Sorry to thread jack but I have the HBC uclear and it's a good one too. I would recommend it but I would also like to ask if the Senas are any louder. I find the HBC can be on the lower side of the volume spectrum.
I've just upgraded my Sena SMH10 to the Interphone F5MC - the Shoei specific version. I've not had a chance to use the intercom yet but the quality of the sound playing music from my phone is superb. On the Sena I wold frequently be on maximum volume and still not be able to hear quiet tracks, on the Interphone I'm on half volume and can hear all the little subtle parts of a track, plus the volume increases as your speed (and the background noise) increases. Very impressed and looking forward to chatting to Peter Green (Rotax racer) on the EMM trip, I can even share my music with him!
Scala Q3 and Q1 for the wife - paired to a Samsung Galaxy s5 (waterproof) which has satnav / music and phone. Quality if brilliant - even on phone calls.
I have just bought a pair of Scala G9X units for me and Mrs T, and to connect to a couple of pals who also have the same units. Basically I'm already very annoyed. They seem to work fairly randomly both rider to passenger and bike to bike. Sometimes they stop talking to each other then randomly start again some time later. Bluetooth music from my phone occasionally stops and restarts for no reason. Vox doesn't work on my unit but does on my wife's (even with the settings changed, which you can only do via a PC connected to the internet for some idiotic reason). There's insufficient volume when wearing properly inserted foam earplugs and with the speakers properly positioned so the thing is essentially useless above 30mph. I'm just generally extremely annoyed with bike intercoms. Why they can't "just work" these days is a complete mystery. Gaggghhh!
My Sena SM10 is usually quite reliable. Had most entertaining rideouts and trips because of that. Wind noise makes conversation above 50mph impractical but music ok. If you are having intermittent problems, turn off VOX. More trouble than worth. Look at the mic position. That can affect voice quality and noise reduction features. I only upgraded to a 20S as I tend to lead rides and the ability to keep the intercom channel on while the satnav yammers is invaluable.
Is this the unit without the microphone? I considered one of these U clears but wasn't convinced that their system would work and the earphones look bulky. How do you find it?
Sound level seems to be a problem, It may be worth using in ear monitors such as "ultimate ear" this not only gives ear protection from road and wind noise but makes comms and music crystal clear. Sena do an in ear bud kit which replaces the speakers. Cant speak for any other makes, they probably do similar.
I have a similar sound on my f5mc. Other than that cannot recommend it enough. Just upgraded to the pro sound speakers and mic but not tested yet. What fixes have you tried for the Tony the Tiger in your helmet?
I've had moulded Ultimate Ear earplugs with speakers in but they kept losing their seal and got uncomfortable on long runs. Lovely quality sound though I agree. I've just ordered some TORK high volume high quality in-helmet speakers. TORK Xpro Motorcycle Motorbike Helmet Speakers Stereo: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics I can't be arsed with wires and like everything self-contained in my helmet so these should hopefully make the difference. I previously had a set of "race speakers" for my Autocom kit and they were much better than stock.
Interphone F5MC was recommended to me by Chainspeed. They assured me that they physically test all systems presented to them and he only allows those that pass stringent testing and do "at least what they claim" onto their website. He stated the best available st the moment is this model as it does some really basic stuff better than most because it has the very latest blue chip technology. Both me and the wife have the Schuberth C3Pro helemets and have the made to fit ear pieces for each helmet. As said earlier I cannot fault the sound quality what-so-ever. It really is crystal clear. The sound quality far exceeded expectations. The issue is that because it's an "open microphone" it is listening for sound at all times. To be fair it does a pretty decent job of filtering unwanted sound out. But it appears with my helemet that once it has picked up the sound of engine noise, it gradually allows more of it to filter through and this transpires as "growling tigers". I can absolutely live with "some" background noise as no system is perfect but this level has been pretty annoying to the point I turned it off last time out. We tried 1) Disconnecting the blue tooth from each helmet. 2) Re-pairing. 3) Uploading the latest software version. These options appear to have "cured" the tigers in the wife's helmet as it did for mine but gradually (after an hour or so) mine started faintly at first, to reintroduce it again and eventually to the point I turned off. I have now fitted some foam over the mic ends to see if that helps with the background sensitivity. I will post on here after the weekend if that made an y improvement. Chainspeed also recommended to go into the settings and set the helmets to "jet helmet" as this setting is less sensitive to background noise (they use this system in jets!). I will try that as a last option if the foam hasn't worked - technology or what! I would think that music will help when I connect that but I haven't done it yet as I want to connect my music and sat nav to my Mutley (if I ever get it) and then blue tooth the bike to the helmet which will save "portals" if that makes sense. Hope that helps but like I said the system sound quality works flawlessly even up to 70mph and half a mile apart and I am happy with the choice I made.
I think the foam mic pad will make a difference, it seems to prevent wind and background noise as we found recently on a trip away.
+1 on the Interphone, I was wearing custom ultimateears plugs and I could still hear my music on the motorway! Not sure if I can stand that 40's music you listen to old chap!
Ha, ha, If you listen in you will gain a full knowledge of the Bruce Springsteen back catalogue and live performances... plus a bit of Funk!
Tried the interphone 5 at the weekend with the "high tech" foam over the mic. Bit of an improvement but again only for while. However, the Tigers were still there but grumbling rather than growling but yes, still there. You do sort of ignore it after a while provided it's not too loud which it wasn't most of the time. Some oddities we noted: my wife was again on her own bike. She was riding behind me when an ambulance - sirens sounding approached from behind. It passed her then me a few seconds later. The sound was much louder in my helmet when it passed by her than it was when it passed me and vice versa! Later During a petrol stop I was parked about 25 yards away from my wife who was waiting to fill up. The lady filling her car up screwed her petrol cap on and through my headset I could clearly hear the top screwing in. That's how sensitive this system is. I doubt even the woman would have heard it. It was like I had the hearing of a super hero! Later when we were on the same bike (she was pillion) the system was not as clear at all. Definitely was clearer when she was on her own bike. Not sure if I could hear her speaking normally and then through the headset but a bit odd. Still very happy with the system though and will try to add some music soon.
Just a quick update on this. I finally managed to blue tooth my i phone to the Interphone f5. It was a bit tricky to do it and to successfully stream the music to the wife's headset as well as mine as initially it kept swapping from mine to hers but in the end I managed it. Tested the sound quality out on the road yesterday - wow! What a fantastic piece of kit. I was only out by myself listening to music via the i phone but it connected without me having to do anything and the sound quality was nothing short of brilliant. Nothing in the way of tigers growling or anything like that and the music doesn't keep interrupting as helmet noise increases like the Starcom wired system did (due to the vox). could hear it even at speeds of 70 mph and not on the loudest setting. ok, not quite so clear at that speed but audible enough to hear what was coming through. Can't recommend this system highly enough, it is by far the best quality I've heard personally. I think for two up I'll just go with the music playing and I will just connect the intercom when I want to speak. Very easy to do via a single press of the centre button as it defaults to intercom when pressed. Then just press again to return to the music. Jobs a good un.
An update on my Interphone F5MC - I've just got back from our Andorra trip and Peter Green and I used ours to great effect. The battery lasted all day, music was clear causing at 85 to 90 MPH. The bike to bike intercom worked really well, we managed to test it at a distance of well over half a mile, probably almost a mile on a dead straight road with line of sight. Chatting was pretty clear, but more noise came in when our helmets were flipped up over about 30 MPH. Very helpful in towns, and we spent about an hour chatting away on one slightly dull section. The mic is very neat the way it attaches to my Shoei Neo Tech, it occasionally gets caught in the flip down, if you have moved it by mistake, but it's easy to adjust on the move. We were also able to link to another rider using a different make (X lite), but the quality of his speech was noticeably worse, and the mic was the boom style one. Very impressed and a big step up from the old Sena I had.
