Bike To Bike Communication

[Bungie]

The Sena with latest firmware upgrade has a huge bang for the buck.

In SE Ohio we conferenced 3 bikes together. I was leading and would call out hazards and stuff to the guys behind me. Even in a pouring, all day rain, they never once hiccuped.

It pairs seamlessly to my Garmin and my cell phone, batteries last for days.

For the price, for me, a no brainer.

I've got a full Collett Microphone4 Bluetooth setup (2 units) for sale cheap if your interested. The benefit of that system is it uses 900mHz for bike to bike and every once in a while I could listen in, and comment on somebodies landline jabber.

 

[ahchiu]

I have the Autocom AVIpro with GMRS and CB, if you have a Bluetooth system Scala G4, Chatterbox, etc, you can still have a GMRS or CB added to your bike. Here is a link for a Bluetooth that is hooked up to the radio

https://www.hitechwireless.com/products/BLUCOMM-Bluetooth-Kit.html

 

[Harald]

For the intercom functions, we have found the Sena's to have sufficient microphone technology and speaker volume to function at highway speeds, if you don't wear earplugs. If you wear earplugs, it is highly dependent on the earplugs, windshield and helmet.

With music (AD2P) the volume is lower for some reason. With earplugs we can make out the music but podcasts are unintelligible. The solution is get a pair of noise-blocking earbuds, like the Etymotic, S-Plugs, or any of the custom offerings.

Sena is tracking the requests for more volume here: https://support.senabluetooth.com/entries/21056096-more-volume-would-be-nice

Although, note they marked it "Done" when it really isn't.

I bought the Sena system when they first came out and there was a music volume problem, but it was my Zumo 660 that had the problem. Garmin updated the software and this fixed the music volume problem.

I still had some songs on my SD card that were too quiet. I found a simple free solution online in the form of a program called MP3Gain. It allows you to easily set all the songs on your SD card to the same level. And you can set that level wherever you want, so it's possible to set the volume much higher on all your songs. Yeah, you will reduce sound quality if you push the volume until it's clipping, but is the music quality good enough to notice in your helmet going down the road at 70mph?

 

[Aasland]

For the intercom functions, we have found the Sena's to have sufficient microphone technology and speaker volume to function at highway speeds, if you don't wear earplugs. If you wear earplugs, it is highly dependent on the earplugs, windshield and helmet.

With music (AD2P) the volume is lower for some reason. With earplugs we can make out the music but podcasts are unintelligible. The solution is get a pair of noise-blocking earbuds, like the Etymotic, S-Plugs, or any of the custom offerings.

Sena is tracking the requests for more volume here: https://support.senabluetooth.com/entries/21056096-more-volume-would-be-nice

Although, note they marked it "Done" when it really isn't.

I bought the Sena system when they first came out and there was a music volume problem, but it was my Zumo 660 that had the problem. Garmin updated the software and this fixed the music volume problem.

I still had some songs on my SD card that were too quiet. I found a simple free solution online in the form of a program called MP3Gain. It allows you to easily set all the songs on your SD card to the same level. And you can set that level wherever you want, so it's possible to set the volume much higher on all your songs. Yeah, you will reduce sound quality if you push the volume until it's clipping, but is the music quality good enough to notice in your helmet going down the road at 70mph?

I use Mp3gain more to avoid the difference in sound levels between tracks. I've tried going to 91db and that still doesn't cut it. So it's back to 89db and using the Westones. Besides, I d/l podcasts daily, and can't be bothered to hook up the phone to the puter to ruin mp3gain on them.

Our Sena's are at the latest firmware. I had never considered it might be the phone not sending the ad2p loud enough ... we've tried with two Samsung's and two HTC's and they're not loud enough.

Thanks for the suggestion though.