Still waiting on mine.
Inexpensive Bluetooth Review BT-S2
- Thread starter Daniel
- Start date
Yeah, I wish I'd paid the extra $5 for expedited shipping, mine took several weeks to show up.
I got mine in the mail yesterday. I'll get round to installing it in a few days. Maybe. LOL
I use another brand of bluetooth headset over the past 3 or 4 years,,, and it has done very well for us. I also wear a pair of moulded industrial earplugs,,, which really work well to filter out wind noise. Once you have a great set of earplugs,, you won't want to ride without them. Anyway,, to amplify anything that is coming into the headset from my Galaxy 8+,,, I use an app called PowerAmp. I have tried other app's,,, but this is the only one I have tried that works great ! There is a trial version,,, but I quickly bought the full app,,, for about $3. Just thought it might be helpful for those piping music or gps through their BT helmet sets. Cheers,, Cat'
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
I tried the BT-S2 this week paired with a Sena 20S. Once paired it reconnected instantly every time. The distance at which it works is sufficient for most riding conditions but it isn't the 1000 meters they advertise. My riding buddy (who had the Sena) said that I was coming in crystal clear. I was also receiving his transmissions crystal clear- when I could hear him. I had great difficulty hearing him at speeds above 45 or 50 MPH. He had a little button microphone installed in his helmet. The microphone faced forward away from his mouth. When his visor was opened I could not hear him. With his visor closed I could hear him better but only to the speeds mentioned above. I suspect the volume problem has a lot to do with his microphone placement. He will be installing his boom mike but I don't know if we will have a chance to ride again before winter to test it. He had the volume on his Sena turned way down while I had the BT-S2 at max volume. I would like to know if the problem is the unit (lack of sufficient amplification) causing the problem or not. I suspect that it may be the unit as the volume on the radio is weak as well and the volume form my Zumo 550 GPS (wired) is not usable. Can anyone who has the BT-S2 tell me if they have any volume problems receiving transmissions from other bikers. If the volume is good for bike-to-bike I will keep it as that is all I want it for. If not I will look for a better unit over the winter but I need to know whether it is the mike placement or the unit.
Thanks in advance for any feedback that you can provide.
Thanks in advance for any feedback that you can provide.
I don't know when I'll get round to installing mine in my second 'round town helmet. But since Sena makes a pretty big deal about the correct orientation of the microphone I'd bet the problem is at his end. If he corrected the mic placement you'd probably [-]see[/-] hear a gain (npi) in his volume.
OP
OP
1) The placement of your speakers in your helmet matters....a lot ! I found when installing mine a small adjustment made a huge difference in both volume, and quality of the sound. It took me a few tries to get them oriented just right.
2) The quote above sounds like it could be a huge part of the problem. Are you saying the part of the microphone designed to be pointed towards his mouth is in fact off 180* ? Has he used his Sena with other riders w/o issues? I wouldn't give up on the BT-S2 until he makes some kind of adjustment to his mic set-up (unless he is telling you it works fine as is with everyone else of course). If you find your volume is adequate using music and/or instructions from your maps app, but not from his Sena, I would suspect his mic is the issue.
I am sorry I can't give you a direct answer to your question, for I have never used mine as a communicator, at least not yet.
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Yes he mounted the mic 180 deg opposite- facing away from his mouth. He will be correcting this by installing his boom mic in front of his mouth.
No- he has not used it with anyone else.
I find the volume fom the radio lacking but I don't really care as I will not be using the radio.
The volume from my Zumo 550 is so weak I cannot hear it- this is a disappointment. The intercom volume is actually the best. These two reasons are why I am asking. I figured if the radio and the GPS volume are weak it must just be an under powered amplifier. We will try it again with the boom mic if winter doesn't hit first.
Nashcat
Site Supporter
Just to add some info about my experience. I purchased a new helmet and installed my trustworthy Sena 20s, putting the speakers in the provided cut outs, inside the helmet. Went for a ride and could barely hear music or GPS. I came home and modified the speaker pockets and now everything is fine, as usual. If I hadn't known about the issue of proper speaker placement, I would have called the Sena a piece of junk, based on the volume.
Ride Safe
John
Ride Safe
John
In order to get good volume from my gps into my helmets bluetooth headset, I employed the Boostaroo audio amplifier,,, coming out of the gps's external audio jack. I then pumped the enhanced signal through an inexpensive bluetooth transmitter which was paired to my headset as "rider C". Works great for me. Mostly, I don't want gps audio. But when I am doing a 1000 mile rally with 12 checkpoints in unfamiliar locations,,, yes,, I want clear audio,,, cheers,, Cat'
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Care to expand on your experience of what defines proper placement?
Proper placement is:
1) having the speakers centered over the opening of your ear canals as much as possible for maximum volume
2) having the speakers as close as possible to your ears without pressing on them for maximum bass
1) having the speakers centered over the opening of your ear canals as much as possible for maximum volume
2) having the speakers as close as possible to your ears without pressing on them for maximum bass
Nashcat
Site Supporter
That's what I try to do. 1/2 inch off-center seems to cut volume enough to make listening to music useless above 30 MPH.
Ride Safe
John
I used an extra 2 layers of black hook and loop self adhesive velcro to space my ear speakers out closer to my ears. This was inside my Shark Evoline3 helmet. The velcro also allowed me to adjust the position of the speaker,, to center it on each ear,, which is critical. It also makes changing an ear speaker out easier. You do not want the speakers pressing on your ears,,, if you ride long durations. I have gone over 20 hours at a stretch,, with no discomfort (in my ears),, because my combination of custom moulded earplugs and speakers are properly done. Too bad the bluetooth batteries only last about 7 hours,,, Cat'
Don;t know about the other brands... but one solution besides the dual pack set-up is to carry a small USB battery in the upper chest pocket and a short cord. You can get USB packs that are about the size of a pack of playing cards and have 10ah capacity. That should outlast your butt in the seat.
OP
OP
Andrew,
Try moving your speakers 1/4" forward of where they are now and see if you notice any significant change.
Try moving your speakers 1/4" forward of where they are now and see if you notice any significant change.
My particular brand of BT headset does not allow for in-use charging. As soon as you plug in a charging jack,, the unit switches off. Then when you remove the charging jack,, the unit stays off until you fire it up again. So I don't think the dual pack approach will work for me. All the more reason for me to read up on the BT-s2 product,, cheers,, Cat'
Ehh.. when I mentioned dual-pack I mean the units themselves, not dual battery packs.
When I purchased my units I bought the dual pack (2 headsets). When I was doing long distance runs solitare I carried both with me and both were paired to the phone. Half way through the day I would swap out the unit and put the other on the charger.
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Very convenient and efficient. I think the 20S can be charged while in use not that I'd ever need to do that. But having a wire running to the BT headset just seems wrong.
I'm not that flush so I'd charge it on the bike. It probably wouldn't take much to get me to the end of my day in time for the early bird special.
Yes, wires atre wrong. But it's a very short wire and only temporary.
I didn't buythe dual because I thought I needed it for myself, I had visions of two-up touring adventures.
