Best bluetooth comms setup?

Craig321

Craig321

Craig321

Soldato
Joined
2 May 2004
Posts
19,950
Hi

I'm after a decent bluetooth comms setup.

I currently have a pretty awful radio setup - walkie talkie in your pocket, push to talk button on handlebar, headset in your helmet. Cables everywhere.

The bluetooth headset must also be able to connect to my phone for satnav instructions or even music.

I know the Scala rider and Sena stuff both do all that, but I have one big worry:

If it activates when I speak (i.e. not push to talk), how does it know what's helmet noise and what's me speaking? Is it good at differentiating that, or am I going to be deafened by the wind noise in the other person's helmet? This worries me particularly on motorways. Can't be sitting on the motorway for ages with wind noise from the other person in your ear.

Also want good battery life of course and good distance in case we get split up.

Thanks
 
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The intercom function on the headsets tends to be "always on" when you're connected, but they'll have a noise reduction thing which will cut out most of the wind noise. Even my £35 el cheapo model, on a phone call at 60mph the caller can't tell you're on a bike.

Every bluetooth headset will be able to connect to satnav/phone and to each other for intercom, it's just how much you want to spend - £30 to £300.
 
I'm happy to spend enough to get have a decent setup basically. It's mainly for comms between two bikes, so needs the distance. I'll never take a phone call on the bike and probably won't listen to music but as you say all that'll probably work anyway if it's bluetooth.

I've been looking at the Sena 20S. A little pricey, but if it's the best setup then I may consider it.
 
I use the Sena SMH10R, (currently 25% off at sportsbikeshop) and can't fault it, only the Cardo Scala has better range, so if that is something you are concerned about then take a look at them.

I was lucky enough to try out these intercoms as my mate was buying different ones to try and find the best compromise. Demo'd Cardo Scala, Interphone and Sena for the past 4 years when touring and ride outs with mates, Cardo had best range and excellent battery life, Interphone was the nicest to use but battery life was pretty poor compared to other two, plus the sound of vox was very odd, Sena was down on range when using intercom compared to Cardo, equal battery life, but it was the form factor of the 10R that won me over, slimline and discreet.
 
Thanks. the 10R does look nice & small compared to something like the 20S, but I have heard the 20S is a good upgrade from the 10? They're pretty close in price, so wouldn't want to buy one over the other purely over looks.

I guess the 20S isn't one you tried?

Edit: hmm, the distance on the 10R isn't great, about half a mile it says (which I'm going to assume it only gets in perfect conditions). The 20S claims 1.2 miles which is more suitable.

I'll check out the Cardo Scala as well. The G9X is slightly cheaper and does about a mile apparently.

What were they like when it comes to wind noise? Did you try them at, say, 80 down the motorway? Can you still talk to eachother?
 
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Well my gf has the 10R now and upto 80mph (depending on your helmet) the vocals are clear with a bit of background noise from the bike etc. I've taken phonecalls on it as well and at around 30mph people didn't know I was on a bike (normally my mum calling, she panics and hangs up when I tell her :D).

But yes the distance can be an issue. When riding in Normandy with my mate, he went around a few bends on a country lane between cottages/houses and began to break up on the 10R. When we tested the Scala it was on a peage toll route and he was almost out of view and I could still hear him, v impressive. These were the Cardo Scala G4 powerset.

I'm looking at the 20S to go on a Shoei Neotec as that seems better suited to a modular helmet than the 10R.
 
Thanks. That does put me off the 10R really. It'd annoy me if it started to cut out when we got split apart by a couple of corners.

I'm also leaning towards the 20S now as it has BT 4.0 whereas the Scala has 3 I think?
 
The 20s is generally regarded as the best bluetooth headset out there, if I had the money that's the one I'd buy. I use my cheapo one a lot, listening to music on the commute/satnav/occasional calls. For how much it cost it does a remarkably good job, just doesn't have the bells and whistles of the more expensive units.
 
I guess what you pay for a lot of the time with the more expensive ones is bike to bike, isn't it? There seems to be plenty of choice when it comes to rider to pillion or just plain bluetooth for calls/satnav, but not as much when you get into the realms of bike to bike and longer distance comms.
 
Although I've never used the intercom and haven't used any of the competition I am very happy with the Interphone. Very easy to use and loud enough for phone calls at 60mph.
Re the battery life. She tells you how much juice is available on startup, 'high' battery seems to last 2-3 hours but 'medium' seems to last forever. The issue is, once you hit 'low' she keeps threatening to turn herself off (although I've never had that happen).
 
See that's what you get with an expensive one, some posh bird telling you how long she can go for ;) One mine you just get a "beep beep" when the battery is getting low :p
 
I have the Sena 10 (original, not the R)

Excellent but of kit. Range is perfect at 500m then longer if you have one of sight. One of the best things is that it integrates with Siri so you can control music, voice calls or tell it to send and sms to your wife saying you'll be home late :)
 
That's a good point. The Interphone integrates with voice controls on your phone too.
I think all of the big brands are pretty similar. One of them needs to come up with something revolutionary and they'll take the whole market.
Anyway, well worth the investment from my experience.
 
Ended up getting the Sena 20S. I'm amazed by the quality and how it doesn't pick up wind or engine noise at all, even at 80! Very impressed.

Fits perfectly in my Shoei. A bit of a pain in my brother's Arai as the chin bar is ridiculously close to his mouth and there isn't much space for the headphones. Should be able to sort all that though with a bit of time & patience.
 
Yeah it's no problem - with my cheapo one at 70+ the wind noise and general noise drowns out the sound, but under that it's nice and clear. And mine doesn't have a great volume.
 
Tempted to get the 20S also then, just my main helmet is an AGV Corsa and the foam around the ears is pretty thick so would mean forcing the speakers so they maybe press a bit into my ears or cutting some space for them.

I really wouldn't want to use earbuds!
 
I picked up a 20S this week and ordered a spare cradle too so I can use it in either my NXR or S700 lids.

Nice upgrade from the 10R and the sound quality of the headphones are much better. (Upgraded the stock 10R using Koss PortaPro headphones)

Will be interesting to see how long the battery lasts in comparison. I've got a couple of hundred miles to do this weekend so will be a good test.

I see that France has now banned the use of in ear headphones, handy for bikers that spent a fortune on molded ear plug/in ear headphone set up..:o
 
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