Sena 50S/R

[jmdaniel]

Hey, has anyone picked up one of the new Sena models? I have one on order, to take the place of my 20S, and was looking for real world reviews.

[shortleg0521]

Has your 20s quit or do feel the need for new?

[jmdaniel]

Has your 20s quit or do feel the need for new?

It still works, but is getting on in years, and the battery has always been a sore spot. Sometimes it lasts 6 hours, sometimes, (including last Saturday), it lasts 2. Sena has a trade in program going right now, and they are crediting me $135 to send in my 20S, with freight paid by them. That drops the cost of the new unit below $200, so not bad. The 20S doesn't have mesh technology, which is supposed to be easier to link to other riders.

[indadman]

Does anyone have a comment on performance of the new Sena units...particularly music quality?

[Audiochris90]

I did a 50s. Worked great untill update. As usual for sena that messed it up. Returned it. Got another on the way. Also got a new helmet so I got a packtalk bold. That thing works good. The sena had the best sound for music though. Keep your 20s.

[Audiochris90]

If anyone gets a 50s do not update to the 1.03 version. You will not be happy. Worked well out of the box. Use the non wi fi charge cable. They include one that will auto update the unit. So on day two after update, It lost voice commands and phone use. Man it sounds so good with music.On the sena forum the 50r (slim) did ok with update.

[Audiochris90]

Also be advised if you hook up with more than 3 friends they will need to be mesh capable. The old 20s could do 8 i think on regular Bluetooth. And sena mesh is not compatible with packtalk mesh. And neither packtalk or sena work well with my garmin 595 gps! If you want the phone and text message to show on the garmin you loose the voice commands on the packtalk. Did not have the sena long enough to check that with the new sena.

[jmdaniel]

I did a 50s. Worked great untill update. As usual for sena that messed it up. Returned it. Got another on the way. Also got a new helmet so I got a packtalk bold. That thing works good. The sena had the best sound for music though. Keep your 20s.

I'm on 1.03 with my 50S, and it works fine. I'm very happy with the battery life. As far as hooking up with a bunch of other riders, I can't say I do that often anyway. I ride solo a fair amount, and when I'm not solo, I'd rather listen to music than others yapping...

[Audiochris90]

Well that is good news. I thought I might have a defective unit. My x told me that.;) Hey look at your sena app. Mine said sena 50s 1.01 version 1.03. What does your say? Also thinking of going to to rally. You want to ride along? Okc here.

[Audiochris90]

JM, did you buy from Sena? I went Amazon on 2nd unit. 1st one from cyclegear.

[jmdaniel]

JM, did you buy from Sena? I went Amazon on 2nd unit. 1st one from cyclegear. I bought mine direct from Sena. It was about $50 more than Amazon, but Sena gave me $135 for my old 20S, which they only did if you bought from them.

[Audiochris90]

The new 50s is working well. A few issues updating it on windows. Had to plug into back of pc. And turn off windows device driver signing requirement. And practice voice commands. Works good now.

[jmdaniel]

The new 50s is working well. A few issues updating it on windows. Had to plug into back of pc. And turn off windows device driver signing requirement. And practice voice commands. Works good now.

What is "Windows"? :cool:

[Audiochris90]

So imo, with a comparison of the 20s with iasus speakers, a packtalk bold jbl with 45 mm speakers and the sena 50s with stock speakers i find the sena 50s to have the best sound for music out of all. Thats what i use it for most commonly. Also the 50s speakers are fairly thin. I would have put money on the packtalk being best but imo its not. Now the packtalk does work its features better as in noise canceling and voice commands but i think those are issues that might be addressed by updates. Please share your experience. Had I not tried the new sena I would be happy with the packtalk. This all started with a quest to get a new helmet to replace an old neotec. Its so comfortable. The neotec 2 is nice but at 4lbs I thought I would find something lighter. Best replacement I found for the old neotec so far is the Bell SRT and Schuberth c3pro.

[Vandal]

I have the 50s and I am not happy with the audio quality, I can barely hear the music.

[Jimmytee]

I'm thinking of updating to the new 50s. I'm still using my 10s. I upgraded the speakers last year after buying a new Goldwing. I used speakers from a set of Panasonic headphones I bought on Amazon. The sound is great. So I don't have a lot of reason to upgrade except I understand that the new models allow you to still hear your music while on intercom. Is that true?

[Audiochris90]

I'm thinking of updating to the new 50s. I'm still using my 10s. I upgraded the speakers last year after buying a new Goldwing. I used speakers from a set of Panasonic headphones I bought on Amazon. The sound is great. So I don't have a lot of reason to upgrade except I understand that the new models allow you to still hear your music while on intercom. Is that true?

As I understand info from sena help desk community forum the 50s will do it if your on a mesh intercom, ie talking to someone with a 30k or another 50 s or r. If your using regular Bluetooth to talk to a 10s or 20s the music will stop when someone talks then resume. I have not checked this all out yet but will let you know as jmdaniel and I might try it if he’s game at the no frills rally to Colorado in September. Check out the comments on sena’s forum.

[Audiochris90]

I have the 50s and I am not happy with the audio quality, I can barely hear the music.

Hey vandal try doing a factory reset and then a fault reset with a paper clip while powered on. It will go off when you poke it enough. Also happened to me once, make sure phone volume is at max. My 50s is very loud. What kinda helmet you have?

[Audiochris90]

I'm thinking of updating to the new 50s. I'm still using my 10s. I upgraded the speakers last year after buying a new Goldwing. I used speakers from a set of Panasonic headphones I bought on Amazon. The sound is great. So I don't have a lot of reason to upgrade except I understand that the new models allow you to still hear your music while on intercom. Is that true?
Weren’t you the guy with the killer audio system? You got a new bike? I think I could hear your bike speakers here in Oklahoma!

[Jimmytee]

Weren’t you the guy with the killer audio system? You got a new bike? I think I could hear your bike speakers here in Oklahoma!

:headbang: Yep and yes I still have the F6B and a Valkyrie. I bought a 2019 DCT Tour July of last year. With how everything is integrated on the new Wing, I wanted to see how well I could make the in helmet audio go instead. I'm pretty happy with the speaker upgrade to my helmet. Don't really feel the need for the blasting speakers on the new bike. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but now I can hear my music with decent quality and not have my ears feel like they've been assaulted after spending all day in the saddle.:icon_wink: Plus, I gave up a saddlebag for a sub and amplifier. No luggage space lost. Basically, I still have the F6B if I choose to ride and share my music.:cool:

[Jimmytee]

As I understand info from sena help desk community forum the 50s will do it if your on a mesh intercom, ie talking to someone with a 30k or another 50 s or r. If your using regular Bluetooth to talk to a 10s or 20s the music will stop when someone talks then resume. I have not checked this all out yet but will let you know as jmdaniel and I might try it if he’s game at the no frills rally to Colorado in September. Check out the comments on sena’s forum.

Well, I know with my 10s , Once I initiate coms with a push of the Jog/Dial button, the music is gone, but returns when I end the coms with another push. Like I said, I thought I had read or heard the newer models still allowed you to hear your music while in intercom. That would be nice.

[Vandal]

Hey vandal try doing a factory reset and then a fault reset with a paper clip while powered on. It will go off when you poke it enough. Also happened to me once, make sure phone volume is at max. My 50s is very loud. What kinda helmet you have?

I will give it a shot, I gave up on my ride to Sturgis and just cracked the visor and played through the bike stereo. I have a Shoei RF-1200 with upgraded iASUS speakers, should be excellent. Thanks for the tip.

[Audiochris90]

Well, I know with my 10s , Once I initiate coms with a push of the Jog/Dial button, the music is gone, but returns when I end the coms with another push. Like I said, I thought I had read or heard the newer models still allowed you to hear your music while in intercom. That would be nice.
Yea I ment with music on and a mesh intercom conversation, the music volume will dip to hear the intercom conversation. On a regular Bluetooth intercom conversation the 50 s basically runs out of Bluetooth connections so it will temporarily drop its connection to the phone and then looses music. Again this info is from a post on the sena community forum. I have no first hand experience with intercom yet.

[Audiochris90]

:headbang: Yep and yes I still have the F6B and a Valkyrie. I bought a 2019 DCT Tour July of last year. With how everything is integrated on the new Wing, I wanted to see how well I could make the in helmet audio go instead. I'm pretty happy with the speaker upgrade to my helmet. Don't really feel the need for the blasting speakers on the new bike. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but now I can hear my music with decent quality and not have my ears feel like they've been assaulted after spending all day in the saddle.:icon_wink: Plus, I gave up a saddlebag for a sub and amplifier. No luggage space lost. Basically, I still have the F6B if I choose to ride and share my music.:cool:

So did you do a thread on your helmet speakers yet? I run the iasus helmet speakers. They are great but designed for a military style throat mic so the left is long and right is short cable. So the left and right have to be reversed. That makes the sound out of phase they call it. It still sounds great. We should compare. You should ride out for the no frills rally in Colorado in September. Come by OKC and Ill ride out with ya.

[Jimmytee]

Yea I ment with music on and a mesh intercom conversation, the music volume will dip to hear the intercom conversation. On a regular Bluetooth intercom conversation the 50 s basically runs out of Bluetooth connections so it will temporarily drop its connection to the phone and then looses music. Again this info is from a post on the sena community forum. I have no first hand experience with intercom yet.

On the Wing, all my audio goes through the Goldwing. My phone and headset are paired to the Wing. But it is a Bluetooth connection , so I suppose it would be similar. Recently did an update to the Wing that gives me Android Auto. It came with Car Play, but I'm a droid person. Really dig being able to have all my apps and Google maps are enabled through voice command.

[Jimmytee]

So did you do a thread on your helmet speakers yet? I run the iasus helmet speakers. They are great but designed for a military style throat mic so the left is long and right is short cable. So the left and right have to be reversed. That makes the sound out of phase they call it. It still sounds great. We should compare. You should ride out for the no frills rally in Colorado in September. Come by OKC and Ill ride out with ya.
I haven't done a thread on it , but I got it from this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QpgDCYyRcY I did it. Bought a set of the Panasonic headphones on Amazon. Cost me $20. The headphones are normally $60, but most ofteb if you pick the right color, you canfind them for much cheaper. Color doesn't matter because it's only the speakers you're using. Don't know how they compare to the speakers with the 50S, but they sound great and so much better than the stock.

You know I would love to come out west. Been wanting to get back to Colorado since I was there 2 year ago. The dates would be hard for me I think.