Just "Pulled the Pin" - Sena S20's

Z00KA

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Amazon had a pretty good deal on a pair of Sena S20's, (one for me and one for the wife) so I "pulled the pin" and get to play with them over the weekend!

Sold her on the idea of being able to communicate without lifting the shields on our full-face helmets, and me "craning" my neck... AND...the safety concern of making and receiving calls with my Android phone when I'm riding solo!

Kind of cool that it has the potential of comm'ing
 

ace50

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Z00KA said:
Sold her on the idea of being able to communicate without lifting the shields on our full-face helmets, and me "craning" my neck... AND...the safety concern of making and receiving calls with my Android phone when I'm riding solo!
Good idea.
I almost headed off the road when the ONE time my wife rode with me, I turned around to ask if everything was OK, turned back around and....................................................nearly an "Oh sh_t" moment!
Maybe that's why she won't ride anymore! ::010::
 

Checkswrecks

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It'll transform the experience. My lady won't ride without them.
 

moose

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We got a set of Cardo Scala's when my wife was learning to ride and they were great, I was able to give her real time help and tips while riding. Recently we upgraded to a set of Sena 20S, so much better, but in fairness the tech has evolved in the meantime.
Definitely worth the investment for anyone pondering it.
 

Dirt_Dad

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Good call getting comms. My wife and I consider them an essential part of riding. We both feel better about the early warning I can give her about debris in the road, or a car coming around the corner. Chances are you'll come to really appreciate the improvement these make to your riding enjoyment.

I'll be interested in your thoughts of the 20S. We recently changed from the SMH10 to the 20S. So far the new ones have been a huge disappointment. The range has been much worse than the SMH10 and the volume has been marginal at best. Sena has told us to do a reset. Done that but it will be another week before we get out together again to see if that worked. Hope your experience is better than ours.
 

Checkswrecks

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Dirt_Dad said:
Good call getting comms. My wife and I consider them an essential part of riding. We both feel better about the early warning I can give her about debris in the road, or a car coming around the corner. Chances are you'll come to really appreciate the improvement these make to your riding enjoyment.

I'll be interested in your thoughts of the 20S. We recently changed from the SMH10 to the 20S. So far the new ones have been a huge disappointment. The range has been much worse than the SMH10 and the volume has been marginal at best. Sena has told us to do a reset. Done that but it will be another week before we get out together again to see if that worked. Hope your experience is better than ours.

I'm surprised because the 20S has outperformed my SMH10 in every way.
 

Dirt_Dad

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Checkswrecks said:
I'm surprised because the 20S has outperformed my SMH10 in every way.
I'm hoping the reset works. When you and I were connected that day we never got that far apart. My wife and I dropped at surprisingly close distances. And just a few trees blocked the 20s far more than ever happened with the SMH10s. Again, hoping the reset works.
 

Gigitt

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Turn of HD Audio and raise the antenna... and range will increase.

we certainly did not get 1000m

also make sure you pair correctly... there are a few different ways to pair.
I have not worked out the bost for long distance comms.

I run iPhone, Gamin Zumo 590 GPS and Comms to another 20s and this makes pairing FUN!
 

Dirt_Dad

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Both antennas were up. Have not tried turning off the HD. Will do that next if the reset doesn't work. I've paired it the way I always have with the SMH10. I would like to at least the same performance (distance wise) as I did out of the SMH10. I bought them for the claimed longer distance, but initial test did not come close.
 

VPS1

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Re: Just "Pulled the Pin" - Sena S20's

Sena service is excellent, give them a call. We had some issues with streaming music but the intercoms are flawless even with us on 2 bikes. You may have a defective unit.
 

Defekticon

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My 20s has always been rock solid. My wife has the SMH 10 in her helmet. She rides pillion so range hasn't been an issue. If she gets her license I'll probably look at a 20s for her. My 10u has been more of a disappointment, but I refuse to give up on it because it's integrated in the helmet with nothing to catch on. I like the stealth factor. That said, it will not pair with a Garmin 665lm. Which irritated me so bad I sold the Garmin unit. 20S worked, most of the time. Occasionally had to reset the Garmin to get it to connect with A2DP. I've given up on that and just listen to Google play music through my phone. Audio quality is great, although I hear they've come out with upgraded headphones that have better bass response.
 

RhodeTrip

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The 20S does off some nice features, the one thing that I miss from my SMH10 is I can't seem to go to a music play list on my iPhone using voice commands.
Jim
 

Defekticon

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I'm not sure if the iPhone works like this, but I can hit a button on the Sena remote (The back button) and it triggers the android voice commands. So I just say "Play album on an island - by david gilmour" and it's playing the album. Or I can say play on an island radio, which will give me a mix of songs in a similar genre. This feature makes/breaks a long ride on the bike so I don't have to stop and fiddlefart with the phone.
 

RIDEMYST

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Re: Just "Pulled the Pin" - Sena S20's

We upgraded from the Sena 10 units to the 20S units. A nice improvement but line of sight is essential for the intercom feature. Best advice is to familiarize yourself with all of the (many) technical features both listed in the manual and on U Tube. -JEP-


Sent by using these little bitty keys on my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Use2btrix

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How is the volume on the speakers if you don't use the ear bud attachments? Like, is music clear when you're going 75?

Also, can the speakers be mounted in most helmets or do you need more specific ones?

Ear buds tend to hurt my ears after long trips and my wife rides on back for long trips and it'd be great to be able to talk. If I still need ear buds to hear well that could be a deal breaker though. My current Bluetooth head phones work fine for music and voice navigation in the mean time.
 

RIDEMYST

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Re: Just "Pulled the Pin" - Sena S20's

I use custom ear buds and both the volume and fidelity is fine. Yes the generic ear buds not only hurt my ears but also do not block wind noise very well. Google Now Hear This or Eariffic both good products or PM me for phone numbers


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Gigitt

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Use2btrix said:
How is the volume on the speakers if you don't use the ear bud attachments? Like, is music clear when you're going 75?

Also, can the speakers be mounted in most helmets or do you need more specific ones?

Ear buds tend to hurt my ears after long trips and my wife rides on back for long trips and it'd be great to be able to talk. If I still need ear buds to hear well that could be a deal breaker though. My current Bluetooth head phones work fine for music and voice navigation in the mean time.
Speaker will fit in helmets. you might have to remove some padding to find the space. some helmets already have depression in the styrofoam where speakers go.

Quality wise- well what the use of hi fiselity headphone or earphones with all that wind noise.

The stock speakers are fine I have custom ear molds and i can here music gps and converstions fine with them.

Just make sure that the speaker sits forawrd and is over the ear hole and does not sit touching the rear of the ear - as that gets uncomfortable.
 

2112

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The 20's are a cracking piece of kit and will change your riding dynamics. Myself & Littledave used them all the way through Europe last year and they were fantastic, clear and loud (I even wore ear plugs with mine). The range isn't quite what the manufacturer claims but is more than adequate, the battery life is impressive too.
 

AVGeek

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I second the use of custom molded earbuds, far more comfortable than generic ones. In addition, using them helps with battery life on my SMH10, as I don't have to crank it up to hear music over the wind noise.
 

Use2btrix

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Re: Just "Pulled the Pin" - Sena S20's

RIDEMYST said:
I use custom ear buds and both the volume and fidelity is fine. Yes the generic ear buds not only hurt my ears but also do not block wind noise very well. Google Now Hear This or Eariffic both good products or PM me for phone numbers


Sent by using these little bitty keys on my iPhone using Tapatalk
Are these something you can order or do you have to find a store and go get fitted and all that? What type of price range?

Just trying to factor this in if its going to seem like a pretty necessary cost past the s20's.

I did a Google search on both brands mentioned here and came up pretty empty handed.
 
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