Signal Strength of Sena 50S?

[ulflyer]

Thinking of upgrading from SMH-10 to something capable of more distance. These drop out quickly in mountain/hilly terrain. Even line of sight signals are rather short.

Can any users of the Sena 50S tell me if, when used by two riders only, they maintain comms around sharp curves and hilly terrain and approx how far before the signal drops out?

[scorpion56]

I just upgraded a few weeks ago from the 20S EVO to 50S and a couple of years before that from SMH10 to 20S EVO. With the 50S, communications between riders is vastly improved because it uses Mesh technology. I can't speak to its effectiveness for just two riders. I use it in a group where several of us have upgraded this year to the 50S/50R and the distance between riders without a clear line-of-sight is at least a half-mile at times. The Sena spec says 1.2 miles in open terrain, but as you know, that spec is under perfect conditions, not real world. Comms remain clean and unbroken. The days of frustration pairing the Sena 10 or 20 series to other riders' Senas before starting a ride are GONE. The big caveat with the 50S is that it's optimal with other Sena Mesh units like the 50R and 30K. It can communicate with older Sena units like the SMH10 and 20 series, but it has to be done on old-style bluetooth (like the SMH10) so you lose the advantage of the Mesh network. And while it has nothing to do with comms, the music quality on the 50S is vastly improved over previous versions. So the takeaway message is that the 50S is very much worth it, BUT only if you are going to communicate using Mesh versus Bluetooth. And that means the other people you are riding with have to be using Sena Mesh products like the 30K and 50S/50R units. Don't think about mixing and matching with Cardo units. Sounds like a mess.

[rjinaz86323]

The group I ride with all use Sena 50S & 50R. While they will or reach the Sena spec there range is not bad. We usually travel in a group of 5 and we can get strung out a ways, But we can still all communicate as long as the gap between any 2 riders is less than about 1/2 mile in fairly flat terrain. In the mountains that distance is shorter.

[ulflyer]

Working with a minimum nr of riders, how long does the battery last? I've read some have said just over 5 hrs, but they do have a quick recharge. Distance is my main priority between two riders only.

Thanks for feedback.

[rjinaz86323]

Some of the early ones had battery life issues. Mine will last all day while listening to music (from phone via BT) and using mesh. I do turn off my mike most of the time though

[Luvs2Ride]

We use Sena 50S... two riders.
Range before experiencing transmission breakup - around 1/2 to 3/4 mile with no obstacles.
Used these while riding our bikes on Skyline Drive last year - no communication problem.
Battery life = guestimate 5 + hours. For our riding... they last longer than we want to be in the saddle and yes, they recharge very quickly.
Very happy with this system.

Ride safe,
Gina J

[Motorcycledave]

Thinking of upgrading from SMH-10 to something capable of more distance. These drop out quickly in mountain/hilly terrain. Even line of sight signals are rather short.

Can any users of the Sena 50S tell me if, when used by two riders only, they maintain comms around sharp curves and hilly terrain and approx how far before the signal drops out?

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[scorpion56]

Battery life is poor - especially if multi-tasking (e.g. music and mesh comms). But they recharge very quickly - like in 30 minutes. I keep a portable battery charger pack in my jacket with a long USB-C cord connected from it to the Sena on all-day rides. I would say that battery life while actively using Sena 50 is in the 4-hour range. Older models were much better (but didn't do as much intense work). Worth it though - just have to have a work-around.

[Motorcycledave]

Battery life is poor - especially if multi-tasking (e.g. music and mesh comms). But they recharge very quickly - like in 30 minutes. I keep a portable battery charger pack in my jacket with a long USB-C cord connected from it to the Sena on all-day rides. I would say that battery life while actively using Sena 50 is in the 4-hour range. Older models were much better (but didn't do as much intense work). Worth it though - just have to have a work-around.

You may want to return the headsets you have to the selling dealer you got them from, if you get very short battery life, you should get up to 12 hours.
I have them on my helmets and I have sold over a hundred sets and have never had a complaint about short battery life. Did you go on line and register
the serial numbers with SENA ? are they under warranty? check the above and if needed have them replace them with new ones.

[Pooch]

We use Sena 50S... two riders.
Range before experiencing transmission breakup - around 1/2 to 3/4 mile with no obstacles.
Used these while riding our bikes on Skyline Drive last year - no communication problem.
Battery life = guestimate 5 + hours. For our riding... they last longer than we want to be in the saddle and yes, they recharge very quickly.
Very happy with this system.

Ride safe,
Gina J

This is our setup and experience also with our just-purchased SENA 50S. Tested the distance yesterday and we got close to a mile before signal dropped when the rider ahead went over a significant hill. Lots of hills and curves here…trying to find a straight shot with minimal traffic to test that signal.
We are having, probably operator, issues and will return to the purchase store to ask questions… but have yet to have “Hey SENA” respond at all.
We are blown away with how clear and sharp discussions between the two riders are… no wind noise WHATSOEVER or any other noise. We were torn between this unit and the Cardo Bold and had no experience with anything other than CB but the salesman personally uses this system and we felt more at ease with having someone to talk to in person about any issues we might have…

[ulflyer]

After reading all the above feedback...thanks a lot to all of you....I called Motorcycle Dave and ordered a dual pack of the 50S. Will add my 2 cents worth after I get them and test them out.

[rjinaz86323]

I just got back from a 3600+ mile trip. The first half was with a group so we were using mesh and I was playing music from my phone. Last half was solo so just music. Very happy with my purchase.

[BionicChewbacca]

We’ve have the Sena 50R’s in our Shoei GT Air 2’s and just came back from 1200(ish) mile trip…. I’m not very happy with my purchase at all �� Either I’ve paired it in the wrong sequence or it’s just plain wonky.
Dropouts between the Wife and I talking, no Garmin voice and no phone. All of this was intermittent at best, most of the trip we had two way after shutting off and re-pairing the two intercoms, that was the only thing that worked the best….overall not impressed with Sena and will probably look into Cardo when I order our modular helmets.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Newer is not always better! Funny how none of these issues plague old fashioned CB!

[rjinaz86323]

Just finished a 5 state trip with 4 other riders. All of us use Sena 50S. Had good comminications at all times.

We’ve have the Sena 50R’s in our Shoei GT Air 2’s and just came back from 1200(ish) mile trip…. I’m not very happy with my purchase at all �� Either I’ve paired it in the wrong sequence or it’s just plain wonky.
Dropouts between the Wife and I talking, no Garmin voice and no phone. All of this was intermittent at best, most of the trip we had two way after shutting off and re-pairing the two intercoms, that was the only thing that worked the best….overall not impressed with Sena and will probably look into Cardo when I order our modular helmets.

[Charlottes Web]

Sena has new headsets out Spiders they are supposed to be just as good as the 50s for less money. I have the 50s and love it. I’m going to get the new Spider for back up

[RayBJ]

Sena had a bad batch of batteries in the early 50s units. Mine was dying after 3 hrs. Sena didn't recall but when I contacted them they gave me an RMA to exchange. The replacement runs on open mesh for ~6 hrs now. We usually plug them in at lunch stops. 15 minutes gets them over 75%.