Intercoms talk to me

[andburg]

Looking at getting an intercom for me and the wife.
Play music, talk to each other , no group rides so just 2 units.

We don’t ride huge miles so has anybody had any success with the cheap Chinese units that are around? Don’t see the value in paying hundreds per device for cardo etc unless they’re genuinely a world better

[TV200]

I’ve a Sena SMH5 which I got second hand. It works great for music, nav and talking. The downside is its range, which isn’t an issue with a pillion. I’m changing to a cardo so I can increase distance/ mesh when in a group. I’ll be amazed if it’s worth 4-5x the price! You can get two SMH5s for a little over £100.

[hiccy18]

I've only owned a Cardo mesh system so no experience of cheap Chinese units etc. however on Wednesday night was paired up with someone with an older Cardo system via Bluetooth and the sound quality was pretty poor.

[crofty1984]

I have a cheap Chinese one. Starts to get difficult to hear above 40-50 mph with earplugs in, so don't expect to be chatting as you ride down the motorway. But really useful in town. Watch that bus, I'm going to turn round in this car park, etc

[RoadToad84]

andburg said:

Looking at getting an intercom for me and the wife.
Play music, talk to each other , no group rides so just 2 units.

We don t ride huge miles so has anybody had any success with the cheap Chinese units that are around? Don t see the value in paying hundreds per device for cardo etc unless they re genuinely a world better

I've got a pair of random Chinese ones that I got for free via Amazon's Vine reviews program.

They've been faultless for over a year of daily use (well mine anyway) good battery life, great audio and very good P2P comms when the other half gets on the back. Retailed at about £40 for the pair. Very generic and many clones on Amazon and AliExpress

[andburg]

RoadToad84 said:

andburg said:

Looking at getting an intercom for me and the wife.
Play music, talk to each other , no group rides so just 2 units.

We don t ride huge miles so has anybody had any success with the cheap Chinese units that are around? Don t see the value in paying hundreds per device for cardo etc unless they re genuinely a world better

I've got a pair of random Chinese ones that I got for free via Amazon's Vine reviews program.

They've been faultless for over a year of daily use (well mine anyway) good battery life, great audio and very good P2P comms when the other half gets on the back. Retailed at about £40 for the pair. Very generic and many clones on Amazon and AliExpress

Care to share which?

The ones I’m leaning to are the ejeas v4plus or v6 pro


The key thing is we have rather different musical taste so ideally we’d like to have our own audio plus the inter one and reviews of some other units suggested it was 1 audio source

[RoadToad84]

andburg said:

Care to share which?

The ones I m leaning to are the ejeas v4plus or v6 pro


The key thing is we have rather different musical taste so ideally we d like to have our own audio plus the inter one and reviews of some other units suggested it was 1 audio source

https://amzn.eu/d/02heaP2v

These are the ones I got, but I think all the Chinesium ones are pretty much the same.

You can have individual music inputs while still having P2P comms. Used them today for just this purpose for the first time this year, and performed great.

[podman]

I bought a pair of the Freedconn items for the wife and myself back in 2017, they work perfectly well, range is about 1km, less if it’s more hilly, clear to around 80mph .

Even now the battery lasts all day and you can take calls on them as well.

My friends have now bought the same freedconn comms and have the same expierences as me.

I’ve no doubt more expensive intercoms are
better but for £30 for a pair, they are excellent value for money and will meet your needs.

[RossF1984]

Bought Fodsports FX-S after recommendation from a colleague.

Used by myself and Wife on separate bikes and for the price they have been absolutely flawless.

Bought directly from AliExpress for extra saving.

[Dog Star]

For intercoms I really recommend this place in Italy

https://motointercom.eu/shop/en/?gad_source=1&...

No affiliation, just a very impressed customer. Miles cheaper than anywhere else and last time I got some CellularLine interphones I ordered them on a Monday at 5pm and they were delivered by DHL the next morning at 8.30.

[Wildfire]

I've had Interphone Tour units since 2016 and they are great. I recently go the Interphone U-COM 16 and the sound quality is better, but not by much.

If it is just for you and the pillion, then Interphone do a rider / pillion pack.

[Neil1300r]

andburg said:

RoadToad84 said:

andburg said:

Looking at getting an intercom for me and the wife.
Play music, talk to each other , no group rides so just 2 units.

We don t ride huge miles so has anybody had any success with the cheap Chinese units that are around? Don t see the value in paying hundreds per device for cardo etc unless they re genuinely a world better

I've got a pair of random Chinese ones that I got for free via Amazon's Vine reviews program.

They've been faultless for over a year of daily use (well mine anyway) good battery life, great audio and very good P2P comms when the other half gets on the back. Retailed at about £40 for the pair. Very generic and many clones on Amazon and AliExpress

Care to share which?

The ones I m leaning to are the ejeas v4plus or v6 pro


The key thing is we have rather different musical taste so ideally we d like to have our own audio plus the inter one and reviews of some other units suggested it was 1 audio source

Got the V6 pro last year, for communicating with a mate when we are in France. For the price they are brilliant. For bike to bike with earplugs in you can't hear much above 60 (except my mates loud exhaust! ) but we use them when in town / approaching junctions etc. I don't use them for music though, but that's just me

[andburg]

Thanks for the responses, I'll take a second look this week and take a punt, if that i go for is too quiet maybe I'll also need to pick one some different earplugs as the oxford -32s i normally ride in might be problematic.

[black-k1]

My experience of intercoms for rider/pillion comms is that the key points are not the ones most people immediately think of. The size/quality of the speakers make a huge difference, as does their positioning within the helmet.

Likewise, being clear on the device connectivity and hierarchy of priority is also important.

- Do you need to connect to a phone?
- Do you need to connect to a sat. nav.? Are the going to be voice instructions from the sat. nav.?
- Which device will provide music?
- Does a phone call shut down Music/Sat. nav./pillion conversation - Completely or partially?
- Do sat. nav. instructions shut down Music/pillion conversation - Completely or partially?
- Do rider and pillion want to listen to the same/different music?

[Wildfire]

andburg said:

Thanks for the responses, I'll take a second look this week and take a punt, if that i go for is too quiet maybe I'll also need to pick one some different earplugs as the oxford -32s i normally ride in might be problematic.

I've just gone to Ultimate Ears filtered plugs and they are so much better with the intecom.

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

black-k1 said:

My experience of intercoms for rider/pillion comms is that the key points are not the ones most people immediately think of. The size/quality of the speakers make a huge difference, as does their positioning within the helmet.

Likewise, being clear on the device connectivity and hierarchy of priority is also important.

- Do you need to connect to a phone?
- Do you need to connect to a sat. nav.? Are the going to be voice instructions from the sat. nav.?
- Which device will provide music?
- Does a phone call shut down Music/Sat. nav./pillion conversation - Completely or partially?
- Do sat. nav. instructions shut down Music/pillion conversation - Completely or partially?
- Do rider and pillion want to listen to the same/different music?

This is so true. The number of intercoms that don't allow a conversation at motorway speeds is frustrating. Also, if you have a bluetooth headset, and a bike you can bluetooth to, and a phone, will it all talk to each other?

[Harris_I]

black-k1 said:

My experience of intercoms for rider/pillion comms is that the key points are not the ones most people immediately think of. The size/quality of the speakers make a huge difference, as does their positioning within the helmet.

Likewise, being clear on the device connectivity and hierarchy of priority is also important.

- Do you need to connect to a phone?
- Do you need to connect to a sat. nav.? Are the going to be voice instructions from the sat. nav.?
- Which device will provide music?
- Does a phone call shut down Music/Sat. nav./pillion conversation - Completely or partially?
- Do sat. nav. instructions shut down Music/pillion conversation - Completely or partially?
- Do rider and pillion want to listen to the same/different music?

Good points.

I'm a Sena ST1 user, no pillion, but many group rides, never listen to music, only (phone) satnav and mesh comms.

After 4 years I've finally had a glitch (my prior cheap Chinese ones lasted only a year). A firmware update solved most of the problem, but for some reason I'm still struggling to switch the unit off (requires a hard reset each time). Still, I've had good use out of it, and in a recent 4-bike road trip, we managed to have excellent comms strung out across a fair distance between rider 1 and rider 4.

You can adjust settings through the app to quieten phone audio (music/satnav) when riders speak through the mesh system, and to change mic sensitivity. A phone call will cut the comms and phone audio to zero. Callers have told me they had no idea I was riding a motorbike at the time of the call.

With Alpine MotoSafe earplugs (I use the Sport version), motorway speed wind noise is low and phone satnav/ intercom mesh is very audible.

Connecting to BMW's onboard computer was fiddly and annoying, so I gave up. I don't think I'm missing much.

As with all bike comms, helmet wind noise and mic positioning will have a significant impact: one of our group wore a motocross helmet which caused no end of annoying background noise.

[outnumbered]

andburg said:

Thanks for the responses, I'll take a second look this week and take a punt, if that i go for is too quiet maybe I'll also need to pick one some different earplugs as the oxford -32s i normally ride in might be problematic.

In a similar position recently I went for Cardo Freecom 2x. No mesh, just for rider to pillion. Things I liked were the slim size, volume up/down dial rather than buttons, can be operated fairly easily with gloves on, stock speakers are very good but check they'll fit your helmet, they only just fitted the cutouts in mine. Works at motorway speeds.

The difference between these and our old Interphone F4 units is amazing, I'm sorry I didn't upgrade earlier,

[podman]

We’re not long back from a trip to Wales, one of the chaps bought another FreedConn to connect with ours, it all worked perfectly, for £15, you can’t argue with the VFM..

[andburg]

they make me feel dirty just looking at them when amazon ones are £50 each

ok they're bluetooth 3.0 but even bluetooth 5.0 later versions are only £20