Bluetooth Intercomm

[FreudianSlip]

I'm after a couple of bluetooth intercomms to fit between me and my nephew. Range needs to be good - 1/2 a mile +, and it will need to talk to an iphone and tomtom simultaneously. If it can play music/radio as well, thats gravy.

I'm looking at the sena 20s as a baseline to work from - so if anyone has a dual kit for sale (or an equivalent), drop me a line with the details and your expected price.

Ta,

 

[alex]

I've got the PackTalk from Cardo. I'm not sure it's actually that great but they do have all the features as far as I know. Soof and I managed to pair up his slightly older Cardo with mine so at least backward compatibility is possible and an option too if you want one unit to be slightly cheaper.
I think Stephen has got it too and uses them with his old man. So they may be better judges of how well they perform.

 

[soofsayer]

As Alex says, I have a cardo and it works fine. Does everything but not sure about 1/2 mile but the more expensive units have big antenna so should do that no probs. They are easy to link and talk between, but tbh, if you like the sena I doubt there's much difference in purpose.

 

[RacersEdge]

If you are looking at the higher end Sena like the 20s you might want to wait a week or 2... they announced the 30k some time ago and its due any moment. Apparently includes something called network mesh, where if the lead rider gets out of range of the tail rider the others will allow the signal to piggy back which massively extends range. Only useful if you often travel in a group though. One of the main advantages of a Sena 20s or 30k is the audio multitasking, so it will overlay sat nav guidance for example rather than relying on an intercom "interupt" which often doesn't work well. You can also mix music with intercom chat etc.

 

[soofsayer]

That's interesting about the overlays. With the setup I have the radio gets interrupted when the nav wants to bleep or say something, and you can guarantee it's the moment sally traffic is about to start, or the punchline in Simon Mayo's confessions is about to be told. PITA.

 

[JimmyMac]

That's interesting about the overlays. With the setup I have the radio gets interrupted when the nav wants to bleep or say something, and you can guarantee it's the moment sally traffic is about to start, or the punchline in Simon Mayo's confessions is about to be told. PITA.

Or your riding buddy keeps burping cause of all the coffee they gulped down or they ride with their chin guard up and you only hear a noise like crisp packets being rammed in your ears, iPod only for me now.
I told my riding partner mines had broken in Italy then unpaired it, lol. Stuck it on eBay the second I got home.

JimmyMac

 

[alex]

The MESH stuff is in the PackTalk already - hence the name.

I think the Sena's are very good at noise cancelling.

VOX - Voice Commands on the Cardo system are a nightmare. Can't sing along to my favourite Bananarama songs without it interrupting.

 

[DCB]

I have the SENA 20s, can't fault it, great bit of kit, does what it says on the tin

 

[soofsayer]

The MESH stuff is in the PackTalk already - hence the name.

I think the Sena's are very good at noise cancelling.

VOX - Voice Commands on the Cardo system are a nightmare. Can't sing along to my favourite Bananarama songs without it interrupting.

Bananarama, Shakira. The confessions just keep on coming lol.

I have vox turned off but the thing still attempts to dial a random number if I sneeze in my helmet .

 

[Stephen]

I love the packtalk, although if it's just for a couple of you then it's a bit overkill, it can pair with up to 15 riders over a 'mesh' spanning 5 miles (that's what they say, it's probably more like 3 in the country and about 50 yards in the city)

They do a SmartPack, which is the packtalk but restricted to 4 riders.

They've also just released a new smaller lighter better range called Freecom, the Freecom 4 would probably tick all your boxes

One of my favourite things about the Cardo products (even though it has nothing to do with the performance of the product) is the packaging, I like well packaged products


The main thing we use ours for is Sunday rides, if we're making progress but get caught in a row of cars the rider in front can let you know if the coast is clear for what would be risky overtakes, much nicer to know there's nothing coming the other way... or worst case shout if they've been caught out with police

 

[alex]

Much better review. Mines total overkill. I manage to pair it with the phone and use that for music and GPS...


- Sent from Mobile

 

[Stephen]

Much better review. Mines total overkill. I manage to pair it with the phone and use that for music and GPS...


- Sent from Mobile

Yea, I only got the pack talk for the same reason I got the S, I don't need it, can't really use it but I still want the best!

 

[soofsayer]

it can pair with up to 15 riders over a 'mesh'

A 15 way intercom conversation through a helmet, that's some place in hell I'd rather not visit, and particularly not whilst riding a motorbike.

 

[Stephen]

A 15 way intercom conversation through a helmet, that's some place in hell I'd rather not visit, and particularly not whilst riding a motorbike.

They do cap it at 5 users talking I think, but idk how that works... I dislike the intercom anyway, I always forget it's on and start singing along with my tunes haha

 

[IMORTAL_Indian]

I have the SENA 20s, can't fault it, great bit of kit, does what it says on the tin

+1 - quality bit of kit......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FreudianSlip]

Thanks to all for the advice - all i need now is for one of you guys to sell me one at a good price Either that, or I'll save my beer tokens and buy the sena 30 as per racersedge's comment.

 

[FreudianSlip]

So, i bought the Cardo G4 (twinpack) and have to say, the speakers are rubbish. Having done a 2 hour ride trying to listen to Marylin Manson I had to just turn off the music - way too tinny, no bass at all. Does anyone know if i can snip the crap speakers off and replace with something more substantial, or should I eBay them and buy something else instead.

And I guess this is a bit of a thread tangent - apologies - just wanted the continuity.

 

[alex]

So, i bought the Cardo G4 (twinpack) and have to say, the speakers are rubbish. Having done a 2 hour ride trying to listen to Marylin Manson I had to just turn off the music - way too tinny, no bass at all. Does anyone know if i can snip the crap speakers off and replace with something more substantial, or should I eBay them and buy something else instead.

And I guess this is a bit of a thread tangent - apologies - just wanted the continuity.

Is there no 3.5mm jack? My Cardo does and I use in-ear phones.

 

[FreudianSlip]

Is there no 3.5mm jack? My Cardo does and I use in-ear phones.

Nope, not on mine - although I suspect I might have inadvertently bought some old stock.. the speakers are directly wired into the unit, as is the mic.

 

[Stephen]

So, i bought the Cardo G4 (twinpack) and have to say, the speakers are rubbish. Having done a 2 hour ride trying to listen to Marylin Manson I had to just turn off the music - way too tinny, no bass at all. Does anyone know if i can snip the crap speakers off and replace with something more substantial, or should I eBay them and buy something else instead.

And I guess this is a bit of a thread tangent - apologies - just wanted the continuity.

Where did you buy a G4 from? They've not made them for about 8 years??

The G4 was superseded by the G9, the G series was then replaced by the Q series. The Q series has just been replaced (about 2-3 months ago) by the freecom range.

I started with a G4 when I was a wee lad!

I can't fault the speakers in my packtalk, I've not personally tried out a freecom unit but I've never had a complaint either