Intercom..worth it?
Discussion
I'm only interested in the opinions of people who have Intercom/music audio and not those who have never used one.
I come from the latter group, 20+ years of no intercom, no music just riding the bike with the noise of my surroundings (and exhaust).
I've needed to buy a new helmet for some time now and it came between the HJC Rpha71 or the Shoei GT Air 3. I've had 2 Shoeis previously and they fit well. The price was the stumbling block given the sale prices on the HJC. In the end I've gone with the Shoei and during the conversation with the sales team, they've offered me the Sena SRL03 system which integrates. The deal seemed good so I've ended up blowing the budget! Its on order as they didn't have the helmet in stock.
I'm probably buying this for music predominantly, I ride solo a lot! Its cost me £200 for the intercom so I'm hoping it's decent.
For those who use them predominantly for music, are they a distraction, a game changer or just not that great given the noise inside a helmet and ear positioning? I've tried buds previously but I can't get the helmet on and get them to stay in.
I come from the latter group, 20+ years of no intercom, no music just riding the bike with the noise of my surroundings (and exhaust).
I've needed to buy a new helmet for some time now and it came between the HJC Rpha71 or the Shoei GT Air 3. I've had 2 Shoeis previously and they fit well. The price was the stumbling block given the sale prices on the HJC. In the end I've gone with the Shoei and during the conversation with the sales team, they've offered me the Sena SRL03 system which integrates. The deal seemed good so I've ended up blowing the budget! Its on order as they didn't have the helmet in stock.
I'm probably buying this for music predominantly, I ride solo a lot! Its cost me £200 for the intercom so I'm hoping it's decent.
For those who use them predominantly for music, are they a distraction, a game changer or just not that great given the noise inside a helmet and ear positioning? I've tried buds previously but I can't get the helmet on and get them to stay in.
Started listening to music on my Sena 20S when I commuted every day. I know some people can't/won't and say it's distracting. But then I had a friend who wouldn't put the radio/music on in the car.
Everybody's brain works differently. If you get distracted easily and ride into a horses bum whilst singing along to Kylie then it's probably a bad idea!
Theae days it varies as I have a bike that sounds nice and mostly ride for fun. When I ride with others it's open comms and no music.
Everybody's brain works differently. If you get distracted easily and ride into a horses bum whilst singing along to Kylie then it's probably a bad idea!
Theae days it varies as I have a bike that sounds nice and mostly ride for fun. When I ride with others it's open comms and no music.
Used Cardo for many years, and radio or music for long commutes and motorway was boredom lifesaver.
Group rides with friends and family are also great with intercoms, once everyone gets used to them.
Never ever got on properly with speakers though, always seem in the wrong place for my ears, so have used moulded ear plugs pretty much the whole time.
They make a massive difference, and also means you dont need the volume up loud to compensate for wind noise etc.
Group rides with friends and family are also great with intercoms, once everyone gets used to them.
Never ever got on properly with speakers though, always seem in the wrong place for my ears, so have used moulded ear plugs pretty much the whole time.
They make a massive difference, and also means you dont need the volume up loud to compensate for wind noise etc.
I use fodsports fx7 with decibullz moulded foam earbuds.
I would never go without again. I get to ride for work a decent amount and its invaluable. Sat nav directions, centreforce on long rides, clear phonecalls at any speed, talking to my pillion. Dont do much group riding but on the 2 occasion i have used multi rider mode its great being able to chat, it adds another dimension to everything and takes nothing away.
I also got a handlebar mounted bluetooth remote for my phone at the clutch side, good for adjusting volume, triggering voice recognition,skipping tracks etc.
I would never go without again. I get to ride for work a decent amount and its invaluable. Sat nav directions, centreforce on long rides, clear phonecalls at any speed, talking to my pillion. Dont do much group riding but on the 2 occasion i have used multi rider mode its great being able to chat, it adds another dimension to everything and takes nothing away.
I also got a handlebar mounted bluetooth remote for my phone at the clutch side, good for adjusting volume, triggering voice recognition,skipping tracks etc.
SAS Tom said:
I had one for years when I was riding every day. Loved it, no distraction at all and worked well. It was good for talking to my girlfriend on the back too.
I had a sena and prior to that I had an Autocom that was wired to the bike if anyone remembers those!
I used Autocom for years, swapped it from bike to bike as I sold and bought.I had a sena and prior to that I had an Autocom that was wired to the bike if anyone remembers those!
Couldn't fault it beyond the limitations of it being hard-wired to bike and rider.
Having said that, it became second nature to plug in and disconnect when getting on and off the bike very quickly.
My only issue was phone conversations; I can't focus on riding while also dealing with a disembodied voice inside my head; if it had only been one ear it would have been fine.
The Mrs and I both ride and we've got the cheap Freedconn Tmax intercoms. We only bought them last year for a touring holiday to Pembrokeshire and they are an absolute game changer. Pointing out hazards, discussing overtakes, 'can we find somewhere to stop I need a wee', noting pretty landmarks or interesting sights, and taking the piss out of each other for stalling at lights/leaving indicators on etc was just brilliant. We use them on every ride now.
I have a sena fitted to an arai , supposedly designed to fit, it's fairly discrete, but sound quality is just about ok at legal speed and it quickly gets hard to hear above. Build quality of the sena is bad, flimsy plastic, and customer service from sena likewise ( tough titties you'll need to buy a replacement at full cost bad). As i only use for music and nav, i've gone back to earbuds piecing together my own low profile version. Far better sound quality and I could have made 10 for the price of the sena.
The switch cover came off while riding, the wind must have snapped it off (~4000 miles of dry weather use) If I went down the intercom route again, it wouldn't be of a type that is fixed to one lid ( although that adds bulk), I'd want to be able to transfer it between them, and it wouldn't be a Sena.
The switch cover came off while riding, the wind must have snapped it off (~4000 miles of dry weather use) If I went down the intercom route again, it wouldn't be of a type that is fixed to one lid ( although that adds bulk), I'd want to be able to transfer it between them, and it wouldn't be a Sena.
Edited by MDUBZ on Saturday 22 March 07:28
Rubin215 said:
I used Autocom for years, swapped it from bike to bike as I sold and bought.
Couldn't fault it beyond the limitations of it being hard-wired to bike and rider.
Having said that, it became second nature to plug in and disconnect when getting on and off the bike very quickly.
My only issue was phone conversations; I can't focus on riding while also dealing with a disembodied voice inside my head; if it had only been one ear it would have been fine.
I had Autocom and Starcom in the days before reliable Bluetooth. When they worked the sound quality was far superior to even what we have now - but they could not be relied upon to do so. The headsets and their connections were very flimsy and frequently came unplugging or failed altogether. Couldn't fault it beyond the limitations of it being hard-wired to bike and rider.
Having said that, it became second nature to plug in and disconnect when getting on and off the bike very quickly.
My only issue was phone conversations; I can't focus on riding while also dealing with a disembodied voice inside my head; if it had only been one ear it would have been fine.
The reliability of cheap Interphone headsets was a game changer.
Edited by Marquezs Stabilisers on Saturday 22 March 20:14
I have a Shark branded intercom that I bought 10 years ago for a touring holiday. Fits n works great in my Shark EVO GT helmet. However the sound quality from the helmet speakers is not so good for music, the boom mic is not detachable and you still need to wear earplugs. I decided I dont like the distraction of calls coming in when on the bike and dont need intercom. I really just need nav/music on longer trips.
So I bought some Plugphones "Liberate", which are a combined noise reducing earplug and bluetooth earphones. They do have a noise cancelling mic on the cable but ive never used it. They Work great for reducing noise and being in the ear (rather than helmet mounted ear speaker) they sound much more like regular BT earphones. I also use them when flying.
if you dont need a bike to bike intercom function then the Plugphones are a great option for about £80 on amazon
So I bought some Plugphones "Liberate", which are a combined noise reducing earplug and bluetooth earphones. They do have a noise cancelling mic on the cable but ive never used it. They Work great for reducing noise and being in the ear (rather than helmet mounted ear speaker) they sound much more like regular BT earphones. I also use them when flying.
if you dont need a bike to bike intercom function then the Plugphones are a great option for about £80 on amazon
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