New SENA 30k

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Polokid69
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New SENA 30k

Post by Polokid69 » Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:52 am

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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DemonDuck » Tue Dec 06, 2016 12:15 pm

Interesting. I have been looking more and more into the chatterbox though. The newer units are comparable to the sena in size and price but it has a much better range and no limit on how many can connect as it uses radio channels.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by dufremle » Tue Dec 06, 2016 12:40 pm

I have no faith that it will work as advertised. Especially since they do no real world testing for motorcycles.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by JeffStrom » Tue Dec 06, 2016 12:45 pm

The Sena seems like it is similar to the Cardo from last year, but with some additional features. Both seem to be able to add in other brand devices.
http://cardosystems.com/portfolio-item/packtalk-2/

The Chatterbox unit looks good, I like the idea of just using a radio with no pairing. Does it just use PTT or does it have VOX?
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by fixxervi6 » Tue Dec 06, 2016 12:55 pm

I don't plan on ever giving Sena any more money.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by milesmiles » Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:21 pm

I've got the old Sena. What's wrong with the new? The old has been outstanding
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by Polokid69 » Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:27 pm

My only complaint with my 20S is poor fm radio reception
Current Bike:
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2007 Kawasaki ZZR600
2012 Kawasaki Ninja 250R
2002 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6
2000 Kawasaki Ninja EX250
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by fixxervi6 » Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:42 pm

Ya'll don't ride with other riders so you probably don't ever experience the issue.

As a group coms device (a big selling point of the product from their marketing material) it's a complete pile of shit.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by turismon » Tue Dec 06, 2016 3:43 pm

I think it worked pretty good overall considering on our Trip. Saying it's a pile of shit I don't agree with that statement. Sure it could be better, but it worked. I don't htink it's worth the money for the upgrade, but i'd be curious to see how well or clear the mesh works and if it's any better overall.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DarcShadow » Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:55 pm

He's still burned on the initial release and it not working when more than 4 people connected. After all the patches and fixes it worked pretty well on the trip, although still not as good as advertised and compared to other products on the market the price is pretty decent.

The mesh network thing the 30k is touting doesn't seem like it would work for our rides though. Being connected to everyone is nice but when you're all strung out in a line the mesh network won't do any good when you're relying on the middle people to connect the front and back people. Suppose maybe if one person dropped out the person in front and behind him might still be in range of each other but the connection would likely be rather poor.

Chatterbox is nice in that it has unlimited, but it is a true two-way radio. From the web page didn't appear that it even offers a VOX so you'd have to push a button to talk, and the transmission is analog so you'll get a good bit of static and they don't relay transmission so if the first person and the last person are beyond range they can't talk. Where as the sena the first and the last person don't have to be in range of each other so long as there are enough people between them all in range of each other.

No system is perfect.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by JTChiTown » Tue Dec 06, 2016 7:45 pm

Having a POS product is one thing. Having that product when you do absolutely 0 real world testing, and then wait a full year to make it work decent is completely unacceptable.

I've got 2 units, the 10 and the 20. I won't be giving them any more of my money either. I won't pay premium $$$ to do their testing for them.

Sounds like a ripe market for you engineering types. A technology advanced short wave helmet mounted radio that combined the chatterbox and the Sena would be killer.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by JeffStrom » Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:42 pm

The chatterbox X-2 uses a standard radio in the 460MHz range for intercom functions. It is similar to the FRS walkie talkies you can buy at most outdoor stores. If they really don't provide a VOX option then they are idiots. That's a deal breaker.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DemonDuck » Wed Dec 07, 2016 7:26 am

From what I understand they use PTT .... you can get a wireless PTT button to attach to your handlebar or whatever but its still PTT. I honestly don't mind the idea of PTT and in many ways I think it might be better. Nobody needs to listen to me sneeze or cough or anything like that. If I am not talking you shouldn't hear wind noise or bike noise from my mic. So in those ways PTT would be good. You just have to remember to hit the button lol.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DarcShadow » Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:10 am

I good mic and proper VOX setup you shouldn't hear wind noise. Sena's are always open, and with a little foam over the mics the wind noise is very minimal. Another advantage of Bluetooth coms, full duplex comms, FRS radios are only half duplex.

And I agree Sena has handled their product releases poorly. The 20s that everyone got originally were more in a beta test phase rather than a release phase.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by JeffStrom » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:28 am

The cool thing about this would be that you can go buy a walkie talkie for $30 and rig something up in your helmet using a cheap headset instead of spending 10 times that much. You won't get all the other Bluetooth phone/gps linkage and you'd have to have it on your person instead of hanging on your helmet but you would get higher transmit power, better reception, and it would be cheap. If you aren't worried about pushing the limits of certain regulations that will never be enforced on a moving target then you can get a much higher transmit power.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DarcShadow » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:48 am

Yeah, back in the early days of the club we played around with setups like this but never found anything that worked well without spending over $100 for good mics, radios, and remote PTT buttons. Despite Sena's initial flaws and not living up to the advertised capabilities, they are still the best radio setup we've used so far. They just need to do some more real world testing before putting the units out for sale.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DemonDuck » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:56 am

Another option that I might go back to is the Scala Rider. I never had any issues with mine back in the day and they always did what they said they would. Went to the Sena for the range and the club but the new Scala Rider seems to be as good if not better than the Sena.

http://cardosystems.com/portfolio-item/packtalk-2/


Note: My Sena 20s now turns itself off randomly when riding. I can turn it back on after and have to get things started again but its annoying. This is with a completely charged battery as well.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DarcShadow » Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:03 am

That pack talk sounds pretty good, although I'm skeptical on the claimed range. Anything beyond a mile seems pretty unlikely. Price is about that of the sena as well.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by fixxervi6 » Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:17 am

My scala appeared to be overall a better product but the speakers sucked. The new ones appear to be better.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DemonDuck » Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:42 am

I use earphones instead of the speakers provided... not sure if the Scala allows for that but if it does I am leaning that direction.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by JeffStrom » Sun Dec 11, 2016 1:55 pm

DemonDuck wrote:I use earphones instead of the speakers provided... not sure if the Scala allows for that but if it does I am leaning that direction.
Sarena and I use the Scala Rider Q3s and she uses normal ear buds. I would imagine the PalkTalk is the same.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by DemonDuck » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:48 pm

I think I still have my Q3 from back in the day and sadly I might have to change it out if the Sena keeps acting up.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by sanderr » Thu Oct 12, 2017 2:56 am

Adaptive mesh networking is definitely a big plus!

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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by shilka99 » Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:08 pm

I work for Cardo now. I scraped the SENA decal off my car but it was dug in deep!
If anyone is interested I can get some screaming good deals on refurb'd Packtalk units.

I've been using them a lot in side-by-side tests with the 30K and I can safely say the Packtalk is vastly better. Cardo actually just filed their 4th patent infringement lawsuit against sena. They tried to copy the meshwork technology that Cardo released 4 years ago but have so far failed miserably.
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Re: New SENA 30k

Post by dufremle » Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:42 am

If it actually works that would be cool. I'm just hesitant to dump another $300 into a system that works 'sometimes'. Either way, I'm going to wait until my current Sena dies before I buy anything else.

Does Cardo actually test the devices? Sena seems to have a problem with that.
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