As a business owner myself, one misperception is that price is the primary factor in a purchase. I truly believe dealers can keep their price higher than an internet price as long as they are willing (and also point out to the potential buyer) to provide benefits internet sites can't (i.e. returns, returning customer loyalty discounts, special Customer appreciation days sales, ect...that brings people back to the shop).
Those will go a long way. There will always be a few customers who shop on price alone, but most shops that provide good customer service will have a loyal customer base. However, there is a limit to what even the most loyal customer will pay. I always have to balance my desire to save money with my desire to have it NOW! If I can save more than a few bucks by shopping online (with free shipping), then I'll usually wait. Particularly since a lot of internet companies are also very good at providing customer service now.
It is hard to put a price on quality and customer service.
I'm not sure how the numbering scheme works anymore with Scorpion, but the EXO 500 appears to be competing/replacing the EXO 1000 at a lesser price (MSRP $219.00). The store I was at last weekend had a couple of EXO 1000s left and 15 - 20 EXO 500s. They were asking $249.99 for an XXL EXO 500; you can find them for $199.99 online.
It is hard to put a price on quality and customer service.
The EXO-500 is NOT SNELL APPROVED/rated like the EXO-1000. I believe it also does not contain carbon fiber in the shell (the EXO-1000 does). Otherwise, they appear to be pretty similar except the color/pattern selection in the 500 is not very good either.
I don't know if it falls into your price range, but you may want to check out the Bell Revolver. I'm looking hard at a Bell because they now have a transition shield and webbikeworld is rating their current lineup very highly.
I personally will not go into a dealer, try on the helmets or other gear to find out what fits. Then leave and order it somewhere else to save a few dollars! I'm not pointing fingers at anybody, but I personally won't do that. I feel it's not right. And in a way, I feel that it's kind of like theft of service.
The dealer pays to stock the items, electric, heat and/or AC, for their customers. I'm sure the prices are listed on the items. If I felt the prices are so high I must order elsewhere. There is the option to leave then and buy else where because I want to pay less. To then go ahead and try items on to find out what I want, and then buy elsewhere is IMO, just not right. So I personally won't do that.
I realize that dealers prices are sometimes higher than I can buy on line for. But sometimes if I ask, they give me a better price for being a loyal customer. I also realize that the dealer is a business, and as such needs to make a profit to survive. The fact is that less, or not enough profit could mean the demise of the dealer. I personally like to keep the dealers around. There are things that I might need from them. So it's in my best interest to help them survive.
Like I said, I am not pointing fingers at anyone. This is just my feelings and belief on this practice! reading this thread kind of reminded me of that. So I decided to voice my opinion on it. Not at anyone in particular, but as the group as a whole, in general!
The EXO-1000 is a poly carbonate helmet, not carbon fiber.
Most helmets are still made using poly carbonate because carbon fiber increases the cost exponentially while only decreasing the weight slightly.
No. The EXO-1000 is not just a traditional polycarbonate helmet. It is actually a fiberglass/kevlar mix: "Scorpion EXO-1000 Helmet FiberglassKevlar Matrix Shell" I mistyped in my original post, sorry (had "carbon fiber" on my mind for some reason).
The more expensive 700, 750, and 1000 claim/claimed Fiberglass/Kevlar
The cheaper 100, 200, 400 and even the new EXO-500 claim just polycarbonate.
I read an article somewhere a long time back where snell rating makes a helmet too hard, wherein it transfers the impact force to the head.