For those of you with air vests, it looks to me that on the Point Two, when you get off your horse, you unclip the lanyard from the saddle and with the Hit Air, you unclip the lanyard from the vest and the lanyard stays attached to the saddle. Do I have that right? For those of you with a Hit Air, is it annoying to have the lanyard flapping around on the saddle all the time, even when you’re not wearing the air vest? Or do you end up taking it off the saddle? (It looks like it loops around and would be easy enough to take off each time.)
If you mean the actual part that triggers the air then it stays attached to the vest and you can use a small attachment that looks like a grab strap with a ring to clip it to that when you need it. Most I know use a clip on the end to make that easy.
I have a hit-air, I chose it because I get super hot easily and it is the “harness” style… Anyhow, yes the lanyard stays attached to the saddle, and yes it is super annoying to ride with un-clipped, so I just take it off if not wearing my vest. Hope this helps!
I have a point 2 and I use the strap that Jay mentioned. It’s like a second grab strap on the front of my saddle (hooks to the stirrup bars). My vest’s lanyard hooks to the ring on the strap, you can unclip it from there. I don’t notice the strap being in the way when I am not wearing my vest.
I think both vests have that saddle grab strap like thing. But the P2 clips onto that and that’s what you unclip when you get off the horse. The Hit Air loops around it and has a clip that clips onto the pull-thingy (trigger mechanism). when you get off the horse, you unclip from the pull-thingy and the lanyard stays looped around the saddle strap. I think Happyhorse basically answered my question–it does flop around, is annoying and you can just unloop it when not needed. Thanks!
You are most welcome!:winkgrin:
One more question for Happyhorse or anyone else with a Hit Air–it looks like the lanyard buckles into the key ball mechanism with a plastic clip/buckle. If you fall off the horse, presumably that buckle will hold, and the key ball will detach, which will inflate the vest. Does anyone have any concerns about the sturdyness of that buckle? I’m taking my daughter shopping Monday to look at these in person, so I’ll get a better idea, but I was surprised to see a plastic buckle.
I have a Hit Air, honestly I’ve never really thought about the buckle but it seems to be fairly sturdy. I like to think that if there have been any issues with the buckle breaking then the company would have changed it by now 
IMHO, the buckle is sturdy. I forgot to unclip after an XC school once… buckle held tight!!! 
P2 Buckle is sturdy, mine went off, and it looks just like it did before my “dismount”!
The Hit-Air Lanyard is annoying because the coiled wire is covered in plastic so it doesn’t stay “looped” on the saddle strap unless attached to the vest. My son has lost two of them by un-hooking and not immediately removing the lanyard. After he grew out of that vest he got a Helite vest and it is FAR superior because when you unhook the lanyard stays attached to the vest. Unfortunately we are stuck with the Hit-Air until my daughter out grows it, but before she can use it I have to find the obscure seller that sells the replacement lanyards and try to decipher which one goes with this vest.
I have the Hit Air vest. Mine clips to the saddle “grab” strap and is easy and quick to unhook. When riding without the vest, there is only the grab strap which does not bother me at all.
I have a point 2 and because I am on and off so many of the horses from my barn and the polo place I work at I just clip into the saddle D ring. As long as you aren’t using some old beat up schooling saddle that is falling apart the D ring is more than enough. The reason why I do this is even though a majority of the horses I ride in my saddle there are a few that have their own and for ease of use I just don’t use the strap thing that goes on your stirrup bars.
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I’m thinking that maybe the lanyard for the Hit Air has changed some over the years? And it looks like they have some different options on their website. So maybe that’s why one person says it can come undone from the grab strap when not attached to a vest, another says it “clips” on rather than loops through.
This one has a metal clip:
http://hit-air-equestrian.myshopify.com/products/bungee-clip-lanyard
These loop through, and one looks covered in plastic as described above:
http://www.air-vest.com/product/CoiledWire.htm
I’ll see what they have at Dover when we go.
[QUOTE=cgs;8590941]
I’m thinking that maybe the lanyard for the Hit Air has changed some over the years? And it looks like they have some different options on their website. So maybe that’s why one person says it can come undone from the grab strap when not attached to a vest, another says it “clips” on rather than loops through.
This one has a metal clip:
http://hit-air-equestrian.myshopify.com/products/bungee-clip-lanyard
These loop through, and one looks covered in plastic as described above:
http://www.air-vest.com/product/CoiledWire.htm
I’ll see what they have at Dover when we go.[/QUOTE]
If they have changed the lanyard to the top one then I actually do recommend Hit Air as much as Helite. The vest itself is awesome but the coiled wire attachment was so annoying!
Someone at our barn has a Hit Air and I looked at it today. The lanyard has a cloth loop that they loop around a D ring on the saddle–they aren’t using the saddle strap that comes with it. Since the loop is cloth, it stays put. When not in use, they tuck it under somewhere and it stays put and doesn’t flop around. But it would be easy to remove if they wanted to.
[QUOTE=cgs;8589524]
One more question for Happyhorse or anyone else with a Hit Air–it looks like the lanyard buckles into the key ball mechanism with a plastic clip/buckle. If you fall off the horse, presumably that buckle will hold, and the key ball will detach, which will inflate the vest. Does anyone have any concerns about the sturdyness of that buckle? I’m taking my daughter shopping Monday to look at these in person, so I’ll get a better idea, but I was surprised to see a plastic buckle.[/QUOTE]
I get a chance to test mine frequently as my red head see’s dead people frequently and it is holding well. I think the force it takes to pull the ball out is much less than the breaking strength of the buckle.
My hit air lanyard stays attached to the grab strap all the time. I tuck it into the space between the pommel and the pad with no problem.
Lol about the horse seeing dead people. Glad to hear the buckle has not been a problem. I saw someone with a hit air who leaves leaves the lanyard attached to the saddle and tucks it under like asterix. Seems fine. I also had the chance today to see two girls with their air vests on–one with a hit air and one with Point Two. It was good to see the differences side by side. The girl with the P2 loves hers. The girl with the Hit Air is younger and is fine with hers–no strong opinion. The Hit Air vest did have the older style lanyard with the plastic and she said it does loosen easily, but she hasn’t lost it yet.
I’m leaning toward the Hit Air for my daughter, but we’re going to a store tomorrow that sells Helites. The owner thinks very highly of them, so we’ll see if she convinces me. I’ve talked to her on the phone about them at some length. This is the owner of Soteria in Virginia and we’re going to look at Kanteq vests, but will also look at air vests.
From all the reading I’ve done, I’ve pretty much concluded that either air vest would be good, it’s a matter of what my daughter prefers. I think the Hit Air would be more comfortable–you can wear it tighter and it doesn’t flap around. But it’ll be up to her. I think they’re both good (Hit Air vs. P2/Helite) and her grandfather is footing the bill so cost isn’t really a factor.
We’re at Dover and just found out that the hit air sv2 doesn’t deflate on its own. You have to take the cartridge out before it will deflate. Is that true? The advantage does deflate, but not the sv2?
