Anyone out there have the Sena SMH10?

[Wingspan]

My Sena SMH10's arrived today. Not much to report yet, but the mounts seem solid and the two units paired easily to each other and my iphone. First ride will be tomorrow, but they seem quite loud.

I've read that these untils and the Scala Q4 are on the large side. Whomever thinks that must have never used one of the non-bluetooth Chatterboxes. These are half the size of my Chatterbox.

[Wingspan]

Did some saddle time with the Sena today. I was solo, so no intercom reports just yet. However, I did listen to music over Bluetooth with my iphone. I ride a V-Strom with a very small screen, so I have a lot of wind noise and wear foam earplugs. I also can't stand having things touch my ears in the helmet, so the speakers are as far into the helmet pockets as I could get them. I'd guess I have ~1/4 of gap between the speakers and my ears. I had no trouble listening to music on the highway. Took it up to about 95mph (indicated) and could still hear everything.

[levain]

Originally Posted by Wingspan

Did some saddle time with the Sena today. I was solo, so no intercom reports just yet. However, I did listen to music over Bluetooth with my iphone. I ride a V-Strom with a very small screen, so I have a lot of wind noise and wear foam earplugs. I also can't stand having things touch my ears in the helmet, so the speakers are as far into the helmet pockets as I could get them. I'd guess I have ~1/4 of gap between the speakers and my ears. I had no trouble listening to music on the highway. Took it up to about 95mph (indicated) and could still hear everything.

how's sound quality at that speed? Does your iphone automatically connect without you doing anything? My friend has a chatterbox. He has to go into settings at start up everytime he uses it and tell the phone to connect. pita!
Any comments appreciated asap, I want to place order today!

[Wingspan]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

how's sound quality at that speed? Does your iphone automatically connect without you doing anything? My friend has a chatterbox. He has to go into settings at start up everytime he uses it and tell the phone to connect. pita!
Any comments appreciated asap, I want to place order today!

Sound quality isn't ear-bud good, but better than my old FRS Chatterbox.

Other than the initial pairing which worked on the first try, I haven't had to touch my iphone to do anything. I don't even take it out of my pocket when gearing up. Just turn on the Sena, press the Sena's jog button (aka volume wheel) for a second, and the music starts playing. It works perfect. Unfortunately, I can't scroll through or skip songs I don't want to listen to, but that's a limitation of my iphone 3G (not 3Gs) and not the Sena. It appears I'll need to purchase an RF remote if I want to scroll or skip songs. I knew this going in though.

I don't advocate using the phone while riding, but my father did call me today while in the road. I was riding ~55mph when he called. I heard him with total clarity. He said there was some wind noise on his end but he could hear me clearly and had no trouble conversing. As I said before, my V-Strom is a VERY noisy bike with the short screen and so I was pleased with this.

I haven't tried the intercom on the bike yet but the wife and I can speak normally to each other from anywhere in the house. Hopefully I can get her on the bike soon for a real try.

So far, so good IMO.

[levain]

Originally Posted by Wingspan

Sound quality isn't ear-bud good, but better than my old FRS Chatterbox.

Other than the initial pairing which worked on the first try, I haven't had to touch my iphone to do anything. I don't even take it out of my pocket when gearing up. Just turn on the Sena, press the Sena's jog button (aka volume wheel) for a second, and the music starts playing. It works perfect. Unfortunately, I can't scroll through or skip songs I don't want to listen to, but that's a limitation of my iphone 3G (not 3Gs) and not the Sena. It appears I'll need to purchase an RF remote if I want to scroll or skip songs. I knew this going in though.

I don't advocate using the phone while riding, but my father did call me today while in the road. I was riding ~55mph when he called. I heard him with total clarity. He said there was some wind noise on his end but he could hear me clearly and had no trouble conversing. As I said before, my V-Strom is a VERY noisy bike with the short screen and so I was pleased with this.

I haven't tried the intercom on the bike yet but the wife and I can speak normally to each other from anywhere in the house. Hopefully I can get her on the bike soon for a real try.

So far, so good IMO.

Have you paired it to a gps as well? Curious how it would be with my zumo thrown into the mix.

[Wingspan]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Have you paired it to a gps as well? Curious how it would be with my zumo thrown into the mix.

I have not. I'm still rockin' an old Garmin 2610, no bluetooth.

[Wingspan]

The wife and I spent a few hours on the bike today using the Sena's for the first time. I'm very pleased. We were both able hear each other clearly using normal speaking voices, even on the interstate. The controls were easy for her to use, one of the main reasons I chose the Sena over other units. I did get some wind noise from her mic on the highway, but I found that turning the volume down just a click or two removed it almost completely and I was still able to hear her speak normally.

Bike to bike test could come as early as this weekend. If the wife doesn't come to the Moonshine Lunch Run with me this weekend, I'll move her headset over to my father's helmet for the day.

[endurorazor]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Have you paired it to a gps as well? Curious how it would be with my zumo thrown into the mix.

I had no problem pairing it with my Zumo 660. I tested it using a cell phone paired to the Zumo and the Zumo paired to the Sena. I don't plan on using the phone while riding however I was curious and it worked fine through the Zumo. The only problem I had with the Zumo was while listening to its music, the connection was occasionally unreliable. Bluetooth Zumo mp3 music would occasionally drop out or lock up which I attribute solely to the Zumo and not the Sena. A restart of the Zumo cured the problem each time.

I have about 200 miles of use on the Sena and it does everything I expected of it with a shorter learning curve compared to other units I've tried. I did attempt a helmet to helmet range check and I'd peg it about a quarter mile.

[WZ4I]

Several of us recently purchased the Sena headsets, and have had several opportunities to use them in different environments.

Installation. The mounting bracket is plenty strong, and mounting took less than 5 minutes. Speakers and all.

Range Headset to Headset. Our range of course varied due to the terrain. On flat open highway (Interstate) we had no problems staying connected in ranges exceeding a quarter mile, but not quite one half mile. On hilly terrain our range was between an eighth and a quarter mile. For example, on the Blue Ridge Parkway I had no problems staying connected to the rider in the rear of the pack, even if he was not in-site over one eighth mile behind me.

Clarity. This varied from rider to rider. Some helmets are quieter than others. I’m using a HJC IS MAX modular and had no problems at speeds near 75 MPH. One of the guys was using a Vega Summit II helmet, and said he was having some noise problems at that speed. The sound quality is excellent with every device that I have connected. The microphone seemed to work best in my helmet, if the element was mid-point in the chin guard, and slightly left of center. And you’ve got to speak in a normal tone of voice. The mic can easily be overdriven. Although I’m not an advocate of using a cell phone while on a bike, I did try it, and had no problems communicating at 75 MPH. The person on the other end did say they could hear some wind noise, but had no problem understanding everything I was saying.

Pairing. I have an old Motorola RAZR cell phone, and a Sony Bluetooth adapter connected to my GPS, paired to my headset. No problems at all. Pairing other Sena headsets to mine was also easy. I do wish that different manufactures could pair, but from what I’ve read, at this time they can’t. Maybe the next generation of software this will be addressed.

Usage. Two buttons. I can easily operate the headset, even with winter gloves on. The Jog Dial is the control that you will mostly be using. It controls the audio level, headset to headset connection, as well as the Bluetooth adapter that’s connected to my GPS.

Battery life. Sena says 12 hrs. I’ve had mine in use for over 9 hours, and the battery was still good.

Overall, I give them a 8.5 out of 10. In the past I tired the wired FRS stuff. It works, but I not care for all the wires. These are keepers in my book.

[levain]

Ok, mine arrived today. RadioRider, you really need to get with the program. I sent you an email fri. you responded today. I placed an order with the ebay dude sunday and it arrived today... That's coast to coast.

Anyway, very nice unit!
I have no experience with bt units so bare with me. It paired with my zumo right off. Everything worked as normal only no wires and mono music. I knew that part...

I paired my iPhone that is also paired to my zumo. Always has been. I could get music in stereo from the iphone, but, the zumo wouldn't stay connected.

What Ireally want is to pair both. Have bt stereo music from iPhone and keep all functionality from the zumo. mono music and all. I assumed it would do that, but maybe it won't?

[levain]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Ok, mine arrived today. RadioRider, you really need to get with the program. I sent you an email fri. you responded today. I placed an order with the ebay dude sunday and it arrived today... That's coast to coast.

Anyway, very nice unit!
I have no experience with bt units so bare with me. It paired with my zumo right off. Everything worked as normal only no wires and mono music. I knew that part...

I paired my iPhone that is also paired to my zumo. Always has been. I could get music in stereo from the iphone, but, the zumo wouldn't stay connected.

What Ireally want is to pair both. Have bt stereo music from iPhone and keep all functionality from the zumo. mono music and all. I assumed it would do that, but maybe it won't?

Got a reply from Sena on this issue. Anyone know a work around? Sounds like a bt adaptor won't get me anywhere? I guess that would give me stereo from zumo then wired iPhone music...

Dear Jim,

Thank you for using Sena product, SMH10

As you may already know, there are two different way of Bluetooth
connection, one is Handsfree Profile (or Headset Profile) which is for
mobile phone, and the other is A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution
Profile) which is for Bluetooth Stereo Music profile. The rule of thumb
is that only one Bluetooth connection for each profile. So you cannot
connect two mobile phones or two Stereo Music devices at the same time.
One mobile phone and one MP3 device is OK, because phone is using
Handsfree, MP3 device is using A2DP.

Zumo 550 uses only Handsfree (more technically it uses Headset Profile),
not Bluetooth Stereo Music Profile. But iPhone uses two profiles at the
same time, Headset Profile and Bluetooth Profile. So, technically with
the SMH10, you can use Zumo 550 for Handsfree (including navigation
also), and iPhone only for Stereo Music. However, iPhone does not allow
you to choose the Stereo Music profile only. So you have to replace the
iPhone/Sena SMH10 Handsfree connection to the iPhone/Zumo connection
(Handsfree) and Zumo/Sena SMH10 connection (Handsfree) remaining only
iPhone/Sena SMH10 Stereo Music connection.

What you have to do is,

1. Pair iPhone to Zumo (Only Handsfree profile will be established.)
2. Pair Zumo to Sena SMH10 (Only Handsfree profile will be established)
3. Pair iPhone to Sena SMH10 (Automatically Handsfree + Stereo Music
profile will be established), then you will lose Zumo/Sena connection as
you said. And you will also lose Zumo iPhone connection. (Because iPhone
uses two profiles at the same time only for the Sena SMH10)

4. On the Zumo user screen, "Connect Phone", select your iPhone , and
5. On the Zumo user screen, "Connect Headset", select the Sena SMH10

Then eventually the iPhone/Sena SMH Handsfree connection would be
replaced to iPhone/Zumo & Zumo /Sena connection but still the
iPhone/Sena Stereo Music connection is maintained.

However, in real world, we may have some Bluetooth reliability problem
so, while doing this, the Bluetooth connection between Zumo and iPhone
or Zumo and SENA could drop sometimes. The best way is to use separate
Bluetooth mobile phone and Bluetooth MP3 so that you can have secure
Bluetooth connections: Zumo/mobile phone by Handsfree, Zumo/Sena SMH10
by Handsfree, Bluetooth MP3/Sena SMH10 by A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo Music).

You can also use 3.5mm audio cable for iPhone/Sena SMH10 for the music,
but in this case you can Play/Pause at the iPhone only. Also for this, I
recommend to delete pairing history of iPhone/Sena SMH10. Because the
iPhone could possibly try to send audio stream through iPhone/Sena SMH10
Bluetooth Stereo Connection if it is already established. So, if you
already paired the iPhone to the Sena SMH10, please do the factory reset
of the SMH10 (refer to the page 16 of the SMH10 manual) to delete the
pairing history to the iPhone, also please delete SENA SMH10 on iPhone
Setting/General/Bluetooth/Devices.

Thanks

HJ Jeon

Sena Technologies

Customer Support Enginee

[Camcow]

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcyc...h10-part-2.htm

2nd part of webbikeworld's review...

[levain]

Anybody using this with a Zumo and iPhone?
Everything works through zumo, except phone. Funny part is it pairs no problem. It shows the phone on the zumo. If you try to dial a #, it doesn't dial. Can't receive a call either. Might have something to do with what the tech was talking about above. This is without pairing iPhone to Sena.
Navigation works great. Music works except it's mono (expected).
Pairing is iPhone->zumo
Zumo->Sena

If pairing only to iPhone, everything works great. It's definitely a function of the iPhone/zumo not the sena.

[Poweranger]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Ok, mine arrived today. RadioRider, you really need to get with the program. I sent you an email fri. you responded today.

They really need to get with the program. I ordered one from RadioRider last Thursday 4-8 at 10pm. On Sunday night 4-11 almost exactly 72 hours after I ordered I get an email confirmation saying it has been mailed via USPS priority mail. Then today 4-13 I receive an email stating they actually do not have the unit in stock and expect a shipment of them in on 4-14 and it will be sent within 24hrs. I guess only time will tell how this turns out....

[kevin2735]

Got a set last week and so far so good. I really like the large jog dial on the side, it makes it easy to adjust volume. The sound is better than expected, certainly loud enough to overcome wind noise and ear plugs. The overall build quality of the unit is good, it feels sturdy and seems like it could handle some abuse. The only issue I noted is that if you use the bracket to mount the cradle to the helmet, and the helmet has an upward curve to it, the mount will bend a bit. This will cause the main unit to not snap into the cradle securely. If you are not careful, it will appear as though it is secured when in fact it is not. You would not want it flying off your helmet while riding. For me, I just have to make sure it is absolutely snapped into place, I do this by puling on it gently after inserting it to the cradle. I will be testing the intercom aspect of today.