Sena Universal Pairing Worked Well

[BMW Triumphant]

A fellow blogger moved from Montreal to Toronto recently, so I am enjoying showing him my favourite riding roads. He has a Sena with the Universal Pairing feature, while I have a Cardo G9.

A bit of research showed the Sena would pair with G9 as if it were a cell phone. That would knock out my in-helmet music as I needed to use the G9 channel normally used for pairing with the RT's Audio System.

Pairing went very quickly. After I tapped the "mobile" button on the G9, full duplex comms were established. We did an experiment at the kitchen table where we turned off both units, then turned them on again. They reconnected then and later that day without any further button pressing.

I was amazed.

The Sena folks deserve lots of congratulations for their engineering and inclusive marketing philosophy. I hope other communicator manufacturers follow their lead.

My blog has some additional details.

 

[alancoles]

Ed, it is my understanding that Cardo, and others are now responding and either already have or will be shortly introducing new models that will do Universal Pairing.

Sena has definitely been at the forefront of this move and has been leading the charge without shooting themselves in the foot, which is always nice to see.

As an aside, to get an idea of how far ahead they are, at the MOA Rally this year Schuberth told me that their new C4 helmet will not use the Cardo system as it currently does but will switch to Sena. They'll use what is basically the Sena 10U but Schuberth wouldn't say if there were any updates/advancements to the 10U functionality. Sounds like a very interesting development and one would suspect that BMW will follow suit with their helmet/comm setup or abandon the Schuberth SRC route. What I'm hoping is that this would lead an integration into the bike itself and perhaps even with the wonder-wheel.

 

[Lee200]

The Cardo PackTalk, which has been out for about a year, can bluetooth intercom connect to a non Scala unit. I've never tested it, but presumably a Sena would pair OK.

 

[patm]

Yes, the Pactalk can pair with other brands, similar to what the Sena does.
On our guys trip to the Great Smokies last spring, one had a Pactalk, one had a Sena and all others had G9xes.
It worked but the Pactalk seemed to create havoc with some of the Scalas.

 

[BMW Triumphant]

Ed, it is my understanding that Cardo, and others are now responding and either already have or will be shortly introducing new models that will do Universal Pairing.

Sena has definitely been at the forefront of this move and has been leading the charge without shooting themselves in the foot, which is always nice to see.

As an aside, to get an idea of how far ahead they are, at the MOA Rally this year Schuberth told me that their new C4 helmet will not use the Cardo system as it currently does but will switch to Sena. They'll use what is basically the Sena 10U but Schuberth wouldn't say if there were any updates/advancements to the 10U functionality. Sounds like a very interesting development and one would suspect that BMW will follow suit with their helmet/comm setup or abandon the Schuberth SRC route. What I'm hoping is that this would lead an integration into the bike itself and perhaps even with the wonder-wheel.

Thanks for that interesting post. It does reinforce my belief the communicator firms, and also BMW need to develop an industry standard. When BMW specified certain enhancements for the SRC system, such as use of the wonderwheel for volume control, and the ability to pair a second helmet to the bike only if it was the SRC system, they created for themselves a need to have any new supplier, such as Sena, be compatible, I would think. That is interesting for going forward, isn't it?

My G9 is circa 2012. Going through the manual in preparation for the Sena experiment, I decoded there were 2 separate Bluetooth channels and 2 separate Intercom (also Bluetooth) channels.

Further, to pair a GPS (don't know why a GPS is so special) once you are in normal pairing mode, you are to press the "+" button and get a slower flashing indication before setting the GPS to scan and thus pair. This apparently came about with the release of the G9x. Cardo told me they did not update the G9 quick start sheet, and using this hint I got the Nav V to pair nicely.

So, the Sena universal pairing consumes Channel 1, knocking out the BMW Audio which normally used that channel.

Channel 2 pairs with the Nav V GPS and the GPS with my Smartphone.

What I need is Channel 3 to get back my BMW Audio System...

I figure true universality will require 3 to 6 Channels to allow direct connection for the devices we already have and want to connect up, plus some extra Intercom channels. That is a lot of channels, increased power consumption, etc.

There may be a better system than that, and that's why an industry standard is badly needed.

Early days, but as an old guy, I'm in a hurry.

 

[alancoles]

...to pair a GPS (don't know why a GPS is so special)...

I believe what is "special" for the GPS is that the communications systems are designed to give priority to GPS instructions so that they will cut-in and over-ride any other inputs. If the GPS isn't the primary channel and doesn't have control over all others than you could get into difficulty with missed directions/warnings/etc.

...What I need is Channel 3 to get back my BMW Audio System...

I figure true universality will require 3 to 6 Channels to allow direct connection for the devices we already have and want to connect up, plus some extra Intercom channels. That is a lot of channels, increased power consumption, etc...

You might try calling Sena's Customer Service or Sales departments and asking if the 20S will handle that and also Cardo for their Packtalk unit which is another advancement. These are their most advanced units and the most advanced in existence.

...There may be a better system than that, and that's why an industry standard is badly needed.

Early days, but as an old guy, I'm in a hurry.

It isn't early days for motorcycle bluetooth communications (a decade or so old now) but it is for it getting standardized.

What really brought the technology into usable stable products was the Cardo and Sena offerings of about 6 years ago. I got my Sena SMH10 almost 4 years ago. What helped was a myriad of things but mostly improvements in Bluetooth going to v2.1 in 2007 and then v3.0 on 2009. Shortly after that Sena, who was a leader in industrial bluetooth products from the inception of Bluetooth, developed and introduced the SMH10 and entered into the motorcycle market to compete with Cardo. The SMH10 has remained relevant because Sena made it easily firmware updatable.

The advances in Bluetooth with v2.1 and v3.0 were significant in the areas of speed, connectivity and reduced power consumption, and resulted in the SMH10 being the first bluetooth motorcycle communication system that had very stable connections, clear audio and good battery life. All of these things have just gotten better with Bluetooth v4.x for all systems.

As you say, we're still in the early days for good universal connectivity, but when Sena opened that door about 2 years ago, Cardo joined the fray and we've got pretty good competition now, especially from the Sena 20S and later on the Cardo Packtalk. Can't wait to see the next advancement from Sena to respond to the this and then Cardo's next response, etc., etc.

Hopefully, as these things progress and become more standardized (crossing my fingers) we'll be able to retain full or close to full functionality while enjoying universal intercom connections, only time will tell. My Sena SMH10 is working fine for me but I did give some thought to moving to the 10S (it uses the same mounts so my 3 helmets don't need any changes) or the 20S (new mount better connections), but when Cardo came out with the Packtalk I thought I'd wait to see what Sena's next offering will be and hopefully, it will be another step forward into the new frontier and beyond. ;-)

 

[Lee200]

Ed,

After rereading your post and your blog, it was interesting to see that you were pairing your G9 to the Sena on Channel 1. So you actually were using one of the two Bluetooth channels that are normally used for GPS, mobile phones, and music players. Apparently, that is the way your friend's Sena preferred.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Cardo PackTalk also has universal intercom pairing, but it uses Channel B which is one of the two Bluetooth intercom channels. I assume that would still allow use of its Channel 1 and Channel 2 for connection to your GPS and BMW audio.

Cardo also makes a less expensive SmartPack headset which I believe will do the same.

BTW, I've found with the PackTalk that is makes no difference if I pair my Zumo 660 as a GPS or as a Mobile Phone device. The Zumo's nav voice guidance (and connected phone) always has first priority and the intercom is second. The PackTalk also allows simultaneous listening to the intercom and a music player (including the Zumo 660's music player)

I agree with Alan that competition is a wonderful thing and typically results in better and cheaper products for the consumer.

Lee