Sena SMH10
 

After talking to Kerry at the rally about Scala Riders, he informed me about this product and how it's suppose to be on par with the new Scalas. I decided to do a little research on my on and with the help of the inmates at ADV I decided to purchase a dual setup from RocketMoto since they do deals for ADV. They are currently on their way here and I will give a full review when I get them setup and ready to go.

These are a bluetooth intercom system that you can hook up to GPS/mp3 players/cell phones/etc...

What really sold me is that there is an audio jack plugin for mp3 players and such that don't have bluetooth, but there is also a charge jack instead of a charging dock station. So basically you can charge on the road through a cigarette lighter adapter. This was my biggest concern with a wireless system and they solved it.

The sound quality is suppose to be the best of this type of system and it has a built in amp.

The price on a dual set was also on par with the price of one Scala G4.

hmmm, sounds interesting. My Motorola setup is starting to reach the end of it's lifespan and I may be looking for a replacement for it fairly soon.

any pics of the system? and price?

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcyc...mh10-intercom/

PM rocketmoto on ADV for price, I don't think he wants it public.

Looks like they Retail for $220 or so... not bad... wish I'd known that prior to the rally... looks like a cool system...

me too, I would of ordered one

let's just say I got a dual system for close to retail of the single.

This would have been awesome for the rally... wonder what the range is (real world)... (need to go back and read the review completely)

It was like 900 yards I believe and they said it would do it. It's not a huge range like for me and you to communicate, but would of been nice at some distances like the ride down.

Yeah... exactly. damn...another expense... :lol:

Nice, we were thinking of picking up a set after talking to Kerry too!

So I got my Sena dual set finally. I suggest something other than rocketmoto. They cancelled my order without talking to me and basically was like "our bad" and did nothing to make it up to me or ship it out quicker...

The Sena though is well made. I have yet to try it out, but here is the unboxing.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/...0cc519b946.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1331/...ca91b2a949.jpg

It came with two of everything. Two cigarette chargers, two wall charger hookups, two usb cables, two audio cables.

The installation was a breeze and it would be easy to hook up to multiple helmets quickly if you get extra velcro from walmart.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1027/...f44f0a18f5.jpg

Will have a performance review once it's charged and tested.

Ok... it's been an hour and a half... where's the performance review! :lol:

It's got a 2 and a half hour charge cycle bitch.

Ghey

Well I am off for a little testing.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1363/...931485d962.jpg

when your done... work on non blurry photos, DICK

Shut up bastard, I wanted to go testing.

This thing is fuckin good. I am listening to slacker on my phone and can skip songs without pulling it out of my pocket.

I tried it with it bluetoothed to my Zumo which was bluetoothed to my phone. I was able to do the most this route, besides accessing my media or slacker on my phone. My sound quality suffered cause I don't have stereo ability on the Zumo. Phone calls were awesome I could hear easily into the 50s where I had trouble in the 30s and 40s with the crappy starcom/boosteroo combo. Sound is loud once you get the speakers set right. More than capable of hearing music into the 80s.

The jog dial is badass, just simply badass. Killer idea.

I then paired it with just my phone and it worked better since it is stereo. Slacker is awesome.

I am happy with this sub $300 purchase for two fully functional headsets.

Have yet to test intercom cause my wife isn't home yet.

well sound quality was normal from my end I guess... as you still sounded like a Doucher

Just checked sound quality with intercom. It was easy to pair the two and it seems like it would work on the bike well, but I couldn't get her to go do a test ride.

Here is a few better pics of the mount and how the wires are very unobtrusive.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1219/...17ae244d8d.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1223/...62d88c4594.jpg

I tell ya... it's nice on my Ultra being all of that is built in. Well besides the phone side...

Talking on the phone while riding is overrated... I set my system up and have answered exactly one call that was made on purpose to test the system. Let me know how the set up stays paired, also is there a provision for a wired source? I still won't trust my radar detector to blue tooth...

No, it's all bluetooth. It's pairing with the incredible just fine. I have had it on all night screwing around. I will let you know real world testing later though.

Actually scratch that, on further inspection it does have an audio port.

Cool, they normally do for Ipods, etc... I'm still cool with my wired J&M wired set-up right now but I'm honestly interested.

I just started getting my on-bike audio setup with a J & M system, my problem with wireless systems is that each time I have used them the batteries have died, it really turns me away from wireless, I also like having my phone, ipod, and (future) radar hooked up to it .

It does seem interesting, and I would like to hear your long term thoughts on the headsets

I had a starcom1 and that was my biggest issue when I got the Starcom. That's what is nice about this one. It is not like the scala that you have to take off and charge. It's got a charging port on it to charge while you ride. With a 2.5 hour charge cycle, it's easy to keep charged. We will see how it goes, I wish they would make accessible batteries, so you could keep a spare also.

so wonder if you could plug the phone in via the audio port to use Slacker/Pandora/Double Twist... and connect to your garmin via blue tooth for the calls?


and Tigger, for me... being able to call and answer calls of friends/family who want to know how my progress is while I'm riding is nice. I get in a zone when riding and forget to call them when I'm stopped. so this way if they call while I'm riding I can say... hey I'm going by such and such on hwy what ever.

the other nice thing is if you're arriving late, with my garmin, I can find POI's or hotels and call them to see if they've got room or are even open. then add them to my route without ever stopping and wasting time. :2cents:

You probably could, you would have to find out if your phone has settings to let it use one source for media and one for phone functions.

I agree, especially when you have a 250 mile range and taking a long trip. You would rather not stop for 10-15 mins to have a call with mom/wife who keeps calling you to make sure you are not dead.

:lol Thanks for 'guinea-pigging' it for me!

I had almost bought the G4's just before the Rally, but decided to research a bit more first & I'm very glad I did. The Sena appears to be very superior to the Scala, only loosing the FM radio but gaining the stereo bluetooth, range, better control/construction, 4-unit pairing, sound quality, etc....
I'll pick up a little samsung bluetooth mp3 player which will give me radio/tunes without wires. I'm looking forward to this setup, as I think I'll be taking off for some long solo rides soon & maybe an ironbutt this fall.

mrhit.com is the best price I've seen ($270/pr w/ free shipping). I've seen some gripes on ADV about rocketmoto too - is his price significantly better than that?

It's not better right now. It was when he had the group buy.

I think ill end up going with the Sena. I almost bought a G4 Cardo multiset but im rethinking it now.

Yeah I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the Sena... just when I can afford it is another matter.


oh... Trip... when you get a chance... test out if you can pair it with ANY other blue tooth headset or only another Sena...


and by "when you get a chance" i mean "as soon as possible fuck tard"

I think Pete is on vacation by his status on facebook so it will be at least a week.

From what I've read on ADVRider, it only pairs with other Senas unfortunately. But it will pair with 3 other units - with manual channel switching, not simultaneous. The Scala G4 will do 3 simultaneous.

yeah that's the big minus between Scala and Sena. I am sure there will be a SMH20 in a few months to piss me off that does that.

Since I will mostly be using these with my wife or alone, just one pairing is fine with me.

see my thing is that mostly... I'll be using it solo... but would like in the future if I meet up with another rider who has a bluetooth headset to pair up and ride... chances of getting someone who has one at all is rare... and even more so if it has to be the same model.

I may wait until they can figure something like that out.

I doubt they will ever allow that, seriously, they want you to buy their brand, they aren't going to let a rival be used with their system.

Yabbbut, I did read a thread where a guy & his riding buds used GMRS radios (the 5-watt 'license required' - but not needed to purchase & unenforceable - version of the typical 2-watt FRS units) with bluetooth in conjunction w/ a headset. They hacked a cheap push-to-talk microphone to make a bar mounted PTT button & had range for several miles w/ anyone tuned to the same channel. :rockwoot:

Problem is, I don't think I wanna listen to that much chatter - it would really take some airwave discipline for that to not become a PITA! :lol

Somebody explain this bluetooth pairing thing for bike to bike. I understand basic pairing from phone to intercomm system... but what about bike to bike. How's the range as well?

Yeah I wanted to go this route in the beginning just because of the universal aspect of it. I could never find a quality system. A lot of people recommended the starcom setup, but I could never get it decent enough to use at any kind of speed.

If I had the cash to screw one of these up, I could probably jerry rig the mic from the Sena into a PTT type FRS setup and use the hardwire line audio line on the SENA to do something similar.

The range is not that great, like 900 feet. They pair together and you can either do PTT or voice activated.

I tried frs in the past but there was way too much chatter... To be honest I mainly just want to listen to music and be able to hear my GPS and radar detector.

Same basic deal as the phone/device pairing - the headsets have a pair/discover mode that you put them in at the same & they link right up. The Scala G4 supports 3 bikes simultaneously (or 2 driver/pass pairs, I think) and the Sena supports 4 total w/ manual channel switching. How exactly you pair multiples I couldn't tell ya, but I think it's just a matter of doing the pairing cycle for each combination of units.

As far as range, the old Scala I have does about 1/8~1/4mi line-of-sight & a couple hundred yards in the curves (with an intermittent distortion which gets quite annoying). The G4 advertises 'up to one mile', but I've read the effective range is more like 1/2mi or so, and they have similar complaints as the old ones - not enough volume or signal quality.

http://www.cardosystems.com/scala-ri...er-g4-powerset

The Sena advertises 900 meter (.56mi) range, but I've read that it's a SOLID km+ range with up to a mile line-of-sight, with much better signal/audio quality than any other unit. The construction/control seems superior (Sena is primarily an industrial device mfg & it appears more rugged/ergonomic than others). Though it doesn't have the built-in FM radio, it has A2DP bluetooth (higher-fidelity stereo) so paired w/ a decent MP3/radio with bluetooth (like the Samsung P3) it has MUCH better music capability - loudest/clearest on the market, supposedly.

http://www.senabluetooth.com/

Yeah, I've been researching/considering this setup a bit lately... :work: :lmao:

Yeah, I could easily see that. What I can see it being really cool for is a group spread-out a bit off-road - WITH suitable discipline & not just chattering endlessly. I mostly just want the music/GPS/phone capability too - but the comm feature can be VERY nice, especially when doing a long ride.

Pairing with the Sena works like this.

For phone/gps/other devices: You hold the phone button for 5 seconds and then use your device to find the Sena when the Sena starts flashing red/blue. Enter the code in your device and it's paired. It has auto prioritizing. Phone I believe is #1. Then GPS, then music, but I don't remember off the top of my head, I would have to get the instruction manual at home.

For Sena to Sena. You hold the first units jog dial button down til it starts flashing red. Then you hold the other Sena's jog button til it does the same. After they are both flashing, you press the jog button on one of the Senas and it will connect them. You access the others in order of pairing. You press once on the jog dial to access the first one you paired with, twice for the second, and so on.

Yea well I mean OUTSIDE chatter... we would hear kids with walkie talkies all the time! When we went to Cedar Point, I turned mine off once we got withing a 1/2 mile because of all the park chatter.:lol: "Billy where are you? Meet us at the Corkscrew!!!"

Me and Ebbs had some FRS radios when we came down to the rally last year. We started hearing some conversation and I decided to try and get them to want to do sexual relations. It was a funny convo, well a few miles down the road we run into construction and a flag man. Well they started talking on the radios, these the guys I was harassing. It was hilarious. After we passed through the construction, I really started going after them.

Ahhh. I'm guessing that if using the GMRS channels that issue would be much less common, since most of the handhelds people use are just FRS.

And Cedar Point ROCKS! Hoping to do a road-trip up there sometime this fall (during the week, after school is in session! :lmao:).

:lmao: that shit was fucking classic! made me miss the frs radios this rally just for that purpose... though we never did see any construction...

Why is it so limited? I mean chatterboxes a million years ago could do a few miles... or even 1 mile depending on model

I was wrong, it's 900 meters. Chatterboxes used frs or gmrs, not bluetooth.

I knew they used different tech...

900 meter is 0.5592341 miles. So that's not all bad.

Sena is officially tested over triple digits with me singing gleefully to the very audible music playing from my droid incredible from slacker.

Found a negative. Since it does self priorization, the GPS is naturally prioritized first. Well since my music is on my GPS, when I am playing music, it won't let the intercom work. I have to pause my music so nothing is coming from the GPS before I can use the intercom.

Played with it all day with the wife. The intercom works great once I figured out the above issue. We did cades cove - parsons branch - deals gap and got to come home the rockslide way. It was a nice day. No battery issues and we used them for many hours nonstop.

Need Ideas
 

So the owner at my work has me and my manager checking out bluetooth headsets for him.
I am getting the details on what he rides and what his helmet is, but just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what would be the greatest one. He travels about 50 miles one way for work, and would like to be able to answer his phone and be able to talk to people while riding. He owns a pawn shop so answering is important for him.

So this is a speaker system right? Are you still wearing ear plugs and can hear the speakers good? I remember the speakers on my Chatterbox being just horrible to listen to, compared to a decent set of Skullcandies anyway...

Any place you know of thats selling it for the cheaper price? It seems that prices have gone up a bit over the last few months. Looking to purchase in the next week or so.

advrider has someone that does a decent discount.

just ordered me one of these fancy doohickeys

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7739964_n.jpg

:)

awesome, you will like it.

It already works better with my phone than my older J&M did. Now I just need to load a bunch of music on the phone so I can just listen and not worry about having a signal through pandora.