Experience with Cardo Packtalk: Wind Noise and FM Radio Signal?

[Claudio]

This may be the year my wife and I retire our reliable (wired) Autocom Bike-to-Bike system in favor of a pair of Packtalk Edge units. We ride two bikes and would be using these on longer trips (long days). I haven't seen any reviews that specifically call out two concerns that we had very well addressed with our Autocom bike-to-bike units so I thought I might ask the community here.... There are two specific concerns.....

 

1) We used push-to-talk units on our Autocom to ensure that no wind noise would trip the bike-to-bike VOX communication.

Do the Cardo units manage that OK or is there frequent "wind chatter" tripping the microphones?

 

2) The newer Cardo units have FM radios built in ( a nice bonus). With virtually no antenna, I would assume the range is very poor (city only) or do you find you can get some good distance/reliable signal in more rural areas?

 

[wbw6cos]

I take it y'all wear full face helmets, so wind noise is not an issue unless you have the mic out in the wind.   For the most part, wind noise is only heard when the face shield is open and wind is directly in the face.   I am on an RT, so that is minimal compared to a GS with the smaller screen.  The wind can be heard if the face shield is up, but the level depends on the wind protection. 

 

On a group ride, some riders (who will remain nameless) have modular helmets and after a stop, they would inadvertantly leave their boom mic outside the chin bar.  it becomes very evident once we get up to speed.      Other than that, there should be no reservations in that matter.

 

I have the Cardo Black, which has the antenna.   I cannot comment on the Edge model, sorry.    I never really rode with the FM in use.  It works, buy I just never used it long enough to determine the reception capability, even with an antenna.

[RandyShields]

1 hour ago, wbw6cos said:

I have the Cardo Black, which has the antenna. 

Packtalk and Packtalk Black have an antenna that needs to be raised for unit to unit communication.  They work without it being raised, but the reception is not very good.  The new Edge does not have an exterior antenna.

 

[Twisties]

We also ride separate bikes and have Cardo systems.  We haven't used our Cardos much in the last couple of years but my recollection is that we were looking to reduce the inadvertent activations of the vox system.  Mostly, I recall engine noise being the culprit, on acceleration.  

Never have tried the FM radio.

[Claudio]

38 minutes ago, Twisties said:

We also ride separate bikes and have Cardo systems.  We haven't used our Cardos much in the last couple of years but my recollection is that we were looking to reduce the inadvertent activations of the vox system.  Mostly, I recall engine noise being the culprit, on acceleration.  

Never have tried the FM radio.

Thanks Jan,

 

Which models did you use (the bold and edge are nearly identical but newer units)? Wondering if the newer ones solved some of the problems you experienced (i.e., they've improved the vox tripping issue).

 

 

 

[Claudio]

5 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

I take it y'all wear full face helmets, so wind noise is not an issue unless you have the mic out in the wind.   For the most part, wind noise is only heard when the face shield is open and wind is directly in the face.   I am on an RT, so that is minimal compared to a GS with the smaller screen.  The wind can be heard if the face shield is up, but the level depends on the wind protection. 

 

Great. Thats the hope we had. We do wear full face helmets. On a very hot day we ride with open visors so that is good to know we should expect wind noise in those cases.

[RogerC60]

I have the Cardo Packtalk Bold in a modular helmet. I always ride with the chin bar closed. I've been on group rides with about 6 other riders who have Cardo Packtalk, and I've never once heard wind noise activate the VOX.

 

The FM antenna is the speaker wire that crosses over inside the top of the helmet. If I'm listening to a strong FM station, the reception is very good 20 miles away, and listenable at 30 miles. But I've only listened to FM a couple of times.

[Claudio]

Fantastic Roger.  

 

That is what I was looking for in experience.  I think we'll proceed with the Cardo units but I won't order them until riding season (still ~6-8 weeks away here in Winnipeg) so we can test them right away.

[Twisties]

23 hours ago, Claudio said:

Thanks Jan,

 

Which models did you use (the bold and edge are nearly identical but newer units)? Wondering if the newer ones solved some of the problems you experienced (i.e., they've improved the vox tripping issue).

 

 

 

Ours are a little older, called SmartPack, but run on the same operating systems as the PackTalk.  If I recall correctly, last time we used them we were muting the microphones unless we had something to say.  Just had to practice a few times.  Mainly, we aren't using them because my wife has not found an earphone/earbud replacement she is comfortable with, and because we haven't gone any really long trips the last couple of years.  .  

[Claudio]

Thanks Jan.  The hardware on the new Packtalk edge/bold is different so hopefully they have resolved the issues. From the other experience shared here, looks like that is the case.

 

As a side note: One earbud setup we use (if you haven't tried) is the EarFuze self-molding (www.earfuze.com.  These are not hi-fi quality but we find them effective and comfortable on long tours.  If you are riding 8+ hour days you need to switch between setups as any earbud will start to create a sore spot after too long. 

[randy]

in general I use the FM function on every ride.  So far it is about the same as my car.  if a station goes out of reach in my car, it is similar using the Cardio pacTalk Black.  if a station is available in the rural area in my car, it seems it will be available in the Cardio FM function.  For me the FM search function is a little cumbersome, so perhaps I do not use the FM function in rural area's as much as I would in my car.  In general when I lose my preset FM options, I convert to my music.