OK, so i think when taking into consideration all my other posts this evening, I should be in with a shot for a medal in any upcoming All The Gear No Idea competitions...
Nope and no intention of carrying a pillion for quite some time. Mainly i got the Sena to hear sat nav, to reduce workload navigating and keep me safer. Secondary use it to intercom with people i'm riding out with.
I'm really interested in what you think of this system. I currently have a starcom wired system, and it's been a real pain in the arse. I'm still not happy with it and it wouldnt take much for me to rip it all out and blow more money on something like the 20s. I need it for sat nav commands, music on boring roads like the M4 and chatting to the girlfriend when she comes out on the bike with me. Also have some big ideas for touring France & Italy, ending up in Malta, so battery life is a consideration. The Mic is a bit bulbous and touches my lips all the time, can you measure how for from the inner face of the helmet the mic sticks out (towards your mouth)? The starcom audio quality even through my etymotic headphones is a bit crappy and the headphones are very uncomfortable after an hour. I'm looking at some fancy ACS custom moulded jobbies but at £300 I have to be sure it's the right thing to do. The starcom helmet speakers just are not loud enough at speed and with plugs in, and the wires are a bit of a pain too. Please let us all know what you think once you have given it a go. Cheers Deaks
Mic sticks out about 16-17mm from surface of helmet in front of mouth. On my Shoei NXR with my shape face I have to pull the boom a tad to make it touch my lips. You'll know that in high noise environments like light aircraft the mic will only work if touching your lips. It's perfect for me. There are alternative mics in the box for flip lids. Can't comment on batt life as used for first time today. Speakers perhaps 6mm thick? My NXR needed the additional foam pads in the speaker holes to bring them closer to the ears and fit nicely, so thickness not an issue. Volume is very impressive and the jog dial control is super adjustable and easy with gloves on, on the move. All sorts of clever features like voice control, FM radio, etc. I haven't tried with ear plugs yet but will. I really like not having the wires that in-ear buds would need despite being a massive in-ear fan, I use nothing else in non-motorcycling world. I also hate the discomfort/pain of taking off helmet with ear buds in. If I need to go to ear buds due to poor compatibility between speakers and ear plugs then do you have a solution for in-ear buds that don't rip your ears off/out when removing helmet? Thus far I'm very impressed.
I've got the old SM10 version which I mainly use for listening to music and sat nav. The battery lasted for a whole day when we were on the recent EMM trip I just charged it up at night (you can also charge it on the go if you use a wire). Sound quality is OK up to about 90MPH, after that some quiet tracks are not very good due to wind noise (I also ride with ear plugs in) As long as you have a helmet with speaker cut outs it's comfortable, one of the other guys on a previous trip used it on a helmet and it was uncomfortable. It worked well bike to bike though. I've taken the odd phone call, but it's not something I like doing and you can easily cancel the call. I use the iPhone to stream music. I've heard the new version is much better as it switches bluetooth sources more easily (overlaps them?). Listening to music on a long motorway trip really relieves the boredom...
Why did you go for the boom mic Jim and not the wired one? I've also just invested in an S20........you're struck by the quality of the kit right from the get go. As Jim said the volume is excellent i.e. the speakers are quality - I can hear SatNav instructions at 70-80mph clearly and I wear custom ear plugs! I bought from Motorcycle Touring Equipment - service was great (long conversation with Eric who clearly is very knowledgeable on the subject of bike comms) and next day delivery included. On the subject of volume (SatNav volume anyway) I recently came across this great website where there's apps that allow you to edit the voice commands and more importantly increase the volume: TurboCCC - TTSVoiceEditor
I read somewhere (user manual?) that the boom mic is the default for full face helmets and the other mic(s?) in the box are for flip helmets. Out of the box the boom mic was attached to the unit too and I assume full face helmets are more common than flip, so it kind of all fitted together that way in my (tiny) mind. Which mic do you use?
The wired mic.....the boom mics are for open face / flip front lids ;-) "3.3.2 Wired Microphone In case of the wired microphone, attach the enclosed velcro pad for the wired microphone to the inside of the chin guard for full-face helmets. Place the wired microphone on the velcro pad and connect it to the connector of the clamp unit."
Ah - wrong again. Kind of makes sense now - boom mic needs strength when chin guard is up on a flip helmet but wired fine for full face?
Yup and doesn't get in the way when getting your lid on and off ;-) (and neater, easy to tuck the wire away)
I've got a flip lid for round town that i haven't had a chance to use yet but i'll put the boom mic on that one (OBVIOUSLY - i'm mean who doesn't know that - DUH!)
Right - i woke up early to change the mics over and discovered that the wired one isn't very well designed (IMHO). The orientation of the plug on it means that the wire comes out of the front of the unit rather than vertically upwards, so you get a little loop of wire showing, which looks like it would catch on something and break. Unless I've got it wrong (again) then this sucks a little bit, so i've swapped back to the boom mic. The other downside with the wired mic is that it puts a couple of CM between the mic and your lips, which in my flying experience means poor/broken voice transmission. Thoughts?
Now on my Shark Evoline Series 3 lid, which I'm looking forward to wearing for the first time tomorrow.
