Too many photos is a good problem to have if you ask me.
Max: You don't need leathers to get into downhill for sure. As you progress into higher speeds on technical roads later, you may then decide to invest in them. As far as a facefull goes, I do recommend getting facefull if you really do enjoy downhill. While there isn't any really any more downwards force in falling doing dh, you have a much higher amount of lateral energy (such as hitting a guard rail) where the face protection is nice.
That being said, there are lots of options of facefull helmets with a huge difference in price range. Remember that any big smack with your facefull, and it needs to be replaced like any other helmet. So if you have enough money to invest in an awesome facefull like a predator, you might want to hold off for your first facefull.
Common facefull options and relative price ranges:
Bell Drop (no visor) $90-$120
Fulmer ADV ~$150, the guy repping this on silverfish is unclear on his pricing depending on the color/visor
vector m-4 (i have this) $180
Icaro style paragliding helmet $200+
Predator DH-6 (the best option if money is no limit) $325
Sector 9 DH Division $325
Triple 8 New helmet (supposedly coming this spring?) ~$300
Many people start with something like the Bell Drop that is meant for mountain biking but they are generally heavier than most of these other options, but are plenty safe (safer than most). Any that don't come with a visor, many mods are out there to make one for them.
Hope this breaks it down for you, but if you start reaching speeds you feel a facefull is necessary then it's a great investment. Some people dh 50mph with halfshells and others *mild* dh 25mph with a facefull. It's all preference. It's also your face. I almost wish this post was for the fish because it feels rep worthy typing out all the pricing
Edit: just deciding I'm going to compile a list like this with relative prices on the fish and make a new thread there. I was always frustrated trying to figure out where people were getting all these facefull helmets from when I first tried looking into it. I'll link to the thread here once I get it made there and it will hopefully have better structure than this post.
Double Edit:
http://www.silverfishlongboarding.co...mpilation.html
