In-Helmet Communication Systems for groups

I just installed a Sena 20s in one of my adv helmets. A friend is doing the same. We have not used them, yet. I have blue toothed it to my phone and the sound quality is pretty good. All the research I did indicated it is one of the better systems. They have different models with different abilities.

OK. I have about 7 years experience with helmet comm systems. I highly recommend Scala Cardo systems. The Sena units are OK for 2 people but if you do a search you will find both the 20s and 30s models have connection problems when going past 2 people. Scratchy noise as well. For the last few years I have been riding in groups of 4 using the Bluetooth connection feature (scala and sena both use Bluetooth connection). Range is great but connecting can be a pain. It iis like when your phone won't Bluetooth connect automatically to your car one day even though it has for the past week. Reset. Reconnnect. Ugh.

The cardo PackTalk uses a mesh network technology. It supports up to 15 riders in full duplex, all talking listening at same time. We upgraded last year to the packtalks. We are so very happy we did. It works flawlessly. Can even listen to your music at the same time as the intercomm. No connect or reconnect problems. No buttons to press to connect to a rider or group. Just turn it on and it works. Period. Plus you can string out to about 3 or 4 miles in the group and still talk. Awesome. In our riding when new riders join we tell them the headset is the #1 safety gear to get after armor/clothes. Before anything else. Because as we are off road riding we are constantly telling each other where dangers are, that someone dropped the bike and we need to wait, etc.

By the way, just so everyone doesn't think I am a Sena hater.... I use the Sena Prism Tube cameras exclusively for all my riding videos. Best camera system for a helmet out there. Hands down.

Disclaimer- I am sponsored by Sena cameras (not their comms).

For my gear I shop and test all brands and then decide on which one to stick with.

I have been toying with the idea of picking up a communicator for when I am riding with the lady so I can educate her on line choice, gear selection etc etc in real time. Those of you who do use communicators, do you see that as being a good fit for a communicator.

Most definitely. When my wife was a novice rider we used the comm systems just for that. I did the same with other new riders and my son when he was learning. On the street and off. We use them all the time on the trails in our group rides to tell everyone when there is a danger, someone has fallen, etc.

Could you not plug in apple headphones into a walkie talkie?? These systems are expensive

I bought the PackTalk bold along with 3 others for a 10day single track trip from Colorado to Utah. We had no idea what to expect.
It was Absolutely Amazing. Whats really cool is the voice commands. Its all hands free if you want. Clarity is amazing too. I'm sold! Since then I have bought another for mother helmet.

I ran a Sena 10s when i was riding on the street and would use it to talk to people i was riding with on occasion. Speakers are a little lacking if you have a noisy helmet at high speeds, other than that it works great.

Now it just gets used when i trail ride to play music.

Fast forward to 2022, how well do these systems work in heavily wooded trails? Is range affected?

I have a couple buddies that “pre-run” the woods races up in the East Coast all on PackTalk Edges, they all have had zero issues but the fast guy up front always disconnects after reaching a mile and a half lead on them. If anyone’s on this thread and looking to get them at a discounted rate lmk! Got a good connection with Cardo 🤘🏽

This is frustrating to read. Have a buddy that I have done a couple of BDR’s with, and we grew the group by one, and added the Cardo system.

We were in northern Nevada, and wanted to stay out of each other’s dust, so we would wait 1 minute in between riders. If we lost “line of site”, comm could be gone within 300 yards.

We were FLOORED with how poorly they performed, and pulled them off the helmets.

When we were all corralled at the same intersection, communication was great. Out on the trail we found no benefit, other than being constantly told “You have left the group”.

Just finished a group ride through Colorado & Wyoming with 13 riders including myself, all running Cardo Packtalk "Bolds" & "Edges", all linked up without issue... As you can imagine, 13 riders stretched out to avoid the dust is a long line of riders and honestly we had zero's issues... Trick we found was let one guy do all the linking and button pushing to mesh them all together, otherwise, guy's get button happy...

I'd be interested in your discount rate... I'm shopping for a edge unit, thanks...

4 year old thread lol

Until Sena can make their units waterproof, I think Cardo is the only reasonable option.

shoot me a PM 👊🏽

My riding buddies and I all picked these up around Christmas. They read good review wise and test solid on YouTube. We’ll see how they work in the woods of Northern Michigan. Tried to post actual pictures but, I have no clue how to post multiple pictures. So….the screenshot it is. 🤔😂