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Helmet comms for single track?

RedDirt

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So, my wife and I are both very new to motorcycles. We’re trying to get into single track as a couple. I put some Cardo Freecom 4’s in, and it’s been a huge help. We don’t get as frustrated this way, I can provide some coaching, and we both keep our cool better.

All that being said, the range on the Freecom is awful. As in, in wooded stuff—maybe 200 yds. In wide open, maybe 400 yds. Anyone have experience with something with better range, especially in the woods? Anyone in love with the new Sena’s, or anything like that? I don’t care about the music or phone functionality, just the intercom.

I swear this already came up here, but I couldn’t find it, so I started a new thread.

Edit—as I’m thinking about it, it might be more like 100yds in the woods…. Anyway, less than my spoiled ass wants. Spend my money!
 
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I don't think the Sena's are going to be much better. But I've never used my that way when I had them. I'm a music person on the bike and not much of a talker type. I'm sorta interested in what others have and going to troll your thread here.
 
My wife and I have some Sena headsets. Maybe the 10 series. The distance in the woods is not great. They are basically line of sight.
 
The Packtalk series would be better as they use Mesh to connect versus Bluetooth of the Freecom. Better enough to justify the higher cost? Maybe.
 
It's not the Cardo that's the problem, it's the Bluetooth which is designed for low power, short distance transmission. As DSquared said, you want the Packtalk series.
 
Ok, thanks, everyone. It’s just my wife and I, so when I bought these ~1 yr ago I had some reason to think the older tech actually had better range. I didn’t know if the mesh would be helpful with only 2 units. If there is a range bump, though, I’d spend the money.
 
I upgraded from the Freecom to the Packtalk, and the mesh range is definitely a bit better than Bluetooth.

You'll see an improvement, but how much, I can't actually say.
 
The mesh system has a better range than Bluetooth, as we tried our Packtalk Bolds on both with someone who didn’t have the mesh system. Almost half a mile on a straight road… a few years ago I switched from Sena and haven’t looked back.. YMMV
 
I've been trying to figure out how to use GMRS radios for this.
There is the Sena SR-10 and the rugged radio Connect BT, using the 5 watt GMRS radios your range should be greatly increased over the regular headsets.

 
I suppose I should update this. We ended up upgrading to the new Cardo Edge series for a big trip last fall. They get a tiny bit better range in the woods than the Freecom series did. But they are outstanding at revealing, and there’s none of the occasional uncomfortable loud audio pops that we got from the Freecom series.

So, it’s a useful upgrade going to the mesh network. For a group ride, it’s a big upgrade.

So, CarterKraft, do you think you have this figured out to work with FM radios? Ours are Baofeng UV-82 models, so they’re not Bluetooth enabled, anyway. But maybe one day I’d still be interested. One issue is the nature of FM radios. On the Cardos, when my wife is chatting, I can interrupt her to warn her of something. If someone is transmitting on FM, you can’t talk over them. Plus there’s the transmit delay—it takes maybe a half second before it transmits (at least on my Baofengs), so if someone tries to give you a single-word reply, you might miss it.
 
We have a pair of Sena 20S that are still going strong after about 8-9 years. We were early adopters, buying them when the 20S first came out, which was a bit frustrating... went through 3 sets in the first 18 months, all under warranty, and numerous software updates. But they got things right on the 3rd set, and they have been flawless ever since. I keep expecting the batteries to go, but they are still holding a good charge, and we can do an 8 hour ride on a single charge, no problem. Range is about half a mile when riding in more open terrain, drops to line of sight when you get in twisty canyons.

Don't really use any of the fancy features, just rider-to-rider comms. We connect when we put our helmets on, and stay connected until the helmets come off.
 
We have a pair of Sena 20S that are still going strong after about 8-9 years. We were early adopters, buying them when the 20S first came out, which was a bit frustrating... went through 3 sets in the first 18 months, all under warranty, and numerous software updates. But they got things right on the 3rd set, and they have been flawless ever since. I keep expecting the batteries to go, but they are still holding a good charge, and we can do an 8 hour ride on a single charge, no problem. Range is about half a mile when riding in more open terrain, drops to line of sight when you get in twisty canyons.

Don't really use any of the fancy features, just rider-to-rider comms. We connect when we put our helmets on, and stay connected until the helmets come off.
Sort of the same here with my 20S but did not have the failure problem. I did have to replace the battery almost 2 years ago since it would not run for 6 hours. Been fine ever since. Do loose comms when going around a corner with lots of earth blocking out the signal. Not nearly as bad on normal paved back roads. Can get over 1/2 mile if in line of sight. Been on the same sena 20s for over 100k miles.
 
I suppose I should update this. We ended up upgrading to the new Cardo Edge series for a big trip last fall. They get a tiny bit better range in the woods than the Freecom series did. But they are outstanding at revealing, and there’s none of the occasional uncomfortable loud audio pops that we got from the Freecom series.

So, it’s a useful upgrade going to the mesh network. For a group ride, it’s a big upgrade.

So, CarterKraft, do you think you have this figured out to work with FM radios? Ours are Baofeng UV-82 models, so they’re not Bluetooth enabled, anyway. But maybe one day I’d still be interested. One issue is the nature of FM radios. On the Cardos, when my wife is chatting, I can interrupt her to warn her of something. If someone is transmitting on FM, you can’t talk over them. Plus there’s the transmit delay—it takes maybe a half second before it transmits (at least on my Baofengs), so if someone tries to give you a single-word reply, you might miss it.
No I don't have this figured out well at all, its just theory and trying to select the parts that should/might work.
You are correct on the FM issue, lots of training on that end.

There devices to convert FM radios with K1 ports to bluetooth but I can't vouch for them.

This device would allow you to pair your non BT FM radio to your Cardo headset (I think) and allow you to use the wireless/wired PTT button to talk over the FM radio when needed. Again no guarantee of quality and I can't find a "good" version of this outside of the Sena SR10.


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Interested in this as well, currently using an off brand Bluetooth setup with my 2 sons. It's......ok. I do think a rugged radio set up would give more range, but at the time I checked it required handlebar mounted PTT buttons and wires ran everywhere. Didn't like that idea.
 
For my travels I used Sena BT to a 5W Uniden handheld UHF (plus remote antenna) or Yaesu FT5DR when riding with similarly equipped riders.
 
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