Evening all! I'm the type of bloke that has no sense of direction. Spin me around 360 degrees & I'm fucked! I'm looking for a bluetooth speaker thingy so that I can hear sat nav instructions. Got two helmets (X-lite 803 & Schu C4 Pro [if it makes any difference]) used regularly, depending on journey or mood. I'm not really into making or receiving calls, partly because I commute 40+ miles into Hackney every day. I thought I was fast through traffic but those boys/girls must have a death wish. Anyway, I digress. I'm using wired earphones to my mobile & it's pissing me off. I'm OK with a coupla hundred quid or so. Can you recommend anything? Cheers, mammal botherers!
I’ve used the sena s20 For a few years now with no problems at all, great quality and if bought through the sports bike shop a replace like for like warranty
So that model will give me stereo speakers for two helmets that will connect to my phone? It sounds like witchcraft to me.
I prefer Interphone over Sena. I have, and still use an Interphone Tour (over 4+ years of all year round use) and have had a Sena 20S and the 20S Evo. The Sena was slightly better sound quality but not user friendly at all. It is not particularly user friendly (to do different things with it you have a combination of pressing down a button and turning a wheel). It had lots of cool functions and the smart phone app is much better than the Interphone one for sure. However, it is not Waterproof - it is water RESISTANT. Thats not to say it will disintegrate the moment it gets wet, but beware it is not cope well with long term use in the wet. I had my original 20S for 18 months before it died on me. It was mounted on my "Summer" helmet and I actually used the Interphone during the Winter/wet months of those 18 months (although the 20S did get caught out in the occasional downpour).. Sena has a 2 year guarantee and they were good enough to exchange it for me to the newer model, the 20S evo. That got put on my commuter helmet, died 7 months later and then I got chinned off by Sena saying I was out of the warranty period when I contacted them. 2 of my friends (also year round commuters) also had the 20S, and also have had the same problem and are no longer using them. If all you're wanting Bluetooth for is listening to directions, then you dont even need a top of the range model to be honest. The more you go up the range, the more functions you get obviously - but sometimes its good to just keep it simple. Something like this will enable you to connect to your smart phone and listen to the sat nav instructions https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/450918 And you still have other benefits should you choose to use them like listening to music from your phone (but probably not at the same time as listening to the Sat Nav) and if you ever go riding with anyone else and they have a bluetooth unit as well - you should be able to pair your devices and talk to them (theoretically). Most importantly, its waterproof! Yes you will get stereo speakers which stick to the inside of the helmet shell, as well as a boom microphone (like you see on a pilot's headset) and then the control unit which will clamp onto the helmet shell or stick on via a sticky pad. You may struggle to find something you can swap between the Xlite and Schuberth though. You'll be alright to use the Interphone or any other brand with the Xlite, but Schuberth make their own intercom and the helmet itself comes prepared for it by including the Speakers and Microphone which I'm 99% sure can't be used with any other brands, The Schuberth intercom is basically the battery pack and control unit which just inserts straight into the helmet. It's a very tidy, neat solution but is helmet specific. Short of buying 2 intercoms, you're probably better off designating one as a commuter helmet and just buying the one unit. It's not to say you wouldnt be able to fit any other bran dof intercom to the Schuberth, but it wouldn't be ideal, and the positioning of the unit is also a bit more of a struggle due to the hinge of the flip up helmet.
@Empty_Ten Thanks dude! I can see you took a lot of trouble passing that on & it's very much appreciated! I'd not heard of Interphone before, but they appear to do away with my concerns over the water resilience of the Sena models I looked at. Your post & the reviews of the Interphone confirmed my doubts. I would like to be able to alternate commuting helmets, depending on what I have to do on my way to or from work and/or the weather. Thanks for the link. It's on offer from SBS - RRP £180, now £130. So, when I finish writing, I'll be buying two pretty quick-smart! Mrs B&W, should she ever trust me again on the bike, will then be able to prophesy our doom far more coherently to me (I wonder if I can record her & synch her reactions to actual Gopro footage?). Cheers!
I have cardo packtalk bolds jbl’s They are good for satnav and intercom but every time I try to update them I get a problems doing it, ok once done. And the RDS has never worked properly But the.radio does work fine in the area it is tuned to I have found that if I use Navmii I need it mounted on show because it does not work when the phone is locked but calimoto works fine when the phone is locked and in your pocket
I use an interphone F5mc. It connects to my phone for music which is over ridden by sat nav directions. Great bit of kit, battery seems to last forever between charges. You can also buy replacement/additional parts easily, so if you wanted another speaker set up for an additional helmet, you could do so. I have no idea of suitability/compatibility regarding helmet brands. This is the additional/replacement kit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Interpho...49fa81fca3ec92e0fb5a|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2334524
How do those things work, I'm not interested in comms to pillion or friends (no friends ) but music and sat nav directions. Do you have wires from the big thing stuck on the outside to the headphones inside?
Thanks for that. I cut & pasted the name of your kit but don't want to remortgage! I've got no idea what Navmii or Calimoto is!?!?
Sorry I can't help at the moment, as I have absolutely no idea what the set-up is like! Will let you know once they arrive & been fitted.
I have attached a pic showing helmet with the unit attached and just the bracket without the unit (unit was removed for charging). For what it is, I don't think it is that obtrusive. All cables tuck inside pretty neatly beneath the padding.
Ahh ok, so the control unit sticks on the outside and the headphones plug into that unit which uses Bluetooth to connect to the phone. Got it. Thanks.
https://www.cardosystems.com/ , had these on my other bike, only problem was, my misses always used to tell me to slow down all the time, they are a good bit of kit.
Cheers for that. I thought the unit stuck to the helmet! Didn't know there's a bracket that attaches instead, and the comms unit (If that's what it's called?) is detachable. I've ordered two of the units in the link I posted. £260 total, whereas it looks as though I only need one & then buy an extra speaker/mic kit for £30.
Navmii is a satnav for you phone and calimoto is a motorcycle satnav for your phone but you can set it to go on curvy route and set waypoints and plan trips and save them I did forget to say I have it set up in a xlite 803 carbon
Ah, I see! A specific motorcycle sat nav sounds better. Is there a Calimoto shop where you buy it from? One Interphone device came today from SBS & it's all too much. I don't want the distraction of a radio & I only ride alone, so communication with anyone isn't anywhere on my list of wants. I don't want a microphone to talk to the Sat Nav either, and I don't make or receive calls when riding. They can wait until I pull over. Not really sure why I bought any Interphone kits at all. They're as useful as Anne Frank's colouring books were to her.
But you don’t have to have the radio on? You can just pair the Bluetooth unit to your sat nav and just have sat Nav instructions, you don’t have to play the radio/music or anything else. Re the microphone, I thought you wanted to speak to the Mrs occasionally? You could probably not bother attaching the microphone and just have the speakers installed. I don’t think they have to be connected in order for the system to work. If you’re really against it, you could return them. You could probably use a pair of Bluetooth headphones (Something like Apple AirPods etc) depending on what you use for your satnav. If you use a mobile phone, then that’d probably work provided you have a sat Nav app. If it’s for an actual sat Nav from a Tom Tom or garmin, I’m not sure. I doubt it’d be comfortable for any amount of time though as they are bulky etc. they’re really not complicated units, they give you the ability to do a lot of stuff, but you don’t need to use any of the functions. Personally, I wouldn’t ride without one now apart from on track.
