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New 30k model.. Same old tiny speakers and Bluetooth 4.1? really?

Tdilores

October 12, 2017 16:04

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Having been a big fan of Sena since the smh5 came out, I can't say I'm sticking with Sena anymore. I have the 10s on my street helmets, and the smh5 and smh10 on 3 of my dirtbike helmets. I was really amazed when the 10s didn't even have up-to-date bluetooth but now with the 30k just out, and with 4.1??? Common guys. The two most popular brand phones, Samsung and iPhone as well as several other brands, are on 5.0. That mismatch limits the 2-way phone functions such as voice commands, reading/sending text, and navigational commands. There's nothing better than hearing a notification from your phone that you have a text message.. 

Sena - ding ding: (you have to assume it's your text message since it doesn't say "you have a new message like it used to when phones were at 4.0/4.1)

rider-  push button: "Read new text message"

Sena - "you have a new text message" then nothing. Doesn't even say who it's from

rider - push button: "Read new text message"

Sena - finally reads message but doesn't say who it's from or give you the option of responding at the end

rider - push button: "new text message, wife, mobile.. I'll be home in 10 mins"

Sena - reads back message, "do you want to send"?

rider - send.

rider - home already and text message was a fruitful waste of time.

oh, and heaven forbid you get multiple text messages at the same time, you can't choose which one to answer and if they are from the same person, you'll only hear the last one sent. A tab bit frustrating to say the least. 

Moving on to the next big disappointment are the speakers. Unless you're riding with a Schuberth helmet, these tin cup sounding speakers are useless for music. Why even have FM/bluetooth audio built into them? It's just not rocket science to have great headphone-quality speakers. The forums have been complaining about them for years along with the limited volume. 

I'd like to blame it on the phones, but having it work just as bad on the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S8, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 8, it's apparent it's not the phone that has the problem.

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11 comments

• 1
  
  Fred December 17, 2017 15:41

  I just got a set of 30K's and I can't even have the rider to passenger intercom turned on and listen to music.  I have to manually turn the intercom on and off, and when it is on, all other inputs cease.  For $510 a set, I expected a whole lot better. I'm ready to box them up and ship them right back.

• 0
  
  Christopher DeRosa April 14, 2018 20:40

  Maybe you know it by now.. but this is a IPhone SIRI problem, not a SENA problem.

  Siri gets screwy sometimes. Happens in my truck too.

  Usually a phone reboot and re-pair fixes it up for me.

   

   

• 0
  
  Christopher DeRosa April 14, 2018 20:41

  ...And Fred. If you PAIR with the intercom partner (passenger)

  then hold the button in for the 2- seconds to get the beep, it'll play music for both of you. That's how it's programmed to work.

   

   

• 0
  
  Fred April 14, 2018 22:16

  This problem has absolutely nothing to do with Siri or the Iphone, it happens when the Sena isn't even paired to a phone.  Any other music source is MUTED when a Bluetooth intercom session is started.

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  Christopher DeRosa April 14, 2018 22:28

  For the issue with your using the intercom and music:

  It get initially muted when you do the intercom, that’s true.

  But then when the pair is happening, you use a push button of the knob ( long push) to start the music again. This is the way it’s designed.

  Read it. Trust me. I do it all the time.

  In the separate matter of your use of Siri to read text messages, the following is true:

  You mentioned using a feature to read text messages. You me tioned it isnt even paired with your phone. Thats not pssible. The “person” yoyre talking to when asking to resd your messages is SIRI.
  When you do and Siri fails to respond, it’s because of the iPhone. It has happened to me with other Bluetooth devices to ask Siri to do something. It’s not a perfect technology.

  JUst trying to help you with what I know.

• 0
  
  Ken Kimari April 15, 2018 02:48

  Fred -  If you have the 30k take advantage of the Mesh connection rather than the intercom pairing.  You can listen to music and have the intercom on at the same time.  Mesh pairing rather than intercom pairing is the main feature of the 30k and much less complicated.

   

• 0
  
  Fred April 15, 2018 13:32

  The Mesh intercom has other problems of it's own that I can't resolve, like not being able to turn it off when in a situation where you have wind noise.  With the Bluetooth intercom, if you start getting wind noise, either rider or passenger can reach up and push the center button and it will cycle both units into and out of the intercom mode.  You can't do this with the Mesh intercom.  The old Sena 20S allows you to listen to music AND have an intercom session active.  You can't do this on the 30K.  All I want is for the new 30K to work at least as good as the 20S did.  Right now, it does not, and the 20S is a better unit.

• 0
  
  Ken Kimari April 15, 2018 14:57

  Hmm.  I don't get very much wind noise.  Almost zero. I ride a dual sport bike which is louder than the tourer I had.  Make sure the mic is pointed in the right direction and advanced noise control is enabled (pg 62).   With Mesh you can mute your mic and keep the connection which you cannot do with the 20s. (pg 71).  You can play with the audio multi-tasking adjustment or  just  enable intercom- audio overlay volume management which keeps the music from ducking down when the mesh intercom is on - wind does not affect it. (pg 73-74)  I find it a good improvement over the 20s.  I agree that they should still allow multitasking for the regular intercom mode that the 20s since many folks still have them and I have to regularly pair with them.  

• 0
  
  Fred April 15, 2018 15:23

  Please explain how to mute the mic in Mesh intercom mode.  It appears to me to be controlled by the VOX circuit, which will open the mics if it picks up too much wind noise.

• 0
  
  Rob Watson June 29, 2018 02:57

  Fred

  Don't understand why you are not able to mute your mike in mesh. I and my friends are always in mesh and when we are done talking I push the center button on the jog dial like you do in Bluetooth and it shuts the intercom off, then I push it again or say "hello sena mesh" and it lets us talk again.  

• 0
  
  Ken Kimari June 29, 2018 05:50

  in mesh you can mute and unmute the mic by pressing the mesh button for one second (the one that is on top of the unit and is exposed when the antenna is up) for one second.  Unit says "mike on" or "mike off".  Antenna must be raised for mesh to work properly.  Read the manual on mesh operation for more details on mesh operation.  Pgs 63-74.