• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Need guidance on Comm system...

kingpaul

New member
In the process of buying a 2014 RT. What do you recommend for the comm system? I will use it for music, Nav 5, and talking with passenger/wife. I have an Arai open-face, and a Shoei Neotech flip-front. I probably won't need to communicate with other bikes.

BMW, Sena (10 or 20), or other?

Thanks.
 
My wife and I have the BMW Communicators on our Schuberth's and use them with our K1600 GTL. They work well for us.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think Sena is the best you can do at the moment. The SMH10s are pretty cheap too with the 20s coming out.
 
I have a Scala Q9X, it has 2 BT Channels plus has a music sharing feature that if you buy a second unit, they come in pre paired set, your Passenger can listen to the same bike audio that you have selected. Works great have never used any other brand but Scala. Just happen to be the first headset I tried starting with Q2, Q4 then Q9X and they all worked as advertised.
 
I have the Sena SMH10 and I am not at all satisfied with it. Coming from a wired J&M setup, the Sena's VOX is far inferior, voice quality is inferior, music quality is about the same but the crappy VOX triggers all the time from wind noise and so you never get to listen to music anyways.

Cannot recommend it.

YMMV.
 
I came from a wired chatterbox setup and Sena has performed very well. I can't speak to VOX, I have never found it useful on any setup. I make phone calls all the time on my Sena and no one even knows I am on the bike. Bike to bike very good. Directions from my gps are clear, and music works as expected. Battery life is good. On long trips my group typically opens a conference and leaves it on all day. Battery good for about 2 days.
 
Thank you everyone, for your comments! Will the BMW comm units work on any helmet, or do you have to get the Schubert?
 
I came from a wired chatterbox setup and Sena has performed very well. I can't speak to VOX, I have never found it useful on any setup. I make phone calls all the time on my Sena and no one even knows I am on the bike. Bike to bike very good. Directions from my gps are clear, and music works as expected. Battery life is good. On long trips my group typically opens a conference and leaves it on all day. Battery good for about 2 days.

That might work well for rider to rider. But IMO VOX is essential for rider-passenger intercom. I find it extremely annoying to have to hit the intercom button every time you want to say something to your passenger.
 
That might work well for rider to rider. But IMO VOX is essential for rider-passenger intercom. I find it extremely annoying to have to hit the intercom button every time you want to say something to your passenger.

Not sure how you had it set up, but the Sena works in full duplex just like a telephone conversation. There is no need to press an intercom button or to have "VOX" activate the mic for you. It's just on when you're connected to another one (be it your passenger or another rider). I haven't used the Sena with more than one other person, but it's been absolutely fantastic when I have. I use it daily for commuting to listen to music and answer phone calls. I can even send text messages by dictating to Siri with it.
 
I have the Sena SMH10 and I am not at all satisfied with it. Coming from a wired J&M setup, the Sena's VOX is far inferior, voice quality is inferior, music quality is about the same but the crappy VOX triggers all the time from wind noise and so you never get to listen to music anyways.

Cannot recommend it.

YMMV.


You can turn the VOX off. But, I agree, the VOX should work, and work well. Other than that, I have no complaints with my Sena SMH10.
 
Not sure how you had it set up, but the Sena works in full duplex just like a telephone conversation. There is no need to press an intercom button or to have "VOX" activate the mic for you. It's just on when you're connected to another one (be it your passenger or another rider). I haven't used the Sena with more than one other person, but it's been absolutely fantastic when I have. I use it daily for commuting to listen to music and answer phone calls. I can even send text messages by dictating to Siri with it.

You can only listen to music when the intercom is off. Therefore, you must activate the intercom every time when you want to talk and deactivate it when you want to return to music. That is what the VOX is supposed to do automatically. But it doesn't do it for us on the SMH-10. It triggers on wind noise all the time.
 
You can only listen to music when the intercom is off. Therefore, you must activate the intercom every time when you want to talk and deactivate it when you want to return to music. That is what the VOX is supposed to do automatically. But it doesn't do it for us on the SMH-10. It triggers on wind noise all the time.

The Sena VOX works fine with my Schuberth C3 (adhesive mount mike) and it was fine on my older C2, as long as I remembered to tuck the boom inside before closing the chin bar. When my wife is riding passenger, the VOX activates if she turns/shifts so as to catch the wind directly on the side of her helmet (don't remember brand). The VOX triggers on some predetermined noise volume level. It does not distinguish between wind and voice - I don't know how it could work otherwise. Maybe they could make the activation level adjustable. Or you could move the mike to a quieter position.
 
I have the smh10 in one set of helmets and the smh5-fm just installed in another set. I really like the 5 with the fm feature. Both are really easy to use, especially compared to the scala rider I had which was junk by comparison.
 
The Sena VOX works fine with my Schuberth C3 (adhesive mount mike) and it was fine on my older C2, as long as I remembered to tuck the boom inside before closing the chin bar. When my wife is riding passenger, the VOX activates if she turns/shifts so as to catch the wind directly on the side of her helmet (don't remember brand). The VOX triggers on some predetermined noise volume level. It does not distinguish between wind and voice - I don't know how it could work otherwise. Maybe they could make the activation level adjustable. Or you could move the mike to a quieter position.

I have tried moving the mic, closing vents on the helmet, etc, to no avail.

There are sophisticated algorithms to distinguish wind from speech. While that is apparently not easy, both Baehr and J&M have mastered it. I have many years of experience with both these systems. The VOX was adjustable at both of these systems and almost never triggered accidentally after being set up once.

The Sena VOX is far inferior, and its sensitivity isn't adjustable. Whether it's electronics or software I don't know I just know it is not even close in performance to the wired systems mentioned.
 
further info

Lot's of conversation on the SENA but how about the BMW Communicator? Good? or? I recently purchased one along with a new Shuberth C3 and so I haven't yet connected to anyone but expect a rider soon.
 
Back
Top