Brain buckets are a must-have piece of kit for most climbers, and Petzl has always been a leader in protecting your gray matter. The Meteor III is their latest and greatest entry into the gear fray, and chances are you’ll either love it or hate it.
First, the hatemonger perspective. Compared to the Petzl Elios the Meteor is slightly larger, awkward to adjust using one hand, comes in only one size and color and costs $30 more.
Now, the love-in. Again compared to the Elios the Meteor is significantly lighter (8.2oz versus 12.3oz), has better ventilation, has slightly more padding on the inside and has significantly more coverage of your brain housing group with the thick foam coming all the way down to the lip of the helmet a la bicycle style.
In my opinion the lighter weight and increased coverage of the Meteor make it worth the extra money, and it has replaced the Elios in my gear bag.