Knox v d3o - Gizmag video trauma test

Knox has been at the forefront of impact protection for 30 years and during that time we've seen a lot of companies jump on the protection bandwagon, making all sorts of claims for their technology. You may have read about d3o, a new orange protector made from "specially engineered material made with intelligent molecules".

Gizmag tested one of these new protectors against a more traditional design from Knox and they made a video too. Journalist Loz Blain fitted d3o to one elbow of his leather jacket and Knox in the other. Then Gizmag editor Noel McKeegan took a frying pan and whacked him on the elbows, going from the Knox side to the d3o side until either Loz surrendered in pain, or he got bored. Belting your colleague with a frying pan may not be scientific, but it proves a simple point, as Gizmag discovered.

"The simple fact is that Noel could have kept on swingin' at the Knox side all afternoon and it wouldn't have fazed me in the slightest, whereas the d3o side was immediately more painful".

In spite of all the claims about "intelligent molecules" the d3o 'armour' was not as effective as CE-tested and approved Knox. The painful truth soon became apparent; "By about 15 minutes after the video was finished filming, my right elbow, on the d3o side, had swollen up quite noticeably and was feeling pretty sore, whereas the left side [protected by Knox] felt as if nothing had happened".

Incidentally, the Knox Flexiform protector in the test is 15mm thick (the d3o was 8mm) and weighs approx. 100 grams.

We'll let you watch the video and draw your own conclusions about the benefits of 'intelligent molecules".

http://www.gizmag.com/d3o-motorcycle-armour-trauma-test/14227/