmet. It was one of the warmest we tested due to its microgrid fleece liner, cozy ear covers, and sleek adjustable vents.
Our test team wore this helmet in temperature ranges of 15 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. We remained comfortable using nothing underneath in the warmer temperatures and a thin liner beanie or balaclava on the colder days. The antimicrobial microfleece liner covers the full cranial area of the helmet and provides similar warmth to a skull cap or thin fleece beanie. The ear covers offer a soft next-to-skin feel that remains draft free, and they are easily removable. The thin and streamlined vents allow the helmet to maintain warmth, especially on the chair lift and the adjustable vents help regulate temperature to avoid getting sweaty, which can lead to getting cold.
The earpads are draft-free, warm, and comfortable.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Ventilation
Have you ever had foggy goggles or been sweating on a warm day? Poor ventilation from your ski helmet can contribute to this and prevent you from performing at your best. The Tor offers good ventilation that is enhanced during movement to help shed heat and reduce the chances of your goggles fogging.
The Tor has a total of 16 small vents, seven of which are adjustable. The vents are easy to close using a slider mechanism on top of the helmet. While the vents are small, they effectively channel air through the helmet to keep you cool. The vents are noticeably more efficient at high speeds, allowing air to move through the helmet more. One vent is placed in the middle of the brim to allow air into the goggles to minimize fogging potential.
The Giro Tor uses an intelligent ventilation system to channel air effectively through the helmet.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Weight and Bulk
The weight of a helmet often determines how it feels on your head while riding at the resort or if you will carry it when headed out into the backcountry. The Giro Tor is one of the heavier helmets we tested due in no small part to the Spherical system. A few additional ounces don't make a huge difference for resort use but may be a concern for backcountry users who are more concerned with weight.
The Mips Spherical system and premium feature set increase the overall weight of this model. The Tor weighs 22.22 ounces, right up there with the heaviest models in this review. This weight is more notable on the head and the backpack. It doesn't necessarily make you feel like a bobblehead when skiing, but the extra quarter pound or so may be noticeable on a long day of hiking for your turns. Its weight, feature set, and profile are best suited for the resort or for the backcountry user who doesn't mind a little extra weight on shorter tours.
This is one of the heavier helmets in the review and not our first pick for backcountry travel.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Goggle Compatibility
The majority of modern helmets offer impressive compatibility across different goggle brands and the Tor is no different. The helmet interfaced with goggles ranging from small to large frames without a goggle gap or the helmet pushing the frame down on your face. Our test team also appreciated the easy-to-use bungee-style goggle retainer.
Our testers wore this helmet with six goggle brands and varying frame sizes to evaluate goggle compatibility. The small brim and helmet shape ensured a good fit with each model. The helmet also features a small, easy-to-use, bungee goggle strap retainer to help your goggles stay on when skiing.
A seamless fit with a medium-frame goggle.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Style
Style is a common argument for people to leave their helmets at home. This medium profile and good-looking helmet keeps the excuses to a minimum. To help us manage subjectivity in this metric, we recruited diverse outside help. We asked friends, strangers, skiers, and snowboarders to rank each helmet's aesthetics from 1-10 based and then averaged the scores.
The Tor ranked in the middle of the pack amongst the surveyed group. The sleek vents, subtle brim, and textured top area were aesthetic highlights to avid freeride-focused skiers. This model comes in 5 different subdued matte colorways for a discrete appearance.
The Tor capitalizes on a modern freeride look, that helps you stand out from the crowd.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Should You Buy the Giro Tor Spherical?
If you can't wait for the weekend to come so you can head to the resort, then the Giro Tor is a premium helmet that warrants the investment. The Mips Spherical system, combined with user-friendly and valuable features like the Fidlock buckle, microfleece liner, and adjustable vents, enhance the protection, comfort, and temperature regulation of the Tor. This helmet is not cheap, but we feel it is a quality, protective helmet that justifies the asking price.
What Other Snowshoes Should You Consider?
If shelling out big bucks for a ski helmet isn't possible, we recommend the Giro Ratio. This helmet features Mips Technology and adjustable vents but skips elective features like a magnetic buckle to save you some cash. If you don't mind shelling out some cash for added performance, we recommend the Smith Vantage Mips. This lightweight helmet uses premium protective features such as Mips and Koyord to offer you peace of mind no matter where you are skiing.
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Isaac Laredo
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