Cardo Scala Rider G4 Powerset

[why_me]

Just got a set of these the other day. I was tired of not being able to figure out what DPH was trying to tell me when we were riding, especially through congested areas. These are fully bluetooth units claiming up to a mile of comms between bikes, more than enough for us as we generally never get more than a quarter mile from each other.

We also both picked up some new 3/4 helmets to mount them in. Since we seem to get caught in the rain on almost every ride we go on, the half shells weren't cutting it and the full faced would just fog over from lack of airflow after a few miles, going with the 3/4 made sense. DPH borrowed someone's 3/4 coming back from WI a few years ago when we were once again caught in the rain and it seemed to work well for her with not fogging up to the point of not being able to see while rolling.

So far, I am fairly impressed with these, though due to weather, I haven't been able to road test them yet. I may need to play with the VOX on the microphone a bit to get it right, seemed I had to talk loud and constantly for it to stay open. Right now I have the G4 connected to my Zumo so I can get my turn by turn directions on the road, along with MP3's that I have loaded on a card in the Zumo. I then have my phone connected to the Zumo to give me caller ID and a way to have both deviced hooked up and relayed to the headset at the same time. Important for when my daughter calls from home while we are riding with something urgent...she's good about not crying wolf. Since DPH's iPod had Bluetooth built in, I'll get that connected for her so she has tunes on the bike as well.

Supposedly, these things are good for 13 hours talk time and days on standby. More than good enough for any of the rides we go on between charges. I'll have to see how accurate that is. In all, if it works as well as the MFG desrciption and customer reviews say it does, I think this will be something very usefull for DPH and I as we head out for the various rides this year. Got a decent price on them through Amazon, $369 shipped for the pair.

I'll give a ride report after I get the chance to see how they work on the road. I remember a while back there were discussions about similar devices that could wirelessly get rid of your earbuds, connect your MP3 player, and give you a way to communicate to other riders, hopefully this lives up to that.

[Type O]

where'sthe pic so we can see what they look like

[why_me]

Antenna down, then up, and the boom mic from the front.

[Bone Stockman]

The IS-33 is a great helmet too Ed.

[why_me]

I like it so far, comfy. I haven't road tested it either, yet, but DPH has the same helmet, different color, and likes it.

[RKotter]

I've been looking at the G4 and the Sena SMH10 for a while now. They have great reviews on webbikeworld. Got a birthday coming up and was asked what I wanted - so I'm anxious for a report.

Hurry up...

(And another vote for the IS-33's)

[d j]

Cool. I'm intrested in what y'all think of them.

[Bone Stockman]

I looked really hard at a Bluetooth setup like that. I liked the idea that I'd be able to talk to Dana on either bike. But the onboard system on the BSL is so good that I couldn't justify the additional expense, especially since I'd need 3 of them (one for Katie too).

With you two riding separate bikes, these make all the sense in the world.

[why_me]

Played with the intercom around the house last night between DPH and I. It works very well when you manually open a channel and talk to one another. Sound in the helmet is suprisingly clear. I'm going to bluetooth link her iPod touch to her today and play around a bit with that. I noticed when connecting it to my Zumo, I didn't get true stereo sound from it, but that may very well be due to the older bluetooth standards that the Zumo has, I don't think it has the A2DP standard.

One thing that I think could be worlds better on this....

For the bike to bike communications, they should have went with FRS/GMRS radios rather than bluetooth. For those that don't know, these are the talkabout type radios that many use for hunting and camping and so forth. They have a range at low power of 2 miles, and at high power of 5 miles, all from a 2-3 inch tall rubber duck antenna. Up to 22 channels to choose from, and would allow you to easily have a chase vehicle in communications with the group as well. I love the bluetooth for connectivity to devices like phones, iPods, and GPS systems...even rider to passenger intercoms for those with bikes that don't have it built in like the Ultras (no feedback on the line from being too close with bluetooth), but when you try to go bike to bike, they should have went with something a bit more powerful and universal. The limitations of bluetooth make it good for small groups, but not so much for a larger group to all stay connected.

Just make sure you are getting the right device for your needs. This one suits my for my needs right now. We'll have to see what the future holds from here, I guess.

[FinalBags]

I have a Chatterbox and it's still in the box. That lump on the side of my helmet is mainly what I didn't like. I'll just keep plugging in the coiled cord. If anyone wants a Chatterbox at a good price, holla.

[why_me]

We took the Teamset out for a trial run today. I am impressed so far with the comms between bikes. At one point, I legged it out to about a half mile in front of DPH and we could still hear each other very well, no choppy-ness to the audio stream, at one point there was an overpass between us and the audio quality was the same. One small complaint I have right now is that the priority order of connected devices cannot be changed. The GPS over rides all other inputs. This becomes a problem when I am streaming MP3's from the GPS to the headset...DPH can't break in with comms to me. Due to my Zumo being an older model, it isn't A2DP and therefore has to be linked in mono at the top spot. One of 2 things would fix this, upgrade to a Zumo 650 with A2DP bluetooth and lower it's pecking order in the device list, or get an external module that would transmit the GPS audio as A2DP in stereo lower in the order. Obviously, the module is much less expensive, so this will most likely be the way I go.

Wind noise while talking wasn't too bad. I had more wind noise in my helmet from the stiff cross winds we were riding in today than I has in DPH's transissions, so the noise cancelling is working well. I have to adjust the sensitivity of the VOX to make it so I didn't need to yell for a few seconds to open the comm channel. Though the old setting may be better for those that like to sing while riding when listening to music. DPH was listening to her iPod touch while we were out riding, it seemed to do pretty well, even better after adjusting a few settings on the iPod EQ. It did appear to disconnect once while we had the comm channel open for quite a while chatting. After reviewing a few things, it seems that she could have reconnected to it without having to take it out and manually doing it. That will be a test for the next time...maybe after dinner.

The FM radio built in to the headset works well. The software allows you to set up to 6 preset stations to listen to. The automatic gain control makes it so the volume is good at all riding speeds or stopped.

In all, so far, I am happy with these for a music/comm device for us to use while going from point A to point B. Not perfect, but they are certainly starting to close in on it. I would still like it to use a GMRS/FRS type radio for the bike to bike comms. Much more distance between bikes could be achieved, plus more bikes could be on the same frequency for group rides, and you could also easily include chase vehicles into the mix. I guess the biggest problem to overcome would be the size of it. As Randy said above, the wort hanging off the side of the helmet can only be so big before you start looking like the great Gazoo or something.

[Bone Stockman]

Ed,

Wondering if y'all are still happy with these? I'm looking to add one to my new lid, and sync the iPhone and Zumo 665.

[BluesFan]

My Q2s (?) work pretty well. 1/2 mile range, been close to that.

No software settings for the FM

A couple of issues w wind noise and VOX level. Got to figure out if that is tuneable.

If not, I may sell these and buy the G4s. About $100 more

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Droid 2 Global and Tapatalk install #6

[why_me]

Overall, I am very happy with them. I have had one issue with them when my iPod is BT tethered to it as far as music goes. When I open the channel to DPH to talk with her, it pauses the music and does not unpause it all the time when the channel is closed like it is supposed to. It has at times caused me to dig it out of my pocket and manually unpause it. If you use the supplied cord to attach your MP3 player to it, it doesn't pause the iPod, but works consistently otherwise. I have had one problem where the units became unpaired from each other. Downloaded the manual to my Droid and was able to pair them back up easily, have the manual saved to my Droid now for just in case. I haven't tried making any calls with it, but from just talking headset to headset, I can say that the noise cancelling is great, I could only assume that it would be the same when connecting to the iPhone. Once linked with my Zumo, it has worked flawlessly with interrupting and giving the turn by turn directions. I am very happy that I have them, for local stuff, I just want to get my FM radio stations programmed in (my laziness paying off in droves )