Petzl Sirocco A073 vs Black Diamond BD620218
Written by John Wren|
Choose the Petzl Sirocco, Amazon model cell A073, ASIN B07VHNCSHP, for the medium-large helmet whose features say 170 grams, an EPP shell, and an EPS crown. The model cell does not print a color suffix. Petzl's table for A073BA01 says black and orange, medium-large, 170 grams, and 53 to 61 centimeters. Choose Black Diamond part BD620218, ASIN B081GJWXLY, for the Vision MIPS. The description prints medium-large at 250 grams and 58 to 63 centimeters. The same paragraph prints a small-medium line. Use 250 grams only with the medium-large size cell.
Key takeaways
- A073's feature list says 170 grams. Amazon does not print centimeters. Petzl's table for A073BA01 says 53 to 61 centimeters.
- The model cell says A073, not the full color suffix. The color cell says Black. The photo is a black shell and an orange crown.
- BD620218's description says medium-large is 250 grams and 58 to 63 centimeters. The small-medium line in that paragraph is 240 grams.
- These are not the Half Dome or the Boreo. MIPS is named on the Vision card.
Buy the Petzl Sirocco, Amazon model cell A073, ASIN B07VHNCSHP, when you want the medium-large climbing helmet whose features say a hybrid EPP shell, an EPS crown, and a weight of only 170 grams, and when you will not pretend the model cell printed the color suffix. Buy the Black Diamond Vision MIPS, model BD620218, ASIN B081GJWXLY, when you want the medium-large card whose description prints 250 grams and a head of 58 to 63 centimeters for that size, and when you will not average that line with the small-medium line printed in the same paragraph.
Short version. A Black Diamond Half Dome and a Petzl Boreo are the other helmet pair. They are not the Sirocco and they are not the Vision. A Petzl GRIGRI+ and a Black Diamond Big Air XP are belay devices. A helmet does not belay. A Petzl Djinn and a Black Diamond Hotwire are harnesses. A Petzl Bindi and a Nitecore NU25 are the headlamps the clips on these helmets are for. The lamp is not included in either helmet ASIN.
| Job | Petzl A073 | Black Diamond BD620218 | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the card says you are holding | Model A073, size medium-large, color black | Model BD620218, UPC 793661431466, size medium-large, color black | A073 is a family number. The color and size suffix is not in the model cell. |
| Weight the card prints | The feature says only 170 grams | The description says medium-large is 250 grams, 8.8 ounces. It also prints small-medium at 240 grams | Use 170 for the Petzl feature. Use 250 only with the medium-large sentence. |
| Head size | The Amazon card does not print a centimeter range | Medium-large in the description is 58 to 63 centimeters. Small-medium is 53 to 59 | A Petzl reference table is where the Sirocco's centimeters live, and it is not this cell. |
| Construction | EPP foam shell and an EPS crown, in the features | The description says EPP, molded EPS, and a polycarbonate shell, plus MIPS | MIPS is named on the Vision card. It is not named on the Sirocco card. |
| What a reference table adds | A Petzl size chart uses A073BA01 for black/orange, medium-large, 170 grams, 53 to 61 centimeters | The description already prints both sizes. Do not import a second chart | Say A073BA01 only when you are reading that chart. |
Who should buy the Sirocco, and who should buy the Vision?
Buy the A073 card if you want the 170-gram feature, the orange-crowned helmet the photograph shows, the headlamp clips, and the medium-large size cell, and if you will measure your head because the Amazon card never prints 53 to 61 centimeters. Buy BD620218 if you want MIPS named in the description, the medium-large range of 58 to 63 centimeters, the 250-gram line that belongs to that size, and the UPC 793661431466.
Buy neither if your head is outside the range you are actually reading. The Vision description overlaps the two sizes from 58 to 59 centimeters. That overlap is a reason to try both, not a reason to average 240 and 250 grams. Buy neither if you wanted the Half Dome or the Boreo. Those are the other helmets.
What is A073 actually for?
This card is a Petzl Sirocco, model A073, ASIN B07VHNCSHP. The size cell says Medium-Large. The color cell says Black. The features say a hybrid construction with an EPP foam shell and a rigid crown injected with EPS foam, a weight of only 170 grams, a head-covering shape that is lower in the rear, wide holes for ventilation, and headlamp attachment. The description says the shape and the ventilation are there for comfort, and that the helmet is for climbers and mountaineers who want less weight. It does not print a head circumference. It does not print a certification number. It does not print the full reference A073BA01 or A073AA01.
A Petzl reference table splits the family. A073AA00 and A073AA01 are white and orange, small-medium and medium-large. A073BA00 and A073BA01 are black and orange, small-medium and medium-large. The medium-large weights on that table are 170 grams. The small-medium weights are 160 grams. Medium-large head size on that table is 53 to 61 centimeters. Small-medium is 48 to 58. The Amazon color cell says Black. The photograph shows a black shell and an orange crown, which is the black/orange pair, not a solid black helmet and not the white one. If you need the suffix, say you are using the reference table, and match medium-large black/orange to A073BA01. Do not write A073BA01 into the model cell. The cell says A073.
One hundred seventy grams is the feature and the medium-large line on that table. It is not a weighed helmet on your scale until you weigh it. Foam helmets are a poor place to argue over five grams. They are a good place to notice that the Vision's medium-large line is 250 grams, eighty grams more, on a different card.
What is BD620218 actually for?
This card is a Black Diamond Vision MIPS, model BD620218, ASIN B081GJWXLY, UPC 793661431466. The size cell says Medium-Large. The color cell says Black. The features say a lightweight MIPS climbing helmet and name EPP, EPS, and polycarbonate. The description is the paragraph that does the real work. It says the medium-large head is 58 to 63 centimeters, 23 to 25 inches, at 250 grams or 8.8 ounces. It says the small-medium head is 53 to 59 centimeters, 21 to 23 inches, at 240 grams or 8.4 ounces. The size cell on this ASIN is medium-large, so the 250-gram sentence is the one that matches the cell. The 240-gram sentence is the other size, printed so you can see it, and it is not this helmet unless the size cell is wrong.
The description says MIPS is there to reduce rotational motion from an angled impact, that the shell is EPP with molded EPS and polycarbonate, that the coverage is lower at the side and back, and that the headlamp clips are low profile. It does not print a certification number in the portion this page is willing to treat as a cell. Do not add UIAA or CE to the Amazon card because a different helmet's dealer page has those letters. The Petzl reference table is where a certification line showed up for the Sirocco family, and even that line stays on that table.
Two hundred fifty grams against the Sirocco's 170 is the weight difference the two documents actually support, and only if you keep each number on its own card. Eighty grams is a little under three ounces. On a helmet that lives on your head for a long pitch, you can feel it or you cannot. The cards do not print a comfort score. They print grams and, on the Vision, centimeters.
How do you match a headlamp and a harness without mixing helmets?
Both cards mention a way to hang a lamp. The Sirocco feature says headlamp attachment. The Vision description says integrated clips. The Bindi and the NU25 are the small lamps already compared on this site. Neither helmet ASIN includes a lamp, and a clip shape is not printed in millimeters. Bring the lamp to the helmet. Do not buy a second helmet because the first clip was tight.
The harness and the belay device are the rest of the system. The Djinn and the Hotwire hold you. The GRIGRI+ and the Big Air XP hold the rope. A helmet does not replace either. The Half Dome and the Boreo are what you buy if you wanted those models instead of a 170-gram Sirocco or a MIPS Vision. Read the model cell. A073 is not Boreo. BD620218 is not Half Dome.
Measure the head where a hat would sit, in centimeters if you can. The Vision's medium-large sentence starts at 58. The Petzl table's medium-large sentence starts at 53 and ends at 61. A 62-centimeter head is inside the Vision sentence and outside the Petzl table. A 54-centimeter head is inside the Petzl table and outside the Vision medium-large sentence, and it may be inside the Vision small-medium sentence that this ASIN's size cell does not claim. That is the whole fit problem. It is not solved by the color.
What actually fails on these two cards?
The Petzl card fails when A073BA01 is called the model cell. It fails when 53 to 61 centimeters is called an Amazon feature. It fails when the color cell Black is used to order a solid black helmet the photograph does not show. It fails when 160 grams, the small-medium line on the reference table, replaces the 170-gram feature. It fails when a certification from the reference table is pasted onto the Amazon bullet. It fails when the Half Dome comparison is treated as this helmet.
The Vision card fails when 240 grams and 250 grams are averaged. It fails when a 53-centimeter head is told it fits because the small-medium sentence is on the page. The size cell says medium-large. It fails when MIPS is described as making the helmet safe in a way the description did not claim. The description claims a system aimed at rotational motion. It does not claim that a fall becomes harmless. It fails when the polycarbonate shell is denied because the feature list is only three materials jammed together. The description is where the shell is named.
What is this comparison not?
This is not a bike helmet and it is not a motorcycle helmet. Both cards are climbing helmets. This is not every Sirocco color. The white and orange references are other suffixes. This is not a rope review and it is not a shoe review. This is not a price quote. The price moves. Use the buttons if you want the live listing. This is not a promise that 170 grams will feel like nothing after four hours. The feature says 170 grams. Your neck does the rest.
Try the helmet with the lamp you already own. A clip that looks fine in a product photo can sit on the lamp's strap or on the helmet's shell, and neither card prints the clip's width. The Bindi comparison is the lamp. This comparison stops at the shell. If the medium-large Vision is loose at 58 centimeters, the overlap with the small-medium sentence is a reason to try the other size, not a reason to order BD620218 and hope. If the Sirocco table's 53-to-61 range is the only centimeter line you have, say that you used the table.
So which climbing helmet should you buy?
Buy the Petzl if you want the A073 card, ASIN B07VHNCSHP, the 170-gram feature, and the medium-large size cell, and if you will measure your head against a reference table the Amazon page does not print. Buy the Black Diamond if you want BD620218, ASIN B081GJWXLY, MIPS in the description, and the 58-to-63-centimeter, 250-gram sentence that matches the medium-large cell. Buy neither if you wanted the Boreo, the Half Dome, or a size the cell does not name.
No public clip that names model A073 on this ASIN and model BD620218 belongs on this page. This comparison does not embed a video.
Frequently asked questions
Petzl A073 or Black Diamond BD620218?
A073 if you want the medium-large Sirocco at the 170-gram feature, and you will take 53 to 61 centimeters from Petzl's table because Amazon does not print it. BD620218 if you want the Vision MIPS whose description prints 250 grams and 58 to 63 centimeters for medium-large, and you will not average that with the small-medium line.
Did Amazon print the Petzl head size?
No. ASIN B07VHNCSHP says size medium-large and 170 grams. It does not print centimeters. Petzl's size table for A073BA01, black and orange, medium-large, says 170 grams and 53 to 61 centimeters. The small-medium row on that table is 160 grams and 48 to 58 centimeters. Do not use the small-medium row for this card.
What does model A073 leave out?
The model cell says A073. It does not print the color suffix. The color cell says Black. The photograph is a black shell with an orange crown, which is the black-and-orange colorway Petzl lists as A073BA01. Name the cell you used.
Which Vision weight belongs to this size?
The description prints medium-large at 250 grams, 8.8 ounces, and 58 to 63 centimeters. It also prints small-medium at 240 grams and 53 to 59 centimeters. This card's size cell is medium-large. Use 250 grams with that cell only.
Is this the Half Dome or the Boreo?
No. The Half Dome Limestone and the Petzl Boreo are the other helmet pair. A073 is the Sirocco. BD620218 is the Vision MIPS. A GRIGRI, a harness, and a headlamp are other products.
Does a video show both helmets?
No. No public clip that names A073 and BD620218 belongs on this page. This comparison does not embed a video.