Still struggling with s20 and sm10

[Brentc]

I am not having much success with the s20 and sm10 on my 2014 rts. First set were defective from the factory and I have the second set installed and seem to have a new set of issues. I have my helmet paired to the sm10 and to my iPhone and it works quite well. I have my wife's paired to the sm10 and that works as well. According to the literature that came with the units, they are paired to each other for communicator functionality from the factory. Each works fine on its own, but as soon as we try to use communicator functionality there is immense crackling, in my speakers and my wife says she can hear me but I can intermittently hear her. I have the 1.0.4 firmware, and see an update is out. I'm not an expert in Bluetooth and am puzzled by the difficulty I am having as I have read many positive reviews from folks here about how well they work. Aside from waiting for a response from Sena and doing another factory reset of everything I am running out of solutions and am considering returning for refund. I have already had to pay to ship back one set to Sena above and beyond the purchase price. If anyone has any thoughts I'm willing to try. My wife and I would really enjoy to units if they worked as well as what we have been reading.

 

[finless]

Pretty sure this is your problem

Make sure you don't have a MIC problem with the connection at the base unit!

I had that problem. The boom MIC was not being pressed into the hole on the base unit fully on my Wife's helmet. Because of her helmet design the bracket that holds the base unit on the helmet was cocked. Thus it left a gap between the bracket and the boom MIC.

If you look at the bracket it has a curve in it where the boom MIC plugs into the base unit. When you clamp on the base unit that bracket should close down there pressing and holding the boom MIC in the jack. If you have a gap, the boom MIC will be loose and thus will make crackling noises for you the receiver.

I returned one set because of this only to get the new set and had the same problem. Turned out the units were fine it was just picky about my wife's small helmet and that MIC connection.

What I did was using a piece of plastic (a plastic tooth pick) I loosened the clamp a little and wedged that plastic between the boom MIC and the bracket. Then tightened the bracket back down. This not presses on the boom MIC at the jack keeping if from backing off.
You might also play with the different bracket pads to get the clamp to sit right on the boom MIC plug.

Oh and one more thing I did. Look at the boom MIC jack on the side with the pins. Make sure that there is no plastic flashing (edge) left from the molding process as this can also cause the MIC not to plug in fully to the base unit. I used a X-acto knife and trimmed that flat so the MIC would be sure to go into the base unit fully!

I had no issues on my helmet with this fit.

Bob

 

[Brentc]

Thanks bob, I see what you are saying. I took a small piece of foam weather stripping as a wedge and will be testing shortly.. I really hope that is it.......

 

[SpyderAnn01]

I've got to say that Sena's are basically junk, from their customer service to their retailer's customer service to the products themselves. I have had to return mine twice and now the third unit does not work properly. I convinced my friend to buy the set so that we could communicate and now she is having problems and she has gotten nowhere with the retailer where we purchased them. I have had a request into Sena customer service for over a week with no response.

If you are going to buy them I'd suggest buying from Cycle Gear, they have always been great about exchanging anything I have bought from them, including replacing non-functioning Scala Riders. If I buy a car and it doesn't work, I take it back to the dealer that I bought it from, not to the manufacturer and I expect the same treatment with Sena's and pretty much everything else I buy.

 

[Highwayman2013]

We have had excellent luck with the SMH-10's we have. 3rd year with them.

 

[finless]

Wow Ann, not sure why your having such problems?
Two years with Sena SMH5's and now 4 months with the 20S units.
Other than my boom MIC jack issue which I resolved myself, no issues here. I love the product.

Bob

 

[ARtraveler]

I am also one who has had good luck with Sena SMH10's. We are also going on our third season and no issues what so ever.

I have touted their quiet operation--no background hissing and fizzing, and their long life per charge--have never had them crash on all day rides.

We use them for bike to bike communication. No FM radio, phone, etc. though.

Have never dealt with customer service--so cannot address that.

Have tried three other brands over the years, and still prefer these.

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Bob. I probably have three times the hours on mine than you have.

 

[finless]

Bob. I probably have three times the hours on mine than you have.

OK but what has that got to do with them not working right?

Are they failing? and if so what is failing?

Also I might argue that with you. I Use mine every day on my commute to and from work. That's 2 1/2 hours every day. It's connected to my phone and my GoPro Sena back pack. I know you do a lot of miles more than I but do you use it every time you ride like I do?

Bob

 

[BlueLghtning]

I've got to say that Sena's are basically junk, from their customer service to their retailer's customer service to the products themselves. I have had to return mine twice and now the third unit does not work properly. I convinced my friend to buy the set so that we could communicate and now she is having problems and she has gotten nowhere with the retailer where we purchased them. I have had a request into Sena customer service for over a week with no response.

If you are going to buy them I'd suggest buying from Cycle Gear, they have always been great about exchanging anything I have bought from them, including replacing non-functioning Scala Riders. If I buy a car and it doesn't work, I take it back to the dealer that I bought it from, not to the manufacturer and I expect the same treatment with Sena's and pretty much everything else I buy.

That's a pretty blanket statement about Sena's when they sell quite a few different headsets. My guess is you are referring to the 20S models and yes they have certainly had their fair share of issues with the 20S. If this is your first experience with them, then I certainly understand your frustration, but probably not fair to say Sena headsets as a whole are junk. I've yet to upgrade to the 20 as I'm very heavily invested in the 10's with quite a few units and lots of bases spread out between all my helmets and all my wife's helmets. Needless to say, we are are very happy with them, plus I own an SR10 to talk on my ham radio. The 10's and the 5's for that matter have well proven themselves and work great. Sena did their homework on them and got those right. I'm probably 4+ years on my 10's with lots of long hours. Most of my friends have the 10's now too although a few have gone to the 20's. Some early models had issues, but now that they have later models, everything seems to be working well for them too.

The 20's however I do think were rushed to the market which led to lots of issues early on both with the units and the bases. I think Sena kind of shot themselves in the foot with that and turned a lot of people off them by the poor initial quality control. My understanding though is that the majority of the early issues have been resolved with later revisions and later model serial #'s so maybe you still are dealing with early production models?

It does stink that the retailer is not working with you. I can tell you that Adam at Rocketmoto.com is top notch if anyone decides to order Sena headsets and he goes out of his way to help out riders that have issues.

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Bob, my Sena is on every time I am on my Spyder. So many times it is on for 8 to 10 hours in a day and it is connected to my phone and the intercom is usually in use between Joe and I. The first issue happened after 3,000 miles, the lady kept saying over and over "say a command" then the unit shut down and would not turn back on. I contacted the party that it was purchased from and was told I had to go through Sena. I saw a Sena rep at a motorcycle show in Las Vegas and he wouldn't help me but said my retailer should have. It took almost 10 days to get a reply from Sena help desk. Then they wanted both headsets, actually the complete package, returned to them. I was able to change out that unit at a show in CA and was again told that the retailer should have been able to take care of this for me.

The second unit worked poorly then the case fell apart. This time I was not required to return both headsets. The third unit now keeps giving me the "say a command" prompt if I do not have music playing or the intercom connection open. I finally received a reply from Sena help desk today and was told to adjust the sensitivity, which I had already done. Mind you that it does this with my helmet sitting on a table.

My friend's microphone stopped working and she was told to contact Sena. She is on her way to the North to Alaska trip and had no choice but to order a replacement mic online to be shipped to her on the road.

Prior to the Sena 20S I had a Scala G9 and it too had some issues but for over 2 years all I had to do was take it to Cycle Gear and they would exchange it for a new one. Even at 3 years the Scala rep at the Las Vegas motorcycle show gave me a new microphone and speakers even though he new my unit was no longer under warranty.

Call it what you like but I call it like I see it.

 

[finless]

Bob, my Sena is on every time I am on my Spyder. So many times it is on for 8 to 10 hours in a day and it is connected to my phone and the intercom is usually in use between Joe and I. The first issue happened after 3,000 miles, the lady kept saying over and over "say a command" then the unit shut down and would not turn back on. I contacted the party that it was purchased from and was told I had to go through Sena. I saw a Sena rep at a motorcycle show in Las Vegas and he wouldn't help me but said my retailer should have. It took almost 10 days to get a reply from Sena help desk. Then they wanted both headsets, actually the complete package, returned to them. I was able to change out that unit at a show in CA and was again told that the retailer should have been able to take care of this for me.

The second unit worked poorly then the case fell apart. This time I was not required to return both headsets. The third unit now keeps giving me the "say a command" prompt if I do not have music playing or the intercom connection open. I finally received a reply from Sena help desk today and was told to adjust the sensitivity, which I had already done. Mind you that it does this with my helmet sitting on a table.

My friend's microphone stopped working and she was told to contact Sena. She is on her way to the North to Alaska trip and had no choice but to order a replacement mic online to be shipped to her on the road.

Prior to the Sena 20S I had a Scala G9 and it too had some issues but for over 2 years all I had to do was take it to Cycle Gear and they would exchange it for a new one. Even at 3 years the Scala rep at the Las Vegas motorcycle show gave me a new microphone and speakers even though he new my unit was no longer under warranty.

Call it what you like but I call it like I see it.

Wow.... I got quick turn around the first time from the seller.
You seem to be having a nightmare!

Sorry to hear that. 4 months and 3K later I am still not having issues like this at all...

I am sorry you are.... Sena should take care of you considering your status with the Spyder folks. I am surprised your getting this kind of run around

Bob

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Wow.... I got quick turn around the first time from the seller.
You seem to be having a nightmare!

Sorry to hear that. 4 months and 3K later I am still not having issues like this at all...

I am sorry you are.... Sena should take care of you considering your status with the Spyder folks. I am surprised your getting this kind of run around

Bob

Bob, I have no "status" and if I did that should not matter.

 

[Brentc]

Update on 20s and sm10

I am still playing phone tag and email tag with Sena support. Aside from telling me to do resets on everything I have yet to get my setup working satisfactorily. Here is my latest email to tech support, just in case someone here might have an idea, I'm willing to try anything at this point to get the headsets working.

1. I have fault reset and factory reset both headsets.
2. I tested the units with no pairings other than the factory p[airing to each other and they worked fine when we went for a ride as communicators between helmets.
3. I then paired my helmet to the sm10 on my motorcycle, by pressing and holding the pairing button on the sm10 for 5 seconds until the blue light was flashing and then I pressed and held phone pairing button on my helmet for 5 seconds and then I heard the phone paired successful message and tested everything again. I am able to hear the music from the sm10 streaming from my motorcycle stereo fine and we are both able to initiate and have a helmet to helmet conversation as we could in #2 above.
4. Today I paired my wife's helmet to the SM10 by pressing the pairing button on the sm10 for 9 seconds until the red light was flashing and then I pressed the phone paring button on her 20s for 5 seconds until it said phone paring. A few seconds later it said it had paired. We then went for a test ride and the units are right back to cutting in and out. As soon as we power on the second unit, regardless of which one, they both start cutting in and out and are unusable. If we trun one off the stream from the sm10 is back to normal.

 

[finless]

Where is your SM10? Front trunk?

Bob

 

[Brentc]

Sm10 location

Yes, it is right behind liner in front trunk. It seems that no matter what w
devices we try to pair with. If we both have an audio source on and try to use communicators, it starts cutting out.

 

[finless]

Many have complained of cut outs and disconnects with the SM10 in the location BRP chose to mount it. Many moved it to the rear trunk and solved their problems. This is where mine is.

Bob