How do you use your Sena ?

[Aasland]

I've been using the Sena for several years. What we do is pair up all our units and then go ride; if someone has to communicate we do the tap, taptap, or taptaptap, then start blabbing. When done, tap to disconnect, and music/podcast/gps etc continues to stream to the unit.

From reading the manual, from what I understand, it appears that the other way to do it, is to pair, then go into a "conference" mode whereby one or more other units have open communication and then VOX controls whether the microphone is activated.

Is that how some of you are using the Sena? Just talk, and it gets broadcast to multiple riders, without having to do the tap-dance to connect? When the VOX times out (20 seconds?) do you just talk again to all the partners connected? And after it times out, does your music/gps resume streaming? And how well does the VOX work? Does wind/engine/exhaust noise activate it?

 

[psd2001]

Also interested in this

 

[Road_Runner]

I so far have only used mine in "paired" mode also. As of the latest firmware, Sena units are able to communicate with "other popular units," which must include Scala and Interphone among others. Be interesting to know how well the non-Sena units work, both in paired mode and intercom/VOX (if at all).

 

[jblanken64]

I don't do any pairing with other riders, but I generally use my unit (SM5 with FM) to listen to music, radio, or take calls.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Just use our set for intercom, music and phone. Although I've upgraded to v5 firmware, haven't had time to play with new features yet. From what I understand, range is limited when intercom linking to non native Sena. Haven't checked out that either...

--G

 

[Fred W]

I'm also not using mine for B2B yet. I've just used it to hear GPS, phone and tunes. Don't even have a second one yet, so haven't tried it as an intercom.

But, I understand that there may be a way to conference more users in, and also extend the total distance, by daisy chaining the connections. It goes like this: You have multiple riders in a ride group arranged in alphabetical order. The lead rider A just pairs with Rider B, B pairs with A and C, C pairs with B and D, etc.

 

[moto2wheelin]

How loud are the Sena units? I am used to using J & M equipment, but I don't really have the same needs now and think the Sena may be better if it is loud enough... 13" shield on the FJR and always wear earplugs and can't turn the current setup all the way up!

 

[BkerChuck]

Spent yesterday riding with a coworker who uses Scala. Paired him up with my Sena and off we went.

The goods: range was just as good as with my wife's Sena that I'm normally paired to. volume was fine.

The bads: pairing up with my Sena somehow knocked out his phone pairing and his wife couldn't get through to him when she tried to call. While paired to him, when my wife called I was unable to answer my phone though it was ringing normally. This may have been user error, I need to review the instruction booklet since the firmware upgrade. Sena instructions for Scala pairing were not the best, took several attempts to make it work.

 

[Geezer]

How loud are the Sena units? I am used to using J & M equipment, but I don't really have the same needs now and think the Sena may be better if it is loud enough... 13" shield on the FJR and always wear earplugs and can't turn the current setup all the way up!

I used my Senna for SMH10 for the first time today. I wear ear plugs and have a helmet which has quite a bit of wind noise. I had no problem hearing my radar detector. The radar detector is wired to a Senna SR10 hub and the hub is paired with my headset. It is about as loud with the Senna as it was with the hardwired AmpliRider I was using.

I haven't tried other sources yet, but the volume should be as good with outer inputs.

 

[Aasland]

How loud are the Sena units? I am used to using J & M equipment,

I found they're about the same. I think it's mostly a limitation of speaker technology.

A better question may be "are they loud enough" ... and the answer is "it depends".

For many people they are sufficient. For me personally, nope, not loud enough. Granted I am a little hard of hearing and I am listening to podcasts, i.e. need to hear what is being said vs. just chilling with music. My solution is to use custom earbuds.

 

[Allen_C]

We have Sena 5's and use the intercom feature to chat with each other while on LD rides. If I'm alone riding, I will pair it to my cell phone also so I can take calls, if important and also listen to music. Up until now, since I got recently purchased a TomTom Rider, I have also used my phone for GPS, which also comes through the Sena. Their priority is great...listen to music, GPS voice will pause the music then re-start it, phone call coming in will do the same.

Is it loud enough? Yes, with my Shoei GT-Air and my wife's Shoei Quest, we can here each other clearly with the volume at less than max, even at 90mph.

 

[Aasland]

I'd just like to point out that intercom and phone volume is plenty loud; music not so much.

 

[huron52]

I use mine for intercom and listening to music via the hub and XM radio. I wear a RF1000 and ear plugs. volume is OK with me.

 

[bramfrank]

1. Music, ringing, intercom and phone volume settings are independent of each other.

2. The 'universal intercom' feature works by pretending to be a phone to the non-Sena user. So the other user will necessarily lose his phone connection unless his device supports multiple concurrent phones the way that Sena does - apparently Scala now has a new firmware that does the same thing as Sena intercom-wise and others will be forthcoming.

3. Want lots of volume? Be careful about speaker placement or, better yet get the version that supports a 3.5 mm headphone jack and use a good, sensitive set of in-ear-monitors.

4. Sena apparently does not support daisy chaining as described above - the book says it supports up to 4 users, 3 of which are in a single hosted node and a 4th who is paired with one of the other members - I'd believe you could extend ad infinitum that way, but the book says no. I only have 3 units, so no way to check.

 

[stevec677]

I hooked up my Sena SMH10 this weekend. Easy to pair with Garmin 350LM and I-phone. No problem hearing directions or music from I-phone. When I got back to my house I tried to make a phone call. The person I called said there was a lot of background noise and my voice was garbled. I was standing in my driveway, so there was no wind noise. The mic is directly in front of my mouth (stick-on mic on a Shoei Qwest. Any suggestions? Do you have similar problems?

 

[SilverHound]

Have mine (SMH10) paired with my GPS for direction prompts, MP3 music and phone calls (GPS is paired with iPhone). Also paired with my wife's unit for B2B. Have not updated units to the 5.0 firmware yet but can share music with the last update which works well.

No problem hearing music with the helmet speakers. Also have the SENA earbud mount. Sound quality was definitely better with the earbuds but got tired of putting earbuds in/taking out at stops. Agree with Bramfrank that speaker placement is key. Have found that the "speaker recesses" in helmets are not necessarily it the optimum spot and moving speakers even as little as 1/4 of an inch can make a huge difference.

 

[leedavis]

I ride with some guys who use both Sena and GMRS at the same time for B2B since not everyone in the group has both. To communicate among the Senas they use VOX and to comm with GMRS they use PTT.

 

[Geezer]

I ride with some guys who use both Sena and GMRS at the same time for B2B since not everyone in the group has both. To communicate among the Senas they use VOX and to comm with GMRS they use PTT.

That's why I use the SR10 hub, even though it is not stereo. I can use either FRS/GMRS or CB depending on who I am riding with. That seems like a better solution to group communication than having to pair a bunch of bluetooth devices, though it does require additional hardware.

 

[Intech]

I upgraded from the Scala Rider to Sena SMH10 last year. I pair my phone to my Zumo 665 and the Zumo to the Sena. If I want to listen to music I pair my Ipod to the Sena. Volume controls are separate for the Zumo/phone connection and the music. I also installed the provided spacers for the speakers in the helmet to put them closer to my ears. Volume with that setup is fine. I have not tried pairing with anyone other than the pillion. I also haven't changed the default priority settings. Spanky is always getting cut off by the Zumo!