Are you buying a fancy Sena helmet or adding some aftermarket stuff to another? What is your gear combo that works and which are the noob traps?
I have a Sena helmet. Use Bluetooth from my phone through the Motorrad screen. A little sad that the app needs to use the Motorrad app for navigation - it is a little cumbersome. But overall, it works for what I need. But in the spring I need to figure out the separate volumes for Music and Nav, because nav was pretty quiet compared to the music.
I’ve run both Cardo (Packtalk Slim, Packtalk Edge), Sena (30k), and some $30 Amazon units and very much prefer Cardo units.
The first thing to do is ask any friends you might ride with what they use. It’s been a while since I tried, but getting Sena to pair with anything other than Sena used to be quite a pain.
The Sena units hardware seems a little better, and the phone software may be a little more polished, but the actual comms are terrible. Filtering of background noise is nowhere near as good as Cardo, and general audio clarity is much better on Cardo.
Probably fixed by now but all sorts of problems with mesh pairing and pairing in general on the Senas.
Cardos work well enough, still a bit of a pain to get things paired sometimes, but you can do the whole process from the phone app so you don’t need to know button combos.
Cardo’s Bluetooth bridge capability is awesome if you have a group of Cardo users and the occasional Amazon user that you want to bring into the mesh. The mesh connects all of your Cardo units together and each Cardo unit can use its Bluetooth bridge to bring in one normal Bluetooth headset. I don’t recall if we could get this working to bring Sena units into the group but I have seen release notes saying they improved compatibility so maybe it works now.
I know a couple of people with Shoei helmets with the built in Sena hookups so they get forced into Sena. Seems like the hardware for the integrated units lags behind (took them a few extra years to get a mesh option), and you are certainly locking yourself in. I would personally prefer to not have myself locked in.
If you plan to ride with multiple people getting everyone on the same system especially with mesh units is a must. We just have one big mesh group with everyone we know and as soon as you meet up everything auto connects and is good to go.
The $30 Amazon units actually work well too. Probably not remotely waterproof, and they can usually only connect to one rider at a time, but for the price you might want to start there.
Video is old now but maybe still relevant: https://youtu.be/-AMoXbXHALc
He recommends the Packtalk Slim because it is so low profile, but the new Packtalk Edge is removable, has a lower profile than the old Bolds, uses USB-C, fixes most of his problems with the removable ones and lets you charge without tethering directly to your helmet.
The slims are also little less waterproof because they are more complicated with more wires in and out. The edge being self contained, I would expect to have much better water resistance (haven’t had to take my edges apart yet so I can’t say that for sure).
I’ve had a group of us with slims in pouring rain for three hours and they did survive, one or two had some issues with buttons afterwards but they still functioned. Not sure I can even blame it on the units as we had those universal magnetic charger buttons plugged in which kept the little rain cover open at the back.
Also had one Slim unit where the microphone cable went out, not perfect, but warranty is usually pretty good. Again a win for the Edge/Bold removable units because those cables are separate from the unit itself so you could buy a helmet kit if it fails out of warranty.
This is a very good post. Thank you for taking time to write it out. I generally don’t ride in groups, but it seems like Sena is a bit more popular around here.
Is there a better option for simply listening to music or do you feel it better to just get airpod types and slide any helmet on?
Before I had the helmet units I used to ride with in-ear wired headphones. Those worked pretty well but as you put the helmet on it often pulled at least one side slightly out of your ear making a worse seal. In ear means you also get some hearing protection as well which it is always good to have, especially at highway speeds or if you have loud exhaust. I will say the audio quality/clarity/volume going this route is unbeatable. If all you want is music finding an in-ear solution will be much better than speakers in your helmet. Especially if you have a loud exhaust.
You can get relatively high quality wired headphones for quite cheap that are very low profile.
I would think any wireless headphone like airpods would probably be too big to stay in when you put your helmet on, but you might be able to make it work.
One issue with headphones is that it is probably not legal in most placese, so be cautious about that. You can easily rip them out before the police would notice anyways, but still a risk.
If you go the Sena/Cardo route you should consider hearing protection as well. I usually use the foam inserts. It sounds counterintuitive but having the earplugs in actually makes the speakers easier to hear. They tend to filter the wind noise but the more direct sound from the speakers can get through.
We use Cardo’s.
Four riders all got them and they have been perfect ever since, going five years now.
They were super easy to install too.A bit pricey, but I believe in «buy once, cry once».
I started using Cardo equipment but constantly had issues with the two I had and absolutely no support. I switched to using wired Plugphones which were mostly great but a little annoying to deal with putting the helmet on and off and if one slips out and now im using a Sena and im surprised at how much better it was out of the box compared to my old Cardo stuff. Good audio clarity and its more reliable with its connection. Not sure on longevity and ill say the battery life is a little short
I use Cardo Freecomm 2x.
I got it from Amazon refurbished, for pretty cheap. No idea why it was “refurbished” since it came on original packaging and sealed up.
Bluetooth sync is easy and no need for priority app to connect to your phone. Mine simply connects via Bluetooth and I can steam my music and make calls, etc.
I have had to switch it to different helmets so idk how difficult that is.
I use Sena as well. I have a 20S Evo in my lid, a 10S in my wife’s, and all of my riding friends also have a Sena of some type or another. This was an easy choice since everyone I know has a Sena so we’re all compatible, and their main competitor Cardo does subscription bullshit, so they won’t ever get any of my money from when the floated that until the sun burns out. I don’t forgive and I don’t forget.
I put a Sena setup in my and my partner’s helmets. It works pretty well and can move to a new helmet or you can just put the speaker/mic setup in multiple helmets and move the controller.
Been using Sena kits for a long time I’ve got a 50s now and it’s been great so far.
