Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => Accessories and modifications - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: Rhino on June 06, 2012, 02:54:35 PM
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I currently have the Blueant F4 and not happy with it. Thinking of moving to the Sena. Would love to hear any feedback.
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I have a set and the one works fine. Haven't set my wife up yet with it. I use it to answer phone calls on the bike and make them when stopped. Also listen to my mp3 player with it.
We have more SMH-10 info here:
http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?board=29.0 (http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?board=29.0)
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I have the F4 with no issues in the 2+ years I've used them. What don't you like about them?
Tho, kind of irrelevant for me to ask, since I already have one and they are now producing the F5... (and you asked about the Sena).
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Me and my wife have SENA and absolutely love them. Setup is easy. Holds charge for a long time. More than two though, you cannot talk at the same time - you will have to switch between persons.
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Thanks Jim, I don't really want to use it to answer the phone. The 2 functions I want are bike to bike and music. How does the music sound either through bluetooth or cable?
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RBX, didn't want to bash the F4 but I find it is not loud or clear enough for music, no input jack for non-bluetooth iPod, only works with one bike at a time and has a lot of trouble pairing with another F4 unit. The Sena claims to work with up to 6 bikes at a time. And have been told it is the clearest, loudest on the market.
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Thanks Jim, I don't really want to use it to answer the phone. The 2 functions I want are bike to bike and music. How does the music sound either through bluetooth or cable?
I can't comment about the aux input (cable) but the bluetooth audio is very good compared to the chatterbox and scala that I tried previously. The trick is to position the speakers as close to your ears as possible to minmize the amount of wind noise. I am very happy with mine and am just now starting to notice a little less battery life after 10+ months of daily use (I commute on my bike). I normally get about eight hours of use per charge as opposed to 10+ when the unit was new.
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We have a pair of the Sena SMH-10's and have been really pleased with the Bluetooth quality for both phone/GPS & headset to headset communication.
~S
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RBX, didn't want to bash the F4 but I find it is not loud or clear enough for music, no input jack for non-bluetooth iPod, only works with one bike at a time and has a lot of trouble pairing with another F4 unit. The Sena claims to work with up to 6 bikes at a time. And have been told it is the clearest, loudest on the market.
Yeah, I only do bike to bike and bluetooth to my phone for music... but I know it would be a problem if I wanted to communicate in larger groups (FYI... the new F5 claims to do that).
Also check this out... http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-intercoms/sena-smh10-intercom/... it's the review of the SMH-10. There are also links describing the various firmware updates. Good resource to add opinions to your decision making.
I would have picked up the Sena instead of the F4, but at the time, the Sena did not offer the flat mic. If mine go out, I'll likely replace with the Sena.
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Thanks Jim, I don't really want to use it to answer the phone. The 2 functions I want are bike to bike and music. How does the music sound either through bluetooth or cable?
I haven't done bluetooth yet for music but the cable works fine. Plenty of volume for the most part. I wear ear plugs as well so if the music level is low sometimes it's a stretch hearing it but without earplugs volume is totally acceptable.
I like the fact that Sena is now using firmware updates to add features and they do listen to their customers.
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Had Sena for 1.5 years and 36k miles and absolutely love them!!! I can't recommend them enough... I tried Scala G4 and did not like so I replaced with the easier to use Sena and never looked back.
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I stream Pandora to the sena ans it sounds fine, phone calls are stellar.
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Happy Sena user here. I also bought the SR10 which is a blue-tooth hub so that I can use my two-way radio and iPhone through the Sean headsets wirelessly. So I have two-way comm, telephone, music and voice-directed GPS nav all through the Sena headset, as well as periodic verbal travel updates (such as time and distance traveled, etc) through an iPhone trip app.
I haven't tried it yet, but I suppose I could watch movies on my phone downloaded through Netflix. :D
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Really enjoy mine. Have had one unit about 1.5 yrs and 15k+/-. out of just under 20k miles.
(not much 2 up or group ridding so far)
With one trip from Birmingham, Al to Orlando Fl (no charging needed either way during the ride 9.5hrs?)
and one all day ride from 8 am until 10:30 pm from home to.
Well all over Knoxville, Chattanooga Tn. area.
Including the Dragon. 1st and only Dragon ride so far.
I did have to charge at the end of that day.
Say 10.5 hrs run time.
I did order a the mount with the ear bud jack.
I um..
Well see, I set the helmet on the seat and the ground just reached up and grabbed it.. ;D busting the mount. :-[
;) well, I doubt she bought it either, but I did get the new mount. ;D
(sadly, it is what happened ,you would think I'd know better at 42)
Actually was already looking to order the ear bud version any way.
I have been using the JVC ear-buds with marsh mellow tips for $20. since.
The sound is clear and loud enough to hear at highway speeds.
Much as I would like to have better buds.
Well... I break them to often.... :)
I use a 80gb Ipod classic for tunes using the aux. jack with good result.
I like the battery life of the iPod and mega space for tune, audio books, and such.
That and it save me either having to use a power cord to the bike or a draining the phone.
Phones:
I have used the unit with a Blackberry bold (good control of music player and phone including voice dial).
Android Samsung, same good control and phone use, did not try voice on this one.
Now using Iphone 4 and player controls are OK, Voice control is nice).
It even beeped 3 time when the boss sent me a text to stop and pic up taco fixins for tomorrow.
Had 0 clue why it beeped at me ;D. 1st phone to do that.
I also want the http://www.senabluetooth.com/products/sr10.php?tab_menu=overview (http://www.senabluetooth.com/products/sr10.php?tab_menu=overview)
Would be nice to be able to have some choice in two way radio. From Cb to FMRS or GMRS to my little 2meter.
This would give about the most flexibility in frequency choice I can think of so far.
For group riding or for our annual beach trip to St. George Ilse, (east point, FL)
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I purchased the SMH10 several months ago and am very pleased at its performance. It works very well in conjunction with an iPhone 4S with Siri to issue voice commands to play music, place calls, even send text messages. It mounted easily on my helmet, and even at 80mph people on the other end of calls have no idea I am on my bike. It does help to have the windscreen up and a full face helmet.
I have not had an opportunity yet to use the intercom with the second set so I can't attest to the intercom performance.
But the very simple controls and the built-in intelligence of the unit has made this one of the best purchases I have made.
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Wow! Thanks for all the feed back. I think this is the way I will go.
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Me and my wife have SENA and absolutely love them. Setup is easy. Holds charge for a long time. More than two though, you cannot talk at the same time - you will have to switch between persons.
Actually, I think the latest firmware lets you have a 4 way conversation. Not done it so I could be wrong but I thought that was what I read.
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I love mine and though you say you aren't that interested in the phone portion of it, I will say that it is probably the best part. It works very well. I can talk to my father, who hates talking to someone who is using a headset, and he has no idea I am riding the motorcycle. He says it is the best sounding headset he has ever heard.
On the music side, the only issue I have had is with the volume when using a newer MP3 player. Many of the newer ones are adopting the EU standards for output levels so they don't output loud enough for use on the motorcycle. I was using my new Sony for audiobooks and had trouble hearing them, using earplugs though. I ran the MP3s through a program to up the levels and it worked fine. I use bluetooth for it. I now usually just use my Blackberry and it at least has a choice to turn the levels up using what they call audioboost, after a warning screen saying I will be deaf after using it and will never again be able to pick up chicks.
I love the headset.
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I have to agree with all the positive comments. The wife and I use them for 2 up riding. The intercom work great. We both have our phones synced up and listen to Pandora and/or I tunes. The sound quality is very good and the volume level is quite high. Full volume could do some hearing damage. I haven't used it with ear plugs, I just adjust the volume down to a level I like.
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One more in full agreement! The Sena setup is so easy to use. Connects perfectly every time and a breeze interfacing with my Iphone.
If you make the choice you will not have any regrets!
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sena all the way , no complaints.
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I have a Uclear HBC 100. I kinda wish I had gotten the Sena, but I didn't. My problem has been the music volume from the iPhone over the bluetooth. I installed the LouderLogic app and it's made a big difference. The music is louder and it equalizes the volume for all the music. So some tunes that were barely legible are are now quite listenable... So for the time being I'm ok with the unit. If it gets unbearable then I'd seriously consider the newer Sena.
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This is my first Blue Tooth head set for a motorcycle and I love it. Every part works as I thought it would. Pairing was simple and the wife loves it. She can talk to me now for the whole ride(yeah me). I don't think you will go wrong. My riding friends are now looking into get rid of their units and getting the Sena. Quality produce in my eyes.
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Anybody with experience with the Scala G9 and how it compares to the SMH10?
Mark
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Anybody with experience with the Scala G9 and how it compares to the SMH10?
Mark
Got a rough answer to my question...
Bluetooth Communicator Guide 2012 at RevZilla.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH7lxUny-q8#ws)
Mark
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I have the SMH-10 but I use it mostly for my Garmin GPS. The helmet speakers aren't exactly music quality and are very bass shy so don't expect iPod quality listening. But I think it's a fairly good compromise between listening to Derek Trucks and hearing the truck that's about to run you down.
Kind of a funny story. I kept hearing this elevator-like "ding, ding" in my headset which I presumed was the Sena attempting to pair with another bluetooth transceiver in the vehicle next to me. I griped about this on another forum but nobody knew what I was talking about, even those with the same model of Sena + Garmin. Then somebody said, "Wait, did you install the Trapster update to your Garmin? If so, those dings are to warn you about reported speed traps."
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I have the SMH-10 but I use it mostly for my Garmin GPS. The helmet speakers aren't exactly music quality and are very bass shy so don't expect iPod quality listening. But I think it's a fairly good compromise between listening to Derek Trucks and hearing the truck that's about to run you down.
Kind of a funny story. I kept hearing this elevator-like "ding, ding" in my headset which I presumed was the Sena attempting to pair with another bluetooth transceiver in the vehicle next to me. I griped about this on another forum but nobody knew what I was talking about, even those with the same model of Sena + Garmin. Then somebody said, "Wait, did you install the Trapster update to your Garmin? If so, those dings are to warn you about reported speed traps."
Three dings means the battery is low.
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The helmet speakers aren't exactly music quality and are very bass shy so don't expect iPod quality listening. But I think it's a fairly good compromise between listening to Derek Trucks and hearing the truck that's about to run you down.
It's true that the helmet speakers are a long way from high fidelity, but here's two ways to improve the sound:
1: If the ear cavity in your helmet is deep, the speakers may be removed too far from your ears; use some packing foam (I used pieces cut from the packing included with the Sena) behind the speakers to bring them closer to your ears, and;
2: If you are using your iPhone as an iPod, you can download one of several equalizer apps which will give you quite a bit of flexibility in getting the tones you want from your tunes. I use one tat allows you to make as many pre-sets as you want, which is handy for different riding conditions.