Ok, now that we have spewed about helmet preferences, I want to air a little about my pet peeve. I hate having to pick the pieces up and carry people out from the crags and so I open my mouth about belay technique all the time. Much of the problem is with people being taught at the gym and what will hold a 5' fall will NOT hold a 25' fall. I see people holding the rope with both hands up so that they never let go of the rope but this leaves them with no power to hold a fall. Worse is that their little finger is closest to the belay device and will get sucked right on into said device when the leader falls. Please people, turn your hand over so that the meat of your hand is going to hit the device and hold the tail down by your side so you can lock someone off easily. And when your leader is 10 feet off the ground and only 5 feet about a ledge, don't have 5 feet of slack between the two of you. You are just gonna let the poor guy break his ankles (how many of these do we see every week!).
In other words, pay attention and THINK!