Talk to me about Bluetooth headsets

[Cakey_]

Generally speaking I like to wear headphones when I'm riding to work but lately I've been thinking about upgrading to a Bluetooth headset.

Looking online it seems to be a minefield of different brands and prices and I'll be honest I have no clue what I'm looking at.

If you've got a headset you recommend can you let me know what you've got and why you recommend it.

Also what's the sound quality like on these units? Cardo seem to make one with JBL speakers, is this just branding of are they actually any good?
I wouldn't want to lose any sound quality over a mid range set of ear buds so if tye tradeoff was sound for practicality I probably wouldn't bother the upgrade.

[spareparts]

Cardo Packtalk Edge. Best there is.

[black-k1]

I've used Cardo systems (currently a PackTalk Bold) for many years and found them to be excellent. It's REALLY important to get the speaker positioning right as even a couple of mm out of alignment can make a big difference to the sound quality and volume.

[SteveKTMer]

I've just changed from Packtalk Bold to the Edge and it's very good. The Bold was perhaps marginally louder but the Edge is much better quality sound and the battery last longer than the Bold. In France last week Edge lasted from 8.30am-9am to about 6pm playing music almost all the time plus some navigation and still had battery left, the Bold would have been beeping low battery by 5pm.

[MDUBZ]

Unless you ride in groups and want to communicate with each other an integrated bluetooth headset isn't really an upgrade on volume and sound quality. They can be a bit more comfortable but they are never going to be as good as an in the ear bud imho.

Nb. Most in the ear buds only have ~20db noise reduction so they might not help prevent hearing damage from wind noise if that is a concern then ear plugs and a Bluetooth headset might be the way to go. I modified some bike specific ear plugs to work with some sony earbuds and a Bluetooth receiver off of amazon for less than £20.

[black-k1]

SteveKTMer said:

I've just changed from Packtalk Bold to the Edge and it's very good. The Bold was perhaps marginally louder but the Edge is much better quality sound and the battery last longer than the Bold. In France last week Edge lasted from 8.30am-9am to about 6pm playing music almost all the time plus some navigation and still had battery left, the Bold would have been beeping low battery by 5pm.

Oh, come on Steve! The only reason the battery lasted longer was because you didn't have the rest of us constantly taking the piss out of each other!

[boyse7en]

I've got a Sena system in my Shoei - not sure of the exact spec as it is integrated into the helmet but it is similar to the S20.
I use it in conjunction with silicon earplugs (Oxford branded ones) and you can listen to the radio/music at speeds up to around 70/80mph. Above that it becomes a bit harder to understand when people are talking.
The voice control is a good idea, but doesn't work very well once you are above walking pace. End up shouting "HELLO SENA!!!" in a fruitless attempt to wake it up. Easier to use the button controls.

[SteveKTMer]

black-k1 said:

SteveKTMer said:

I've just changed from Packtalk Bold to the Edge and it's very good. The Bold was perhaps marginally louder but the Edge is much better quality sound and the battery last longer than the Bold. In France last week Edge lasted from 8.30am-9am to about 6pm playing music almost all the time plus some navigation and still had battery left, the Bold would have been beeping low battery by 5pm.

Oh, come on Steve! The only reason the battery lasted longer was because you didn't have the rest of us constantly taking the piss out of each other!

Well, yep, that's a possibility . On my own I turn the intercom function off and usually at the end of the day it's still reporting 50% battery, as the Edge tells you battery status when you turn it off.

[black-k1]

boyse7en said:

I've got a Sena system in my Shoei - not sure of the exact spec as it is integrated into the helmet but it is similar to the S20.
I use it in conjunction with silicon earplugs (Oxford branded ones) and you can listen to the radio/music at speeds up to around 70/80mph. Above that it becomes a bit harder to understand when people are talking.
The voice control is a good idea, but doesn't work very well once you are above walking pace. End up shouting "HELLO SENA!!!" in a fruitless attempt to wake it up. Easier to use the button controls.

I find the Cardo has a different issue. It interprets pretty much anything - singing to music, comment to self on road directions, cough, sneeze whatever - as the instruction to turn the radio on and then doesn't seem to understand the "Hey Cardo, radio off ... Hey Cardo, radio off ... HEY CARDO, RADIO OFF ... TURN THE F**KING RADIO OFF" instruction!!

[CallorFold]

Intercoms are great, if you want an intercom. they wont be a sound upgrade though over earphones.

I guess the best thing you could have if you just want to listen to music is some wireless earphones with active noise cancelling.

[SteveKTMer]

black-k1 said:

I find the Cardo has a different issue. It interprets pretty much anything - singing to music, comment to self on road directions, cough, sneeze whatever - as the instruction to turn the radio on and then doesn't seem to understand the "Hey Cardo, radio off ... Hey Cardo, radio off ... HEY CARDO, RADIO OFF ... TURN THE F**KING RADIO OFF" instruction!!

The Edge has the same problem with the radio coming on sometimes, not quite as often, but it does recognise the radio off command, The only voice issue I've had was in India and France, when a I turn off music with voice, then try to turn it back on again, hey cardo music on, it kept thinking I was saying music off and on a couple of occasions I had to stop and restart the music on the phone.

So basically I don't think Cardo have made any major improvement to the Edge over the bold with the exception of battery life.