sena owners I need input

[jmdaniel]

I really need to look into an unlimited data plan.

I am on AT&T, and had been grandfathered to their unlimited plan for quite awhile. My two year contract that I signed up for when I got my iPhone 5S just expired, and I thought my bill would drop by about $25/month; because, after all, AT&T had recouped the subsidy they paid on the phone when they signed me for two years, right? Nononononono.... The rep told me that their was no subsidy recoupment involved, and that my bill wouldn't change, but she could sign me up for a new plan, taking off the unlimited data, and for less than the $80/month I was paying them. Well, I hate being lied to by big corporations, so I declined, did a little research to find what the other carriers are offering, and called AT&T retention back the next day. I went from a 450 minute/1K text/unlimited data plan, at $80, to an unlimited everything plan, for $55. Or $25 less. But there isn't a subsidy, nonononononononono... It's what they call a prepaid plan, they hit my credit card for the $55 every month, and there are no contracts. Just an option.

I used my 20s for more than just music for the first time this weekend at EOM. I found it a little confusing to set up, but we managed, and I know that I just have to learn. One thing I did find though, Phil, was that in navigating the app on my smartphone, I found that there is a motion sensor in the unit. It was on by default, and I found that if I tapped my HELMET in the area around the unit, it would prompt it to try and do something. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it could have been "intercom pairing". I can see how rain pelting your helmet might cause it to do this. If you have the app on your phone you can go into setting and turn off the motion sensing. If you don't, I'm sure there's a way to do it manually.

Good to read this. I found on my trip to the Ozarks that every time I closed the lid on my modular helmet, my 20S would switch to waiting for a command, and I'd hear that voice, "Say A Command". It was easy to switch back to music by pressing the center button, and thereby canceling the waiting for a command feature, but I'll shut it off for good now.

 

[FrankD]

Ray - I've been using a SMH-10 for three years. I currently have it paired with a Zumo 660, iPhone 6 and intercom with whoever I happen to be riding with that also has a Sena (any model). I never got it to pair properly with my Nuvi 765, even though all the support pages say that I should. I also connect my old-school iPod (with the click wheel) through a wired connection. The click wheel is easy to operate with gloves on. Another nice feature is being able to share music with your riding partner, comes in handy when we're riding two-up and also when we're on separate bikes. Battery life well exceeds butt life.

I've ridden with BigJohnSD and found that his SMH-20 does a way better job with noise reduction than my SMH-10. If I were to do it again, I'd get the 20.

If you can spare the extra $'s, go with a SMH-20. You won't be disappointed.

 

[SCOTTIE]

For the first time since I bought my SMH10 I rode with another Sena user. We chatted occasionally, but I didn't realize, until he commented on my music selection, that I Had been a traveling radio station for about 4 hours. Seriously reduced my battery life

 

[Big-D]

You have probably already made up your mind, but I will add my two cents also. The SMH-10 is the highest rated, much better than the newest model the 20. You get the best Intercom. If your wife is going to get a set also, she can go with the SMH-5, it is cheaper and since she is sitting behind you, the Intercom will work perfectly. The Intercom is Line-of-Sight, meaning if you go around a corner, in a deep dip you will lose connection until you are within sight again. The SMH-10 will give you 3-5 football fields of distance, while the SMH-5 will be reduced to 3 Football fields. The SMH-5 can also include a FM receiver that works real well. The Intercom works better than talking on a Home Telephone, its that clear. If you have several Helmets, you just buy the headsets (under $30) for each, then move the SMH-10 or SMH-5 between them, however the 5 requires a different headset than the 10.

If you will ever connect NON-Bluetooth electromics (i.e. GPS, Radar Detector) you will need the SM-10. BUT, if you are like many others, including the Richard Hall (Fairlaner) group, then you will want the SR-10, which not only allows you to connect two Non-BT devices, but also connect a UHF, VHF, GMRS or CB radio to it. It will come with a remote button that slips neatly around your left grip so you can simply push to talk really easily with a finger or thumb.

Overall, SENA is By Far the best of all communication units. The BT is flawless, clear and the helmet speakers quality & sound are superb. On a single charge, I rode with DJ Bill from Eureka, CA to Bakersfield and beyond with no loss what so ever. All units are water proof, small and very lightweight. Hold in place with a small velco piece attached almost anywhere. The BT range on my SMH-10 is about 40ft going through three walls and my stereo sound worked perfectly.

Now if you want to add another device that cost about $25, consider the Anker Aluminum Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Transmitter and Audio Receiver, it allows you to connect, it allows to transmit or receive in full stereo and it will connect with many devices ustilizing Bluetooth. Well worth the $25 on Amazon. Its about the size of a book of matches, maybe a little smaller, lasts over 11hrs on a single charge, can be used while charging also. Great little device that connects to anything that accept BT or you can use the earphone jack to connect manually. I use it to send my GPS which isn't bluetooth, to my SMH-10.

 

[jmdaniel]

My experience with Sena Warranty service continues to amaze me. They have had my 20S in their warehouse for two weeks now, and yesterday sent me a PayPal invoice for $41, to cover shipping to their location in Mexico!!! This is after I've spent a lot of my own personal time helping them fix their screwup, after they closed another customer's ticket and merged it with mine. Due to this merger, I could see her comments on my ticket, and she was not happy with how they were service on some type of headband product.

I replied to Sena after getting notification of the invoice, and told them they were nuts, if they thought I was going to pay anything to fix a 5 month old unit that has a two year warranty. The next move is theirs.

 

[bigjohnsd]

BigD I have to disagree with your comment that the 10 is superior to the 20 as an intercom. The noise cancelation circuitry on the 20 is greatly superior to that in the 10. If you haven't ridden with both you will not believe the improvement. When we ride as a group with several 20's linked together we have crystal clear communication. Almost every time we add one or more 10 to the network we all hear a great deal of wind noise and often a good deal of electronic noise in the form of crackles and pops as well. Just my experience, yours may vary, I wouldn't go back to a 10.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Huh...I don't get crackling and popping with my SMH10s.

 

[FJRay]

So far the smh10 are working well.sound is good and the only time I get wind noise is when Patti has her helmet open getting a drink.

 

[n2osx]

So you are saying that you literally drive Patti to drink... If anybody else is surprised, raise your hand...

 

[FJRay]

So you are saying that you literally drive Patti to drink... If anybody else is surprised, raise your hand...

I had to quit so somebody needs to take up the slack.

 

[jmdaniel]

I finally got the return issue on my 20S resolved. Last week, after getting a invoice on PayPal from Sena, for $41, and to cover the shipping "to Mexico", I just had enough. I live In Austin, which is not Mexico, so I figured out who the CEO of US Operations is, and his email. I forwarded the complete thread of emails, detailing the nonsense since 9/5, and an hour later, I received a very nice response from him, apologizing and saying they would be sending me a new unit later that day. They sent me a complete new unit, which means I have a new mounting kit for another helmet, should I choose to use it.

It was a real PITA, but a tip of the cap for the top dog in taking care of the customer!

 

[HotRodZilla]

I finally got the return issue on my 20S resolved. Last week, after getting a invoice on PayPal from Sena, for $41, and to cover the shipping "to Mexico", I just had enough. I live In Austin, which is not Mexico, so I figured out who the CEO of US Operations is, and his email. I forwarded the complete thread of emails, detailing the nonsense since 9/5, and an hour later, I received a very nice response from him, apologizing and saying they would be sending me a new unit later that day. They sent me a complete new unit, which means I have a new mounting kit for another helmet, should I choose to use it. It was a real PITA, but a tip of the cap for the top dog in taking care of the customer!

It's good they took care of the issue. It's also weird you had those problems in the first place. In my experience and by what I've heard from others you got the exception not the norm. Their customer service is usually very good.

 

[jmdaniel]

Well, I hope for everyone else that they dumped all their poor service on me. How they could screw up my situation so bad, from combining tickets, to closing my ticket unresolved, to reopening it, but then wanting me to pay $41 to ship the unit to Mexico, (for some unknown reason), to then sitting on the case and doing nothing, until I finally got the CEO involved, defies logic. The new one better have the battery life as promised, so I don't have to go through this again.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Their customer service is good but their email system that automatically closes a case if you don't respond in 72 hours sucks. I just started automatically replying to every email they sent to me which drove the customer service rep crazy but kept the case open.

 

[jmdaniel]

Well, not replying promptly wasn't the case. If you want a good laugh, PM me your email address, and I'll forward you the thread.

People aren't getting any smarter in customer service these days. This is an exchange I had with a rep from XM/Sirius last week. Keep in mind that I had to enter my email address BEFORE this chat window popped up:

 

[BanjoBoy]

Great info here, cuz I'm think'in 'bout joining the 21 century.

All I need is someing to pair w/ ma phone. (Don't wanta listen to my wife/sister babble on 'n on....)

Everybody uses Sena, butt they'z kinda pricey, anybody ever try the cheap knock offs?

I'm going to beat the drum (again) about why everyone with an iPhone or Android smart phone goes to the trouble of powering and bluetooth connecting a dedicated GPS unit to the Sena when the phone will do everything the GPS does and a lot more.

With the latest hardware you can run multiple apps at once on your phone that gives you more flexibility and simplicity of connections. I've got an iPhone 6plus that runs the following apps simultaneously if necessary, and all I have to do is power one device and connect one device to the Sena:

1) SW Connect - no need for $100/year or more for SPOT. - Free
2) Navigon - off-network navigation for roads (maybe CoPilot is better - certainly its cheaper) - $30 for Western US and free lifetime updates
3) MotionX GPS for internal tracking and navigating in more remote areas - it updates real time instead of 5 minute intervals on Spotwalla and provides cool features for documenting your routes - Free - for $5 you can enable custom map downloads from multiple servers including USGS topo maps, world topo maps, and others.... - this is freakin' AWESOME!. MotionX can also be used to plot your tracks from GPX files - super easy and works great.
4) Waze if you want to use it instead of a nav package - free
5) Music - free (pretty much

)
6) Phone

When I was in Mexico earlier this year on the ride that Beemerdons had set up (sorry again Don - we missed you!), one late afternoon we were wandering around the high hills (34 degrees!) and our guide had only a paper map that had yellow highlighter marking the route and no idea of where we actually were. The guys with Garmin GPS units showed a blue triangle on a blank white field that showed where we were but had no map on the device that showed any roads. With MotionX and the detailed topo map of Mexico that I had downloaded, I had the only device that plotted position against a map that actually told us where we were and how much further we had to go. It saved us from a lot of possible trouble that day.

I used the same setup this last week in central Oregon while riding in the hills around Bend and it proved to be great again. I had plots of roads and NF trails right on the phone instead of having to continually open up bulky paper maps and trail guides. When the week was over the guys I was with were convinced that this was the right way to go.

Sorry Ray for such a long-winded input, but in summary I'd suggest not worrying about a GPS and just use your phone for everything (of course assuming you've got a phone that supports GPS navigation).

I really need to look into an unlimited data plan.

Check out da https://fi.google.com/about/

We're saving over $100 a month after switching.