Communication Devices

I've often wondered, with the limited range and rather frequent difficulty I see with people trying to get their S20 devices to work together, why radios like this aren't more popular for motorcycling?

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001WMFYH4

Surely there's a way to connect in-helmet speakers with radios like this for robust, easy to use, long range communication?

Some obvious drawbacks that I see are - with bluetooth it's easy to get audio from your phone (music, gps guidance, calls), but I'm not sure that in ADV riding that's worth the significant trade in range - perhaps a mile LOS on the 2.4GHz devices, where FRS/GPRS are 36 miles LOS and probably 10+ miles non-LOS.

I used a pair of Midland radios before I bought my first SENA unit, I've never looked back... less bulk, no battery issues and much simpler for day to day use....

Really? I have to be honest, I havn't seen a day where people tried to use Senas in groups when they didn't have constant hassle with them - if they got them to work at all.

With a GPRS radio you just go to channel X, nothing could be simpler - granted, there are absolutely losses in functionality to be considered.

They're just clunky and awkward physically, they work great! The SENA units work very well if you and everyone your pairing with have the latest software updates and honestly, I'd venture to say that 95% of the "issues" you've witnessed were operator error in reality! You need to use them often enough to be familiar with their vast abilities and personally I don't seem to do that and I'll take the blame for the problems I've experienced! Any issues that I had previously had seemed to completely go away with a factory reset and software update! Pairing and connecting and communication was incredible once I did that! Just my experience...

This is what I used with my pair of Midlands....

Midland AVPH2 Closed Face Helment Headset for Midland GMRS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CMGJ0G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qMKMzbSNRKBR6

Honestly, S20s aren't super intuitive .. you have to do your homework on learning how to use them/set them up. Also, SENA's video how to's kind of suck.. so you really have to just tinker with them to learn how they work best.

When I ride with my wife, they work awesomely. Pair up immediately, great audio, tremendous battery life- they're worth every penny.

In larger groups,things become a bit more difficult, and I think I know why. These things run off Bluetooth- which is a great protocol for many purposes, but it can have difficulty in areas with really high channel saturation. Almost everyone in a group ride has a smart phone and BT is usually enabled on most of them. Then you factor in line-of-site, and that further complicates the chain.

So, what you end up having  is much like going to a crowded dr's office, full of crying children, and trying to have a conversation with several people 10-30 feet away. The sena units have to filter a ton of cross chatter on the protocol level, which is made more difficult by folks not all being on the same software revision, etc.

They can be finicky, i totally agree.. but it think most of the issues are unintentionally created by the people using them, to be honest