Well when traveling long distant or bad weather the flip top helmet is my choice best of both worlds, but for comfort, better vision, more head turning the open face is what I wear most, in my younger days I been down a few time doing silly things or pushing the bike to hard, its only the last 5 or 6 years I had a flip top helmet, I have a full face off road helmet when on the dirt bike, but most of my 49 years of hard riding its been the open face even in the early years of riding dirt bikes, yes helmet have come a long way in the later years but I feel so trapped when I wear a full face helmet, a helmet that fully in closed my head and face I just don't feel comfortable at all and be real about things is any helmet going to save you in a serious accident.
We all have our likes and opinions on what helmet to wear and we all think one is safer than the other, my mate got killed in a accident with a broken neck the only injury he always rode with a open face helmet but he decided to take a ride on someone else bike and wore the full face helmet of the owner of the bike, the front chin guard was the cause of the broken neck, if he was wearing his open face helmet at the time would he have survived, we will never know, so is one helmet safer than the other will always be a unanswered question, for myself I will be always a open face helmet rider have been for most of my 49 years on bikes, but when someone tells me a full face helmet is safer over a open face, well I am still here have all my teeth and good looks, the thing is ride to the conditions, keep your eyes open in what's happening around you and don't do silly things without thinking about it first and accidents will always happens most of the time its out of our hands and in some cases a helmet not going to help, as well I don't wear gloves only in winter when its cold, but that's me and I still have all my fingers, grinders are more dangerous for the fingers lol.
So ride with what ever you feel comfortable with but don't tell me if one is safer than the other as there are good as well bad points with both styles and getting the right one is so hard to know what I helmet is going to be like un till it worn in for a few weeks, can't judge that in a shop, even expensive helmets can have their failures when out on the road and one brand might fit one person but not the other everyone has a different shaped head and finding that one helmet that feels so right will always be the hardest thing to find.
Ashley