Thinking of buying a sena smh5 or 10

The primary reason i want it is to listen to music. I'm wondering how good the helmet speakers are. Do you have to have them soo loud that you'll be deaf when you get where you're going? Sound quality? I have an i pod touch will it work with that? Just looking for thoughts, opiions?

The SMH5 simply has less features so it's cheaper. It also doesn't have the ability to purchase different backing plates for different needs (like using custom-molded earspeakers). READ THIS for more details. Step up and get the SMH10.

The speakers are excellent and plenty loud, even with earplugs.

Yes, it will work with the iPod Touch and any other Bluetooth equipped smartphone.

xc1974 said:

The primary reason i want it is to listen to music. I'm wondering how good the helmet speakers are. Do you have to have them soo loud that you'll be deaf when you get where you're going? Sound quality? I have an i pod touch will it work with that? Just looking for thoughts, opiions?

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Speakers are about 1/4" thick, so you need pockets in your helmet. They have an option for a different base that you can plug earbuds in if you don't have pockets or you just want earbuds instead.

Volume is high enough especially if you don't wear earplugs. If you don't wear earplugs then the speakers can get WAY TOO LOUD. I wear the 33DBA Howard Leight earplugs all the time to cut down on wind noise, so I need to crank the volume full, but its still loud enough until I get to above 80mph or so when the overall noise overwhelms them - YMMV depending on how good your hearing is (mine's getting worse) and how quiet your helmet is.

iPod Touch works great with these - I had one before I got an iPhone and they both work fine.

+1 on the SMH10. Awesome unit. I use mine with the optional earbud clamp, so I can use my earbuds rather than the speakers that come with it. The stock speakers are plenty loud, just lacking the richer sound the earbuds give. The earbuds also act as ear plugs. Either way great product.

I've got an iPod touch, and I use Klipsch s4i ear buds CLICKY. They have volume, pause, and skip to next song... buttons about 8 inches below the buds on the cord. They function as ear plugs and of course, speakers. Great sound.

FORUM CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG... I've never heard a set of helmet speakers that can compare with good ear buds.

Gary

DARKSIDER #44

I may be the voice of difference here.

My wife, my riding buddy, and myself feel that there isn't enough volume to use these with earplugs.

I'm sort of a special case because I already have a hearing problem. I solved it with custom-molded earphones, but that was $300 and another set of wires.

My wife, with normal hearing, uses the max-leight 33 db earplugs with her Sena and claims she has enough volume to communicate and listen to music, but not enough to understand podcasts or audiobooks. She is on an SV650 with much less windnoise than the FJR.

And my buddy, on a VFR (less windnoise) and with normal hearing, also uses custom earphones because the Sena isn't loud enough for him to really enjoy the music.

So you might be OK, but it will be borderline.

The SMH5 has 1/2 the distance of the 10 but they are virtually the same system after you upgrade to the latest firmware. I resell both and have been using the SMH10 for 2 years in groups up to 4. I sure wish the 4 way communication was available last year when my wife, brother and sister were out for 2 weeks.

At that time I taped little cheat sheets on everyones helmet. 1 click for SJ, 2 clicks for MJ 3 for... These replaced my Starcom setup.

Do it. You know you want to.....

garyahouse said:

FORUM CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG... I've never heard a set of helmet speakers that can compare with good ear buds.

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You are correct. You'll also avoid hearing loss with earbuds (unless you turn them up too high). I learned this from my ENT doctor. When listening to music on bikes with external speakers (H-D Electra Glide, etc.) the music nuances get drowned out as the wind noise increases (same thing with helmet speakers). As you strain to hear your favorite parts of the music but can't because of the wind/bike noise you'll begin turning up the volume. Pretty soon it's at volume levels that are doing damage to your ears. It's my opinion that you're doing the same thing using earplugs and helmet speakers.

I wish I had my normal hearing back and didn't have the tinnitus that I do have from wind noise, loud pipes and the four external speakers I had on my Harley (my hearing was near perfect before I began riding in 1997). Don't make the same mistake, if you want to listen to music on the bike get some custom-molded earbuds and turn the volume down (and take away your kid's iPod earplugs).

I completely agree with LDRydr. I had a set of custom molded earplugs made for around $50 for my wife and I. I then can use them at the range and on the bike. I use music as more of a background noise to replace the wind. Jamming out is left for the basement stereo/theater setup.

Another HUGE benefit to custom molded earplugs is that if you camp, noisy neighbors are a thing of the past!

Alex said:

I sure wish the 4 way communication was available last year when my wife, brother and sister were out for 2 weeks.

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It is my understanding that the 4-way isn't "Tap and talk to all four" but rather "Tap and talk to #2, then #3 can tap and join in, and then #4 can tap and join in".

Alex said:

At that time I taped little cheat sheets on everyones helmet.

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So they had to take their helmets off to figure out how many taps per person? :blink:

Alex said:

I completely agree with LDRydr. I had a set of custom molded earplugs made for around $50 for my wife and I. I then can use them at the range and on the bike. I use music as more of a background noise to replace the wind. Jamming out is left for the basement stereo/theater setup.

Another HUGE benefit to custom molded earplugs is that if you camp, noisy neighbors are a thing of the past!

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please advise where to find custom earbuds for $50. very interested....

I think he may be talking about "Earfuze"

Molded earplugs, not earbuds.

Aasland said:

I may be the voice of difference here.

My wife, my riding buddy, and myself feel that there isn't enough volume to use these with earplugs.

I'm sort of a special case because I already have a hearing problem. I solved it with custom-molded earphones, but that was $300 and another set of wires.

My wife, with normal hearing, uses the max-leight 33 db earplugs with her Sena and claims she has enough volume to communicate and listen to music, but not enough to understand podcasts or audiobooks. She is on an SV650 with much less windnoise than the FJR.

And my buddy, on a VFR (less windnoise) and with normal hearing, also uses custom earphones because the Sena isn't loud enough for him to really enjoy the music.

So you might be OK, but it will be borderline.

Click to expand...

my old wired system (j&m speakers) were plenty loud even with earplugs.
I agree 99% with this post. Right now i have the sena smh10, but it is certainly quieter. I can still communicate, and listen to podcasts/audiobooks, but i use an ipad to transmit audiobooks and podcasts. So i use itunes equalizer settings to boost the volume of all of them (i can also use equalizer settings on a droid phone t do the same). As farq as communicating, we just speak loudly and it works well!

I'm STRONGLY considering custom earphones. I have really good heaphnes already and would just use that company. Keep the volume very low and you'll be fine. You'll be able to hear it cause the plugs will block out wind very well.

Alexi

Seems there's lots of differnet opinions about what's loud enough. I'm sure it will make some differnce on windshield and helmet type. I'm running a stock windshield usually somewhere between alll the way down and half up. I have a shoei x-11 helmet which is pretty quiet. I don't really want to mess with earbuds any more cause they are a pain. That's why i'm wondering about the helmet speakers.

SMH10 Vs SMH5 Comparison chart:

I been working for a while to setup a 10% forum discount for Sena items and it was approved this morning! To my knowledge this will be the best deal offered for the SH5 and SMH10 anywhere. Hopefully by the end of the day is is setup.

And the big difference between the SMH10 V4 and the SMH10 is?

Just asking because most of the local folks [try very hard to by locally] have the SMH10's.