I have been on the lookout for a good supersport-centric helmet for a while. There definitely are more options in India locally now, but lot of brands and models among available brands are missing, or in short supply or just too expensive.
I tried on several brands and models commonly available. I wanted a quiet helmet initially, but riding the Daytona 675 which has the most aggressive 50º crouch, upper quadrant visibility became a limitation, especially leaning over in corners and trying to look into the turn. So my focus shifted from quiet to good vision, using earplugs to counter noise.
NOTE: I'm writing primarily from a supersport rider perspective. For those riding standard/naked bikes or tourers or cruisers, this is largely irrelevant since most helmets are adequate with the upright or mild crouch posture. Even supersports with less aggressive crouch ( Aprilia RSV4 for example) won't find upper quadrant vision restrictive on most helmets.
1. AGV K3 SV and K5 : Way too many color/graphic options online, but very few in stores. They look good , but I found the viewport too narrow, actually the narrowest of all. Surprising, since AGV is associated with sporty nature. For the prices asked, I found them a bit expensive for entry level models. I do like some of the graphic schemes ( K5 in Hurricane scheme).
2. Nolan N64 : Reviewers online commonly say this is a noisy helmet, although quietness now isn't my prime focus. Again, the viewport is narrow and I found them brow a bit too low. Another entry level model, with N86/87 models not in stock (more on that later). Graphics/colors are varied and colorful, but none drew me towards them.
3. Bell Qualifier : Decent but didn't really fit my vision requirement, and I found the available ones mostly unattractive, as in graphics/colors.
4. Airoh Storm: Fit and material felt good, has sun-visor built in but again, upper vision was striclty average.
5. Airoh GP500 : same as above, fit was ok, no sunvisor being a track-compliant helmet. I'm not sure if this is Airoh's flagship, but for 35k INR asking price, it didn't seem to be VFM.
6. HJC (don't recall the models, HJC model names are confusing):
Seem VFM , even the interior and exterior quality felt good, but the model I was looking for , IS-17 or FG-ST, both with 5-star SHARP rating, weren't available. Upper vision was comparable to my MT Blade, with is borderline adequate.
7. Scorpion EXO710: This was the best of the lot. For circa 25k INR price, the material quality felt good, the color (black and red) also seemed not too flashy, not too dull. Upper vision too was similar to MT Blade. I had almost made up my mind to buy this.
But I decided to take a leap of faith and order online. Having tried on several brands and models, I pretty much established what my size was , since there are sometimes differences in actual fit for the same size on paper.
I had seen the Nexx XR1 Carbon and loved the look. That model is discontinued now, there is the XR2 Carbon Pure among the XR2 range (of which I like some other, non-carbon models too).
I read several reviews complaining about quality (liner coming loose, ala Jorge Lorenzo's HJC ), and that it was overpriced. I looked up several carbon-fibre/composite shell models and they are priced similar or higher. Like most products, there's a mix of positive and negative reviews.
One reviewer even stated that he's "not going back to Arai". As you might know, most of the moto-journalists swear by Arai. It's like the holy grail of helmets. I for one, though, think they're overpriced and wasn't yet ready to shell out 35+ for a lid (before shipping and duty).
I loved the look of several carbon-fibre themed helmets, including Icon Airframe , Nolan/Xlite 802RR , AGV Pista , Shark RaceRPro and so on. But the one thing several reviewers mentioned for the Nexx XR2, was the vision - the upper quadrant in particular. So I decided that was going to be it. I wanted the black+orange graphic most, but it's not available anywhere. The black+yellow looks more like neon-green, which I like too, but decided to get the black+red theme.
Initial review:
1. Vision is good. Upper quadrant is wider, allowing far better vision when crouched. The brow does converge toward the centre between the eyes, but there's lot of room above the eyes. Choice vindicated.
2. It is noisier than expected, seems noisier than the MT Blade too.
3. Material quality looks great, but need to watch for how it sustains in the long term. The breath-guard caused immediate fogging, so I removed it first thing within minutes of wearing it this morning.
4. Visor thickness much higher than MT Blade. It feels way sturdier, can take a bigger hit before it shatters. I ordered 2 spare visors. It has in-built tab for pin-lock and tear-offs. I am thinking of ordering tear-offs

One pin-lock visor is provided in the box, and I will put it on next, since today's ride it was fogging up easily and had to keep it cracked partly open to prevent fogging. Optically, it's clear with no flaws that I noticed. Visor removal is a bit slower than most tool-less visor replacement mechanisms, and there's a plastic clip to keep track of. It locks down with a small notch on the chin, so as not to open with air pressure at speed.
5. It's light !!! Really light. When I went to collect the parcel, it felt so light, with spare visor, and AXO chest-back protector (free gift with the helmet) in the same carton. All for EUR 391 shipped.
6. Fit is near-perfect. It does compress my ears right now, maybe it will settle in after a while. I had some discomfort in the earlobes due to this, but let's see, expecting either ears or helmet to adapt .
7. Track-compliant, do has no sun-visor, and strap is double D ring.
Overall, happy with the helmet, though quietness and fogging is a bit disappointing. Planning to order the tear-offs later, maybe I should have ordered a 80% smoked visor instead of 60% smoked, it's lighter in tint.
Let the pictures do the talking:
Speaking of Nolan helmets, I visited Ducati store Pune, and they have a good range of Nolan and a few Xlite helmets. I did like some of these but by this time I had already ordered online.