The Husqvarna ProForest Chain Saw Helmet is the best chainsaw helmet for a small chainsaw based on the value it provides.
It’s a wonderful day.
You woke up to the sound of birds in your garden as you watch the beautiful flowers bloom.
Today’s the day when you trim a few small trees and branches in your garden to make it even more beautiful. So you bring out your trusty small chainsaw and get busy.
Suddenly you hear a crack and the next thing you know you’re being rushed to the hospital.
When you come to your senses, your wife informs you that a falling branch hit your head and knocked you out cold. You spend a few days in the hospital and are back home to your beautiful garden.
But this time you promise yourself never again will you use a chainsaw without a chainsaw helmet.
This post will help you find the best chainsaw helmet for your small chainsaw so you never have to face an injury when using it.
What is a small chainsaw?
A small chainsaw is one of the best tools for your pruning needs in a garden. You can choose a chainsaw with a bar length that ranges between 12 to 16 inches for your garden.
The small chainsaw is powered by an electric, gas, or battery operated motor.
Do you need a small chainsaw?
There are some tools that can help ease your work in the garden. A pair of cutting tools are essential for your pruning and trimming needs.
For branches and stems less than 1 inch thick, you will need a good pair of bypass pruners. Anything between 1 to 2 inches thick would be better cut with a bypass lopper.
If you have a few branches that are more than 2 inches thick, you would find it easy to cut with a good pruning saw. But if there are a lot of branches you will find the job tedious. For such work, it’s better to invest in a good small chainsaw that can cut branches with ease.
What precautions should you take when using a small chainsaw?
Even a small chainsaw is a dangerous tool that can cause serious injury if you’re not careful with it.
The first thing you need to consider as part of safety is investing in good protective equipment. This includes chainsaw chaps, a chainsaw helmet, safety gloves, and goggles.
The safety goggles will protect the debris from flying into your eyes. The safety gloves will protect your hands from scrapes and blisters while the chainsaw chaps will protect your limbs in case of a kickback.
A good safety helmet will protect your head from falling branches, your face from debris, and your ears from loud noise.
One of the most common reasons for a kickback while using the chainsaw is when it gets stuck in the wood and you try to pull it out. This can happen if your chainsaw chain is not sharp enough and gets lodged in the wood. So make sure to sharpen your chainsaw chain with an electric sharpener or buy a replacement chain if you’re just too lazy to do so.
Keeping the tension in the chain will help keep your chainsaw working for a long time to come and also help you cut with ease. Most chainsaws come with a tightening screw or knob you can use to adjust the tension as needed.
Keeping the chainsaw chain well-oiled will also help improve the cutting and life of the chainsaw. Remember to fill the oil reservoir of the chainsaw with the right amount of chain oil before use.
An electric chainsaw needs to be plugged into an electrical socket before use. So make sure you have a long enough outdoor extension cord before you use it. A gas chainsaw works on gas so be sure to fill the tank before use. If you have a battery operated chainsaw you can ensure the battery is charged before use or make use of a spare battery that is already charged and ready.
Remember to test out the safety handbrake that comes with many chainsaws. This handbrake ensures that your chainsaw will come to a stop in case of kickback where your hand touches it.
Keep your pets and children clear of the garden when you are working with your chainsaw. Also, make sure there are no obstacles near the trees you intend to cut that could cause you to trip.
When using the chainsaw use it from the side rather than standing directly behind it. So in case of kickback, the chainsaw will not fly towards your body.
A chainsaw should be used to cut trees and branches while standing on firm ground where you have the best balance. If you feel the need to cut higher branches either get a pole saw or the help of a professional.
The safest way to cut branches is to cut with the branch close to the end of the chainsaw bar near the engine. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally hit the tip of the chainsaw to the branch and risk a kickback.
A chainsaw helps you cut trees and branches with ease. So place it on the wood and let it do the cutting work without trying to apply a lot of pressure on it.
What is a chainsaw helmet?
A chainsaw helmet is part of the protective equipment you should use when using a small chainsaw.
Usually, the helmet will consist of an adjustable helmet, a wire mesh and/or plastic protector screen, and earmuffs.
Why do you need to wear a chainsaw helmet?
A chainsaw can be a dangerous piece of equipment even if it is a small chainsaw you use in your garden.
There are several ways of getting injured with a chainsaw. The most dangerous one is a chainsaw kickback where you hit the tip of the chainsaw on the wood and it bounces back towards your limbs. You can use a good pair of chainsaw chaps to protect against this type of injury.
The other common injury is from a branch or tree falling on your head after the cut. That’s the type of injury a chainsaw helmet can protect you from.
The wire mesh or plastic visor that comes with the chainsaw helmet will protect your face and eyes from wood chips that fly during the cut.
A small chainsaw might not be the loudest piece of equipment you have but the earplugs on the chainsaw helmet will protect your ears from damage.
How to choose a good chainsaw helmet
It’s not nice to have a cracked head while trying to trim a few trees. That’s why it’s a good use of your time to choose the best chainsaw helmet for you. Let’s take a look at some factors that will help you decide on one.
Comfort
You’ll be spending some amount of time in the garden trimming branches. So it’s good to have a chainsaw helmet that you find comfortable to wear.
Try to pick a chainsaw helmet that comes with an adjustable system that can fit your head size with ease. Trying out several helmets is a good option before you finalize one.
Breathability
It can be tough working in your garden especially in warm weather. Wearing additional safety equipment like chainsaw chaps and a chainsaw helmet is not going to make things easier.
That’s why you need to pick a chainsaw helmet that is breathable. This means it should have a good ventilation system that allows air flow and does not cause massive amounts of heat and sweat to cover your head.
Also, check the weight of the helmet before you buy one. It’s always good to choose one that is lightweight so you don’t feel a burden on your head while doing your trimming tasks.
Accessories
The more protective equipment you wear when using a chainsaw the better. Try to pick a chainsaw helmet that comes with some sort of visor that protects the eyes and earmuffs for ear protection.
The visor could be wire mesh made of metal or a plastic screen or sometimes even both. This will protect your eyes and face from the wood chips that fly during the cut.
The plastic visor is good to prevent any kind of debris from reaching your face. But it can tend to fog up after using for a while and you need to keep cleaning it. Instead, you could use the wire mesh that will prevent most debris from reaching your face and not have the problem of fogging up.
A small chainsaw is not the noisiest piece of equipment but it’s still good to have a pair of earmuffs that will muzzle out the loud noise and protect your ears.
Safety standards
Chainsaw helmets follow certain safety standards depending on the country they are manufactured in. So choose one that follows all the safety norms of your region.
You should ensure the chainsaw helmet that you pick passes the safety checks for ANSI and CE standards such as ANSI Z89.1, Type 1, Class E, G, and C standards.
Price
We always recommend choosing the best quality chainsaw helmet that you can afford because it’s a matter of your safety which cannot be compromised.
Having said that, the chances of you getting a serious injury on your head is less when you’re working in a small garden with some small trees and branches that don’t weigh a lot.
You should be able to find some inexpensive chainsaw helmet options that are made with pretty good quality while not burning a hole in your pocket.
Reviews
Last update on 2024-04-10 // Source: Amazon Affiliates
The Husqvarna ProForest chainsaw helmet comes with a helmet, earmuffs, and a metal mesh for complete head protection when using your small chainsaw.
The earmuffs that come with this helmet are adjustable based on your comfort and will protect your ears because they have 25dB NRR.
The 6 point suspension is a unique feature of this helmet that will make it adjustable to your head regardless of the size.
The Husqvarna ProForest helmet focuses on quality and comes with a UV and chemical-resistant polyethylene construction that will protect your helmet from harsh sunlight and weather making it durable for many years to come.
We don’t recommend you work in rainy weather in your garden especially if your small chainsaw is electric. But if you do this helmet comes with rain neck protection.
The Husqvarna ProForest helmet weighs just 1.7 pounds which makes it very lightweight to carry around in the garden while doing your trimming jobs.
The helmet does not come with a chin strap which would have been good to fit it better on your head. There is no easy adjustment knob on the back of this helmet that could be used to tighten or loosen it.
The instructions that come with this helmet are poor and you need to struggle a bit to fix all the components.
You can trust the Husqvarna quality especially since this helmet meets the ANSI Z89.1-2003 Class G-E-C standards.
Pros
Cons
Last update on 2024-04-10 // Source: Amazon Affiliates
The TR Industrial Forestry safety helmet comes with the helmet, earmuffs, and both plastic and mesh visor. This gives you complete head protection when you’re pruning trees in your garden.
It has a convenient dial knob on the rear that can be used to adjust the helmet between 20 to 24.5 inches so that it fits firmly on your head.
It’s good to have both the plastic and mesh visor so you can choose the best one for your needs. A plastic visor will protect your face from most debris flying during the cut but they can fog up and need frequent cleaning. A mesh visor will not have the fogging-up issue but some debris could come through the mesh.
The helmet weighs about 2.15 pounds which makes it pretty lightweight to carry around the garden while cutting branches.
It’s also pretty inexpensive when you compare it to the other chainsaw helmets that are available.
The earmuffs that come with this helmet are not the best quality and the ear cushions can come off after a while. You can just use some glue to stick them back if that happens.
The assembly instructions that come with this chainsaw helmet are a bit confusing and you may need to spend some time figuring things out.
All parts of the TR industrial forestry helmet are ANSI and CE certified having a Z89.9-2003 ANSI rating which makes it safe for your head.
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Cons
Last update on 2024-04-10 // Source: Amazon Affiliates
The Oregon 563474 chainsaw helmet comes with a mesh visor and earmuffs for complete head protection.
The sturdy helmet comes with 6 ventilation holes that will help air circulate through the helmet so your head remains cool when you’re working outdoors especially in warm weather.
The 6 point adjustable harness will help keep the helmet tight to your head so it does not wobble while you’re working.
The steel visor will help protect your face and eyes from flying debris as you cut the wood. It has a flip up/flip down functionality which will make it easy to keep the visor or not based on your needs while working in the garden.
The same can be said of the earmuffs that come with an easy up/down adjustment so you can keep them on or off when you’re working in the garden. It can protect your ears with an NRR of 22dB.
This chainsaw helmet weights just 2.2 pounds which makes it easy to carry around in your garden as you’re working.
The assembly instructions that come with this helmet are very poor and you’ll need to spend some time understanding how to do that.
The Oregon 563474 is quite inexpensive but it does come with an average quality that you would expect.
The helmet is proven safe because it has been tested to meet the ANSI Z89.1-2009 type I, class E, G, and C standards.
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Last update on 2024-04-10 // Source: Amazon Affiliates
The ERB 14371 chainsaw safety kit comes with a helmet, steel mesh visor, earmuffs, and goggles to give you complete head protection when using your small chainsaw.
This helmet comes with the Mega Ratchet adjustment system that will help it fit comfortably over your head. It’s also nice to have a chin-strap that will keep the helmet firm to your head and make it comfortable.
The steel mesh visor that comes with this kit will protect your face and eyes from the debris flying as you cut wood. It also has an epoxy coating that will protect you from glare and make it corrosion resistant.
It comes with a pair of anti-fog goggles which give your eyes even more protection though they are average quality.
The earmuffs help reduce noise and protect your ears as they have an NRR of 28dB. They are adjustable and you can flip them outwards when not in use.
The weight is about 2.75 pounds which is not the most lightweight but it still is pretty comfortable to carry around.
The instructions that come with this helmet are not easy to decipher and you may need to struggle a bit.
The helmet is pretty safe as it meets the ANSI Z89.1-2009, Type 1 Class C, E, and G standards.
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The Neiko 53880A is a safety helmet system that includes a helmet, earmuffs, and mesh visor that will protect you when using your small chainsaw.
The helmet that comes with this system is impact resistant with a foam headband, soft plastic lining, and cushion earmuffs that will keep your comfortable while cutting branches in your garden.
The earmuffs have an NRR of 22 dB which is not the highest protection but it will do the job of keeping your ears safe from noise.
The steel mesh attached to the helmet is lightweight and will protect your eyes and face from flying debris.
The Neiko helmet comes with a dial knob at the back that will help adjust the size so it fits your head perfectly. It weighs about 2 pounds so you should feel comfortable in it and have no problems carrying it around in the garden.
The instructions that come with this helmet are poor and you may need to struggle a bit as you assemble it.
The earmuffs that come with this helmet can be pushed up when not in use but you cannot detach them from the helmet.
The heavy-duty helmet is safe because it follows the standards prescribed by ANSI S12.42/S3.19 and CE EN352-3.
This helmet is quite inexpensive and would be ideal for you if you’re looking for something on a budget but that gives good enough protection.
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Conclusion
You can enjoy the wonderful sights of your garden with the sounds of birds and the beauty of flowers.
You can trim your small trees and branches so that they grow healthy, strong, and beautiful without worrying about branches falling on your head and knocking you out.
Choose the chainsaw helmet that will give you the best protection while using your small chainsaw.
We recommend using the Husqvarna ProForest Chain Saw Helmet which gives the best quality helmet that is lightweight and easy to adjust.
If you’re on a budget and looking for something inexpensive you can consider buying the TR Industrial Forestry Safety Helmet which will give you good enough protection without burning a hole in your pocket.
Fact Checked, Written, and Published by Kevin Rodrigues
Kevin is the founder of Gardening Mentor, a website that aims to teach people to grow their own food in a limited space. As a self-taught gardener, Kevin has spent several years growing plants and creating gardening content on the website. He is certified in Home Horticulture and Organic Gardening from Oregon State University. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Gardening from Mumbai University.
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