With pretty much any of these “unauthorized replica” Ops-Core helmets, you’re at best getting a kevlar helmet that’s been made to look like an Ops-Core FAST, at which point you may as well get a MICH/ACH, Revision, or Gentex TBH-II.
In addition to having dubious ballistic ratings, for many civilian users, a reliable impact rating is often overlooked, but a much more important factor than ballistic protection, and it’s hard to say with many of these helmets whether they’re tested for impact at all with the full pad suite, etc., versus simply shooting the shell alone. Getting shot in the head may be a relatively rare occurance for civilian users, but hiking terrain where you could have a bad fall and break your brain box, riding four wheelers or ATVs around, etc., makes impact protection an actual factor, especially considering even the best NV still degrades your vision and situational awareness relative to broad daylight applications.
Finally, as mentioned, none of the accessories can be guaranteed to be “in spec” with these unauthorized replica products—not just the shrouds (often plastic to begin with, don’t remember whether the HHV is off top of my head) to which you’re hanging and expensive piece of NV equipment, but also the rails, not to mention off-brand velcro that’s often poorly appliedand will begin to peel off with use, and crap suspensions. If you were going to use one of these shells just as the basis for headborne systems, the best thing to do would be to replace all the accessories with authentic Ops-Core parts anyways—something that even airsofters often do with their knock-of helmets, think about that...
It’s not about needing to spend big bucks on a helmet, either, the Ops-Core Bump has real impact ratings and authentic accessories, and there are enough surplus ACHs out there to last a lifetime, with lower cost ballistic options from Gentex and Revision among others that will do the job without breaking the bank, and are not pretending to be something they’re not.
~Augee