My Sena 20S experience

So last Saturday morning I left home for a Lap of Kentucky proof-ride. Thursday I picked up a Sena 20S to replace a damaged Cardo PacTalk. This I did because my riding buddie has a Sena 20S and raved about all of it's capabilities.

In two of the four days of riding we were in some heavy rainfall.

Saturday was sunny bright and low 80's for temps. Beautiful day for a 400 mile ride.

Sunday, Jenny Willey State Resort Park, 8:00 AM, it's raining. Not bad, really more like a drizzle. Our Sena 20S's are working as expected. Our first stop is an 90+ miles away. Then the popping starts in the ear pieces, low volume at first but then getting louder. We were using the intercom regularly. Then the volume began to vary. First his was to loud, then mine was uncontrollabe loud. Volume controls did not work. Then none of the pushbutton commands would work on my unit. I could not even turn it off. That is how the day went. Mostly without comms. I suspected rain was the culprit so I put my helmet and Sena on the room AC unit to try to dry it out.

Monday, Dale Hollow State Resort Park, another clear comfortable day. Sena 20S worked well with just a couple of bothersome quirks. They mostly cleared up by the end of the day.

Tuesday, Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, Rain. Didn't get 20 miles until the Sena started acting up. Clicking in the earpieces, no volume control for various functions, then pushbuttons quit working.

I called Sens today to find out what was going on with our units. Without hesitation the technician said the units are not water resistant. Not waterproof, not even water resistant!

I asked him why there is no mention of this in any documentation, in print or on-line anywhere. His response, "Who rides in the rain anyway?"

I guess I'm done with Sena.

Has anyone else had these kind of issues or know of a workaround?

ponydrvr, are they going to replace the unit?
I know electronics and water, don't usually do well together, but sometimes you get caught, in the elements. Any reputable company would replace it, I would hope.
I have a sena 10s, I would hope that they would stand behind their product , if something happens to mine. I would like to know how you make out, thanks.

Rich


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I purchased the Sena from Cycle Gear. I have been a long time customer and the staff and manager knows me well. After explaining the issues I was immediately offered a full refund. Sena, however doeas not appear to be willing to stand behind their product as does Cycle Gear. I called Sena, talked to an engineering tech, he informed me that their units are not rain resistant and certainly not waterproof. Sure enough there is no claim of fitness for use in a normal motorcycling environment. I completely overlooked that there was not a single IP XX rating (Ingress Protection). To make it even more embarassing, I knew that electronic motorcycle gear needs a minumum IP 67 Rating and simply overlooked it not being there.

I thanked him for his time and response and went immediately to Cycle Gear for return. No problem.

I also purchased an SR10 earlier last week. While at Cycle Gear the mgr and I tried to pair up the SR10 to a Cardo PacTalk. The pairing was easy and seemed to work. I needed a device similar to an SR10 to couple an FRS, GMRS, and/or CB radio. I ride with several groups and they each use different means of communication. Hopefully I can find somewhere to protect the SR10 from weather.

I needed to replace my exisiting PacTalk thanks to a careless HD rider who knocked my helmet and bike over then ran off. I have one due in next week.

Those looking for Bluetooth helmet headsets give ebay a few searches before you spend $250 for one. IMHO those "name"brand" headsets are extremely overpriced when I can get one that works just as well for $50 or less... AND water proof. They're probably all made in China.

randy you may well be right. The kicker comes in when you try to do some of the higher level things like pairing with multiple inputs, comm systems, meeting various performance standards. For example I looked at two "off branded" units that would support only BT 2.1 and BT 3.0. Others that used a propritary audio standard and would not interface to other branded units. It has been my experience that you get what you pay for ... most of the time.

I'm pretty happy with my UClear HBC100 Plus units. Music bluetoothed from my crappy phone is loud enough to hear through my 33db foam earplugs. I can enjoy tunes at highway speeds. Phone works well as does passenger intercom. I like that the mics are built into the speakers so there is no boom. Makes it easy to install in a modular helmet. The mics work well. My helmet is really noisy, so the noise overwhelms the noise cancellation at around 50mph, but I can still hear my wife behind me quite clearly. The placement of the speakers is critical to transmit and receive functions though. And, to the point of your thread, the HBC manual says: " The weather resistant engineered design ensures the possibility of communication rain or shine. " I have only soaked mine one time, but there was no harm to the unit.