I’ve had the Interphone F5MC twin pack for years. No probs on GS with Nav5 & Doris on the back. Upgraded to Interphone U6R twin pack. What a pile of crap; intercom drops out between us, music buffers for about 17 minutes then plays normally. 4 return trips to shop to try & fix issues. No joy, so handing it all back. Interphone support absolutely useless. Shame as had no issues with the F5’s. Now looking at other makes. Sena has bought Interphone too
I’m a fan of the intercom on tours. Recently three of us were connected up on the Multistrada meet up in Andorra. Advantages: The lead rider pointing out hazards to us e.g. gravel, camper vans etc. For example: We were going down one road and there was a horrible pothole and gravel which the lead rider warned us all about in time. When we got round the corner one of the guys who had been riding with his son (no intercoms) had crashed on the corner and dislocated his knee. I’m not saying the accident could have been avoided but a warning might have help him avoid it. Overtaking, lead rider can confirm the road ahead is clear for the following riders. Sat Nav confusion and confirmation of the route, it's a lot easier than shouting at each other or making hand gestures. Also listening to music on long Autoroute sections. Disadvantages: Some of the conversations we ended up having! (Especially the one about how cows might be WiFi enabled so that they would know when to lay down if it was going to rain!) Inexplicable button presses which ended up sharing my music with my buddy (he didn't like my choices!) Looking back up the road from the crash site This is what a dislocated knee looks like, he still managed to ride his bike down the hill about 5km to the nearest town where luckily there was a doctor. The aftermath back at the hotel that evening
He was more upset that he had to be back in Belgium at the weekend for his daughters wedding! After about a month now he's gradually recovering and there should be no lasting damage. His son went and collected the bikes this weekend with a trailer.
I used to use radios, Autocom + Kenwood and they worked great most of the time. Input options were great. But the convenience of bluetooth won out and although the range is not quite as good, the mesh options when you have a group of riders using them make up for that in most cases. I've used both Sena 30K and now Cardo PacTalk Bold and while I preferred the interface of the Sena, the Cardo has been faultless on 5 or so tours now and it's easy enough with the phone app to get a new group setup each time.
So the Sena Spider ST has broken and gone back for investigation. it was actually perfect as the mic wiring on the main loom to one of the units has failed so she could hear me, but I could not hear her replies ! We do miss it already, although I was sceptical at first, I must confess it does have a use when riding together, even just to warn of potholes or the current issue of grain spillage on corners.
I've personally opted for Sena, SRL-Mesh, which integrates into Shoei GT-Air2 - so far, only used for making calls to my missus, and listening to music. I've yet to test it with other rider helmet to helmet. Previously I've had Interphoine F4 for myself and pillion. She ended up using it to listen to music, didn't want to talk to me So not much knowledge gained. One thing I would be aware of, most brands lock the connectivity to their own system. So cross-brand connection probably troublesome. If you only care about you and pillion (or partner on second bike), then it probably doesn't matter. If you after talking to your mates, probably best buying the same brand they use, as you will have next to no issues talking to them. Having said that, in the shop, they told me Sena and Interphone did a collaboration, so between them, should be OK. Not so much Cardo with Sena. They won't talk
Had Sena 30k and a few mates changed to Cardo edge, so I did the same. I can't tell the difference, so a bit disappointed really. Another mate has a old Sena 10 and we can connect up and talk no problems
Replacement supplied VERY quickly by Sportsbikeshop, back as we were. Motorway speeds do give volume issues, but that may just be wind noise around the helmet rather than lack of capability from the intercom. The exposed wiring from under the helmet lining to the externally mounted unit is the potential weak point for another failure. For those of us who will never listen to music or make phone calls I don't see why they can't make a basic system that bluetooths to a unit in your pocket to get rid of exposed wiring and keep it away from the elements. You could do away with one speaker and have a battery pack in the other side to power the speaker, microphone and bluetooth link.
Care with speaker location pays big dividends in improving audibility at speed. Just lightly brushing your outer ear and aligned centrally with your ear canal. This will likely require that you make foam shims combined with sticky backed Velcro. My Sena clipped into parts of the helmet lining (GT Air specific 10U). Couldn't hear Jack Sh*t over 50-60mph. Ditching this and making foam shims instead to position the speakers optimally mean I can hear GPS and comms to 90+ mph. OK, the wind noise does intrude but I can still make out, though my ear plugs, what's being said.
I agree but found it tricky to establish exactly how to position the speakers in relation to your ears once the helmet is on! Need a bit of trial and error, but it was an improvement. Haven’t tried ‘pushing’ them nearer to my ears with shims though
