September 15, 2018
(A big Yay for full-duplex headsets in general,
An equally big BOO for Sena’s quality and execution.)
They call these Sena headsets “Marriage Savers” and I think that’s an apt description.
Trying to be heard from the helm at the bow or the other way around requires a raised voice. No matter how much kindness we try to infuse in our speech, when loud, it usually comes across as angry. And hand signals don’t work for us, and it’s not because we’re slow, it’s just that they can’t work. She’s looking forward and concentrating on the anchor chain. I want to let her know that she needs to stop letting chain out at 150′ instead of the 180′ I’d originally said. She doesn’t have eyes in the back of her head! (That is, unless I try to sneak something by her!) How’s she supposed to see my hand signal? And I have to scream to be heard above noise of the windlass and chain.
Enter Bluetooth 5 headsets. These are full duplex and that’s key. You can both talk and be heard at the same time. (Talking at the same time is something, after almost 30 years of marriage, we’re very practiced at.) You don’t have to push a talk button. That’s important as with the other “walkie-talkie” solutions we’ve tried, we’d both push the talk button at the same time and then get mad that the other person didn’t respond.
These expensive headsets are the solution to all these issues and I don’t know how we’ve done without them. But their execution – quality and functionality – leaves something to be desired. For the most part, they work fine, until they don’t. We’ve only had them about three months and in that time, they have failed several times – always at the most inopportune time, like coming in through a shallow and narrow entrance just the other day. And when they fail, it’s really critical. Cyndi, on the bow, could have been saying “stop, there’s a rock right ahead” and I wouldn’t have known. She couldn’t know that I wasn’t receiving her urgent warning. Crash! It didn’t happen, but it could have.
The problem is that the firmware is buggy. Sometimes, they won’t turn on. Sometimes, they just turn off for no reason. One speaker on mine goes out randomly. Also, the plastic seems rather flimsy. I’m not impressed with the quality, especially at $179 each (from Amazon – and you need two!).
I wish I had a better solution. I think I will give these a try when we get to NZ this cyclone season.
They are from AliExpress – the Chinese version of Amazon. They are only about $40 each. Since they are meant to be installed in a motorcycle helmet, I’ll need to find some way to head-mount them. Maybe I can hack them on to an inexpensive set of headphones for that.
I’ve bought from AliExpress before and I was very impressed. At first, I was put off by the long delivery times quoted but a friend who’d used them a lot said that this was just to protect themselves and that everything he’d ordered had come in about a week. My previous order arrived in NZ in five days. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from them again.
You can search the AliExpress, Amazon (they actually have a lot of them) or the internet for “Bluetooth intercom,” Bluetooth motorcycle intercom” or similar. I think it’s important that they are Bluetooth 5 and that they are full-duplex. Waterproof is nice too.
By the way, we have found other uses for our Sena headsets. They are amazing for those trips up the mast.
(It sounds from this like we have a terrible relationship, but that’s absolutely not the case. Being married to Cyndi has been a thirty year long magical, amazing experience! It’s only when separated by 38 feet of boat that things get dicey.)
-Rich
Update: We made our own headsets!
