Sena SMH20 and Autom Super AVi Pro

[MaXX2]

Generally, this is just a few personal observations about my Bluetooth headlump and I have made some comparisons hither and yon, with the Autocom system it replaces. Having read the general hysterical level of praise on here, I thought I’d give the Sena SMH20 a go, so I did.
The reader will notice that the ‘cons’ are longer paragraphs. The reason is because I reckon criticism requires explanation or perhaps, justification where praise really tends not to. Why write a hundred words that simply say, “Yup. Does what Sena says it should”.

The set up…

Sena SMH20
Shoei Neotec
Garmin 590 (satnav and MP3)
Samsung Note 2 (phone, MP3 & Satnave if reqd)
(The Autocom replaced, is the old Super AVi Pro)

PROS

The Sena works out of the box.
Even charging seems well sorted My phone is BT'd to the satnav and the satnav to the Sena. This means that I have the phone and music on a screen in front of me and the satnav commands break in at just the right time. I also (optimistically) hope that by having a single BT connection live on the Sena for day-to-day use rather than two, it may ease life for the battery.

The sound is clear (up to a point) and a pleasure to listen to.

Free FM radio which works well. If radio's your thing whilst riding, you'll love it.

There is no question of electrical interference with this set up.
This is a biggie for me. The real bane of Autocom ownership is sorting out ground loop interference from having so many units sharing the same power and earth points. It’s a git until you get it bottomed.

No extra wires or cables are required
...to fit it up and make it work (which saves money… maybe?) and the BT connections were effortless. All you need is in the box you buy.

There's no wire to your helmet
...which seems to have revolutionised some people's lives (if not particularly mine) and prevented them from serious self-inflicted injury and/or death.

You can talk to a group of other riders via BT (as many as 9 with this system) without the need for 2 way radios (PMR’s).

Satnav instructions, MP3 and phone are clear to hear and, set up via the Garmin, the headset automatically prioritises satnav over all functions. In other words if you’re talking to the passenger, on the phone or listening to music/radio, talking to other riders or whatever really, it cuts in with satnav audible directions… perfect! I can’t recall how many times I asked Kay to ‘Hang on luv’ because she was talking over the satnav.

CONS

It's battery operated and the battery isn't replaceable.

Right there at the top of the charts pop fans!! It has an inbuilt redundancy of unknown (but not completely incomparable) duration. Consequently, you don't really buy the unit, you rent it until the battery life is so poor, it's of no real use anymore and then you bin it and buy a new one. This is why I’m not too sure it’s actually cheaper than an Autocom in the long term.
PS When I say ‘not completely incomparable’ I’m just comparing it to a mobile phone battery which will usually last a year or so, but is much more frequently charged and discharged. My guess therefore, would be 2-3 years life expectancy before I’m at 4 or 5 hours battery life and a lot less if you do a lot more mileage (errr obviously)

It's battery operated and needs charging.

There is the ability to charge whilst riding with a USB socket on the unit and it definitely works. The Garmin 590 has a USB charging port built into its harness, so putting the two together is a match made in heaven. One possible caveat though… I haven't tried riding whilst charging the Sena in the rain (I know, I know, it never ever rains in summer) and I don't get the urge to want to either. A nifty MK1 one eyeball of the USB socket in the Sena, shows it to be a standard item, with no apparent waterproofing other than the rubber cover you have to take off to use it. I also noted that the socket was situated at the rear underside of the unit, where the water will rush when it's being blown over and under the unit by a 20- 80mph wind. Perhaps no big deal… I really don’t know.

Sound quality (clarity)
… is about the same on the Autocom and Sena up to about 70mph or so (I say ‘about’ because if it’s windy or on a motorway, it’s less, given the surrounding noise). After that though, I want the Autocom back. Depending on how much ambient noise there is and of course, how fast you’re going, the Sena volume needs the volume adjusted up and back down again with differences in speed. For the record, this is a manual process, that means hand off the bar and start twiddling around with a dial behind your left ear. The Autocom automatically turns the volume up so I could still hear the phone and satnav and turned it back down again when speed decreased. I can certify the Autocom up to 130mph at which speed, I was still being told by Kay to slow down. The Sena becomes inaudible to me at speeds in excess of 70mph WITHOUT having me turning the volume up/down as appropriate or in the alternative, having it set too loud in the first place.

Group chat is vox only.

So I left that switched off. Singing, shouting, whooping and an array of irritating noises whilst I’m concentrating and the wife (if applicable) having to listen to a running commentary on female pedestrian’s arses and tits are a switch off and there's no control other than the off switch. No worries, so be it.

Also a small thing that might be worth a mention, if you happen to scream like a school girl at a Suga Babes gig, in the event of a near miss are or when you run wide at an ‘hot’ bend or, worse still, as you slide down the road at 30mph… then do remember that the whole group get to hear you shouting “Oh fook, oh fook, oh fook, I’m too young to die!” before saying “fook, that was close. Wonder if anybody noticed? Just so you know… they did notice, you just told them aaaall about it.

Anyway, PTT for me please, or the off switch as a fine alternative.

The sena units are small and fiddly.
It’s one thing setting this up in front of the TV with your feet up and a beer. Put bike gloves on and (other than the volume control) doing things with it on the move, is like trying to remove a Swan Vesta from a box, light it with your eyes shut and fire up a fag that’s behind your left ear, whilst riding a motorcycle on a country road.

[b]These things have so many features… but really?
Press the telephone button for more than 6 seconds whilst tapping the volume control 5 times… and rubbing your tummy in an anticlockwise direction and falling off by means of a port down lowside… I mean fook off, don’t be so stupid!! I’m trying to ride a motorbike FFS.

The voice activation system works ok (…ish)
Subject to wind and outside noise when on the move and clarity of voice, but purely from my perspective, if I had to skip MP3 tracks and make/take calls from the Sena unit with voice control alone, it would be going back. The Garmin header makes it work for me, they’ve become a single unit, with the Sena being reliant of the Garmin to make sense.

My own conclusions…
The Sena’s great for a day out or a weekend away or if having a wire to your helmet, is just too much to bear! It’s plug ‘n’ play and without frills, but clip it on and away you go in the safe knowledge that the basics work at basic speeds and in basic conditions (as long as the battery is good and charged).

Am I keeping it?
Yes I think so, unless something silly happens and it fails (and no, I’m not expecting it to, it feels tightly made but for the charging/data port). If it does fail, it’ll be a refund rather than a replacement. Barring that though, it’s fine for me. Mainly nowadays I ride alone or with a couple of other bikes both locally and abroad, all I really need for that is clear, reliable satnav audio and the phone facility has always been really very useful, just for hotel ringing at the end of the day and for collecting ‘lost souls’ and/or meeting up with latecomers for a meet, without getting off the bike and ‘kitting down’ to use the mobile.

For the record…
... the Autocom isn’t for sale. When this unit gets too annoying to live with (in other words, all the downsides above without the advantage of being ‘wireless’ because the power cord is plugged in more often than not) it’ll be re-installed unless something better has come out in the meantime, that’s worth the, not inconsiderable price tag.

[Oldbull]

Hmmm a lot of your cons I dont get with the 10 Mick,

Do you wear ear plugs ??

Are the flip ups more noisy ??

Have you got the mike set in the right way with the correct wind sock ?? they are directional.. ??
try pairing the satnav as a second fone instead.. sound is, should be, crystal even at well above motorway speeds
Have you installed the latest software up date ??

90% sure you can send them back to the dealer and get new battery fitted..
Ive never had a flat battery yet .. touch wood and ive had a few 10 hour days without turning it off

I also think the 20s are overcomplicated, on hindsight that is... because I was going to have one first off..
to be honest, glad Ive got the 10 now...

Thanks for the input.. good read

[T.Murphy aka Tim]

Niiiiice review Maxx2.

For my one pennorth I have so far enjoyed the use of my Sena S10 these last couple of months than all the years I have had Autocoms, and granted, I have never really managed to get Autocom set up 100% due to my ineptitude and attention span of a bipolar cat on the finer points of technical "gizmos".

For me the Sena has been excellent even though again, I haven't "mastered" all it's supposed to do.

The main pro's for my little mind is

1 Sound quality is superb and in glorious stereo cf the mono via the Garmin. Now have my music from my Phone

2. Volume control, whilst manual, is a piece of piss with the big thumbwheel on the Sena, even with my clumsy big hands and my Gerbin gloves on.

3. Bike to bike, easy to set up, easy to initiate and has been a revelation whilst riding with a couple of regulars. I have found myself not even bothering with music sometimes, leaving bike to bike on due to the craic I've had with others, both serious, not so serious and once trust has been built, a bloody great aid to riding with others.

4. Phone use is easy..Some cnut rings while I'm riding, I just say "how do" and I'm connected. I don't need to ever ring any cnut when I'm riding so I don't run my phone through the Zumo.

...and that's it so far cos that's all I need it for.

[MaXX2]

Dave- the comparison is made with the same helmet, same bike and same roads so outside factors not an issue. The mic is fine and hasn't been a problem at all. Set up was complicated though...
Two screws under helmet... Check!
Speakers facing ears... Check!
Mic facing gob... Check!

I rang Sena about the battery and the USB port being waterproof. The battery isn't replaceable by the customer and they haven't had any returns due to water getting in to the USB port. When I asked if it was waterproof, the same answer was repeated. I didn't ask about the SMH10, though a quick Google search reveals no batteries for sale that I could see.

Tim... Nowt up with it for daily mileage. Happy enough. Wondering what all the hype is about though, can't see any advantages at all over the Autocom, other than cheapness and the much feared and deadly curly cord is gone.

The response is shorty because it keeps timing me out and losing the post so I can't be arsed with explaining it all fully a third time

[Akuji]

I don't know why you bother cos nobody wants to talk to you anyway

[Mister Majestik]

battery life

Mick

there's a chap on the TDM forum, had a sena smh 10 for 3 years,

uses it all year, still on the original battery (Cliffe, who you thought was a BB owner)

I'm impressed with mine, better than I thought it would be, relatively cheap, plug and play losts of fun

no I cant speak to Apollo 19 when I'm on the via gel, but eh,

I can always talk to the 60's test pilot who's usually within sight

just another day at the office, TM

download (3).jpg (10.5 KiB) Viewed 2218 times

must say though, if one wears a gimmicky flip helmet, and rides with it in the open position,

you must fit the plastic wind guard sena supply for the front of the mic, as it stops the wind noise being transmitted to anyone connected

(don't it monkey man)

[MaXX2]

Really? Didn't take you long to squirt out another humourless, inane turd onto the thread coochicoo

Steve. Three years would be fine by me. They are cheap by any standard and the cans that Akuji's wearing in the photo, look like they may actually be Sena numbers

[Mister Majestik]

thats cutting Mick

[MaXX2]

thats cutting Mick

Read it again pal. Yous moving faster than me

[Akuji]

I think we're gonna need a bigger boat

[barsteward]

Extremely good write up Mick, it's now on my wanted list mainly for the reasons given by the IXXRA coont. I have never been able to get everything to work In fact to this day I might as well still be stood in the same car park, halfway up a Welsh mountain that I was stood in 8 years ago. The only bike to bike to bike communication being by standing next to the person you wished to speak and holding the radio to your ear.
"Hellow..testing...testing....can you hear me"
Phone has never worked properly but as I'm not much into using a phone when I'm not riding never mind when I am this dosen't really bother me.

As I say it's definitely on my wanted list, unfortunately that is not the same as needed.

[Mister Majestik]

yep know what ya mean Les

£90,000 camper van, or a £100 quid sena,

naa, that sena's the one that broke the camels back,

coont

assuming you don't get banged up for too long, (when ya caught smuggling),

when ya back ing coooonty bollix

[barsteward]

Wish it was a £90,000 van
"Horses go courses" travelled to a lot of places I would never have seen, in reasonable comfort. No pressure at all to be anywhere at any given time. It's a great way to travel and if the weathers bad in one direction you go in the other. It's a life style that I am enjoying and don't want to give up.

So I've almost finished my "gap year" and the realty is I'm going to have to find work or sell everything and sit at home waiting for the grim reaper.







Fook the grim reaper and I'm not giving up any of my toys.

[Mister Majestik]

ya just a closet gyppo