Strike 3....Sena is out

lund

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I simply HATE intercoms, wife and I have both the Sena and Cardo and currently using the Sena.
She makes me wear it, if I can I'll leave it OFF or accidently forget it. LOL
She likes all those electronic gadgets including Gopro and Bluetooth, it drives me nuts. Rather ride then be playing with that stuff.

It is just this simple, when I ride, Its me and the bike with the fresh air and nothing else so buzzoff and leave me alone. Thus the freedom of riding solo comes in play, I hardly ever ride with others, other than the wife but rather ride alone and never in groups. Riding for me is like therapy and a way to reflect collecting my thoughts.
 

fac191

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As far as I know Mesh is different than Bluetooth, it is a Mesh network that others with the same Mesh capability can join. You can have your Mesh connected to another rider but still have 2 other items hooked up to Bluetooth devices (like a phone or a GPS). I can't tell you the science behind it but my understanding is it is a different system.
Had a look into it. Quite frankly i think they are misleading people. It's a marketing thing. As far as i can see it's still using Blutooth to transmit the data between the headsets. The difference is that non mesh Comms communicate directly between them but with the mesh Comms all the riders are linked together in a network to make the signal stronger and more reliable. Same thing with TV and Radio more people tuned in the stronger the signal. I stand to be corrected by a higher mind !
 

fac191

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I like it when 2 up. Another pair of eyes to look out for everything so you can concentrate on the road.
 

WJBertrand

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I think the mesh might be bluetooth based but it seems to be different than conventional bluetooth. Before the Edge came out some of Cardo’s cheaper non-mesh coms, got the latest bluetooth upgrade. These units remained non-mesh compatible however.
So they are, I believe, different protocols.


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Dirt_Dad

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DM strongly wanted comms, I was against it, but did it because...ultimately, she always gets what she wants. I quickly learned, she was right.

I'm able to give her warnings about what's around the corner, and other safety alerts. It greatly reduced the risk of her running into me due to us not thinking the same route at the same time. I was able to stop riding while looking at my mirror to make sure she was okay. Overall comms were a huge positive for our riding.

At this point, comm are mandatory when we ride together. When DM's helmet was stolen during a trip, the trip was done until we could find a replacement. Now we just carry a spare set just in case. Came in handy when the Sena died last year.
 

Dirt_Dad

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One thing I've noticed about the Cardo Edge and Garmin XT connection is a conflict with making phone calls. The Edge says it has two bluetooth channels. Great, one for the phone, and one for the Garmin. Something I always hated about the Sena was when the Garmin was giving navigation instructions, the comms with DM were broken. DM could never tell, so when the Garmin started giving instructions, or beeping, or making any sound I would hold my hand high in the air and slap my thumb and fingers together letting her know the GPS was yapping, so I'm off line.

During our living room testing we determined this was no longer the case with the Cardo. The GPS could give instructions, and our comms were still active during that time. Awesome!!... no more disappearing around a corner and being unable to tell her there's a truck coming and cheating into our lane. Win Cardo.

The conflict comes in when saying "hey cardo, speed dial" while the GPS also has the 'allow phone calls' setting turned on. Every time Cardo dials, I see it pop up on the GPS screen, then less than a second later the call is terminated. I've tried this 6 or 8 times, always with the same result. Turn off the ability for the GPS to make calls and the call goes through. That's unfortunate. I believe it means I cannot look at the GPS to know who is calling. The Cardo does play the specific ring tone I have for DM so I can identified that one by sound, but beyond her, and my daughter's specific tone, that's it.
 

Checkswrecks

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The comma are mandatory for us. We had her battery die when coming home from a day in Berkeley Springs WV and ever since, she asks if the batteries are FULLY charged any time we are about to get on the bike.

The Cardo sounds great but the Sena set is working fine so I Have no reason to spend money on a new set.
 

fac191

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I think the mesh might be bluetooth based but it seems to be different than conventional bluetooth. Before the Edge came out some of Cardo’s cheaper non-mesh coms, got the latest bluetooth upgrade. These units remained non-mesh compatible however.
So they are, I believe, different protocols.


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It's Blutooth 5 or above I believe.
 

Dirt_Dad

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The comma are mandatory for us. We had her battery die when coming home from a day in Berkeley Springs WV and ever since, she asks if the batteries are FULLY charged any time we are about to get on the bike.

The Cardo sounds great but the Sena set is working fine so I Have no reason to spend money on a new set.
If my Sena hadn't died I would not have been chomping at the bit to spend money on a new communicator. I was forced to replace one and I knew that money was not going to the failure prone 50S. My backup S20 was not working correctly, so I researched Cardo and pulled the trigger. Jury is still out, but off to a decent start.
 

WJBertrand

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One thing I've noticed about the Cardo Edge and Garmin XT connection is a conflict with making phone calls. The Edge says it has two bluetooth channels. Great, one for the phone, and one for the Garmin. Something I always hated about the Sena was when the Garmin was giving navigation instructions, the comms with DM were broken. DM could never tell, so when the Garmin started giving instructions, or beeping, or making any sound I would hold my hand high in the air and slap my thumb and fingers together letting her know the GPS was yapping, so I'm off line.

During our living room testing we determined this was no longer the case with the Cardo. The GPS could give instructions, and our comms were still active during that time. Awesome!!... no more disappearing around a corner and being unable to tell her there's a truck coming and cheating into our lane. Win Cardo.

The conflict comes in when saying "hey cardo, speed dial" while the GPS also has the 'allow phone calls' setting turned on. Every time Cardo dials, I see it pop up on the GPS screen, then less than a second later the call is terminated. I've tried this 6 or 8 times, always with the same result. Turn off the ability for the GPS to make calls and the call goes through. That's unfortunate. I believe it means I cannot look at the GPS to know who is calling. The Cardo does play the specific ring tone I have for DM so I can identified that one by sound, but beyond her, and my daughter's specific tone, that's it.
I’ve had the best results pairing the phone to the GPS and the Cardo to the GPS, but NOT pairing the phone and Cardo together. That way all calls go through the GPS, I can see who’s calling and place calls using the contacts list transferred from the phone or using the voice commands.

I think pairing the phone to both the GPS and the Cardo causes some weird priority or interference issues.


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bigbob

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The comma are mandatory for us. We had her battery die when coming home from a day in Berkeley Springs WV and ever since, she asks if the batteries are FULLY charged any time we are about to get on the bike.

The Cardo sounds great but the Sena set is working fine so I Have no reason to spend money on a new set.
I loved riding with you and Jon with coms. I knew when I could pass regardless of the zone. Will really miss this. Hell getting old.
 

Dirt_Dad

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I think pairing the phone to both the GPS and the Cardo causes some weird priority or interference issues.
You should see what happens when you add in a Bluetooth enabled TFT to that mix. It all becomes frustrating and quickly worthless.

I loved riding with you and Jon with coms. I knew when I could pass regardless of the zone. Will really miss this. Hell getting old.
Did we pass someone that day?

The Cardo still has regular Bluetooth. I expect to still be able to link on a group ride as before. I've had successful communication between Sena and Cardo in the past.
 

Dirt_Dad

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rob;
I was having some of the same problems with it not recognizing the "hey Cardo" commands.
I read some tips where they said don't talk louder or pause after "hey Cardo" to try to fix the problem, just talk like you normaly would.

However, this is what helped me. When saying Cardo, I think I was being lazy in pronouncing the "o". So I started over emphasising the "o" and that worked for me.
The not pausing works much better for me. I do need to raise my voice some at higher speed.
 

fac191

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I have found that renaming Blutooth Devices to something you recognize better can be helpful if it's possible.
 

fac191

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Something else to consider is you sometimes get an option with Blutooth to always connect to this device. So if you have multiple devices in the same vicinity they will cause confusion to each other. Best to turn off Blutooth on devices you don't wish to connect.
 
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