Cardo and Father's Day

[Rougarou]

So, here's a slight backstory.

 

Oldest daughter has been seeing this guy for quite some time,....enough that they've shacked up.  Now, he appears to be a good guy, has a great job, makes very good money (has an Aprilia, so there's that), some sort of project manager that pulls six days a week, 12 hours a day.  My first meeting with him, he was wearing a Supreme shirt and hat (kinda metrosexual, but that's him).  Anyway, I don't think he's done "manual labor" very much (little soft hands), but he is trying to assist while the wife and I work on my daughters addition.  He did get his hand in the way of my drywall hole saw once,.....just once.......and something about blood makes him "fainty".

 

Went on a ride with him and his friend a couple of months ago.  At a stop, I noticed they both had Cardo's.  Well, my Sena 20S couldn't connect to those and I gave the complaint story of the known 20s issues.,......which is, it sucks.

 

And here's the points of the post.

 

I don't know nuthin' about Cardo and yesterday, daughter and he gave me a Cardo Packtalk Edge for Father's day.  Shocked was I.  Anyway, my only question was, "can I hook up ear buds to it".  He was unsure but said it was loud enough.  My wife and I had to tell him that my ears don't work so good as while he's been around for a bit, doesn't fully grasp how bad my hearing is.

 

So, reading the manual on this Cardo thinghy.  I see that you can plug the speakers in or ear buds in,......why would a near $400 comms set not allow both?  The Sena's do.  

 

I have a spare helmet or three, so I install this thinghy on a Shoei RF1200 to give the test ride for my morning commute.  Putting the helmet on, in my garage, with the JBL speakers, the sound was really really good, very impressed.....but what's it sound like at speed.

 

When I don't wear ear buds, I put in ear plugs, .......wind noise be bad for you.  So, hit the road at 0540 and the back roads up to about 60ish, speakers sound good, very acceptable, good bass.  I can hear Waze directions and tunes just fine,.......but, hit the slab and pop up to cruising speeds of 85-90ish, nope, can barely hear the tunes and unless paying attention, my Australian Waze girl would blend into whatever song was playing,....winner, ear buds on the crappy 20s.

 

So, this leaves me with one additional test, and that is to put the spacers behind the speakers to see if bringing them closer will work better to eliminate the need for ear buds (and not mush the ears).......I'd really, really like to cut the cable and tell the guy it was an excellent gift.

[DakarTimm]

I had almost the exact experiance . I even upgraded the speakers on a Sena unit . I bought the Earpeace brand ear plugs . THe wind noise is almost completely gone and I can hear the music/talk just fine .

Until I get to the speeds that earn me "High Speed Acheivement Awards "

[wbw6cos]

Richard, just be careful about moving those speakers closer.   I had a C4 with built-in speaker utilizing the SC1, which is Sena-based.  When I mounted the Cardo Black, I could not use the built in speakers with it; the wires are too small to strip and tap into.  So I decided to put the 45mm JBLs in the existing pockets with the speakers.   After about 20 minutes of use, my ears were being pressed too much and caused significant pain from that point forward.   It got so bad that I gutted the C4 speakers out to use the JBLs.  Not a big loss since the battery holding clip for the SC1 had a broken tab, so the battery will dislodge often and shut off the intercom; had to push it back in and restart the intercom.  Cardo for me on my newer helmet (Schuberth E1) which has the recessed pockets for the JBLs.  I wear Howard Leight pink and yellow ear plugs, so the speaker volume works well with them in

 

Your mileage decibels may vary.

[Rougarou]

Thanks Billy boy,....that's kinda what I meant when a said (and not mush my ears).

 

I purchased the JBLs for the 20s some years ago hoping it would solve the 20s volume issues and used the extenders but they were too much extension and mushed my ears.

 

Maybe, this iteration of sound enhancements will work,....I dunno.

[Twisties]

We use earphones with our Cardos.