Anyone out there have the Sena SMH10?

[danham]

Originally Posted by JRWooden

Just my opinion, but unless you NEED the extra range of the SMH10, I would go with the SMH5.
The SMH5 is going to be more resistant to damage and does not use the spring-loaded contact <--> baseplate design...

I agree, but to help others evaluate the difference, keep in mind that "range" is not just a matter of feet (or meters) between bikes. I have the SMH-10 and a pal has the SMH-5. If he and I get separated by an 18-wheel truck or two on the highway, he's gone. In the same situations, my SMH-10 riding pals stay on the air.

I still think my 5 friend made the right choice for him, and the occasional disconnect is not a deal killer, but for some the 5 might not have enough "range."

-dan

[JRWooden]

yeah... what you said!!

[Perkio]

I was looking for reviews of the new SMH10R on the web and noticed that at revzilla, it's gone from their web site.
I'm waiting to buy (after reading some user reviews) mine from Adam.

Adam, have you heard if anything is up, was the product pulled?

I know that you got your stock in. Were you able to work with them at all (when will we see your review)?

Perk

[RocketMoto]

Originally Posted by Perkio

I was looking for reviews of the new SMH10R on the web and noticed that at revzilla, it's gone from their web site.
I'm waiting to buy (after reading some user reviews) mine from Adam.

Adam, have you heard if anything is up, was the product pulled?

I know that you got your stock in. Were you able to work with them at all (when will we see your review)?

Perk

Hey Perk:

Crazy weekend, so I am going to aim for this evening, to do some fiddling.

Not sure what's up with any other dealer, Could be that they didn't have any to start with; many online retailers drop ship from distributors. The initial supply was very limited. For us, if it's on RocketMoto.com, we have it in stock at our facility. No games.

[Brisco]

Originally Posted by Conundrum

FYI, I just noticed Sena has released firmware v4.2 (beta/rc1) for the SMH-10. Anyone install it yet to test things out? According to the release notes:

Installed it last week. I've used it for about 20 hours so far with no issues.
I really like the increased music volume from my iPod.

BTW, Shoei Neotech helmet and I use a Blackberry for phone and an iPod Nano Gen 7 that had built in Bluetooth. Both work flawlessly.

[SF_Hooligan]

Originally Posted by Brisco

Installed it last week. I've used it for about 20 hours so far with no issues.
I really like the increased music volume from my iPod.

BTW, Shoei Neotech helmet and I use a Blackberry for phone and an iPod Nano Gen 7 that had built in Bluetooth. Both work flawlessly.

I've been using it for a couple days now. The additional volume is very welcome - I can hear music now at 70-80 MPH, rather than just get an idea that there's music there. For reference, I wear a Shoei Qwest with foam earplugs (the 30+ dB ones) or sometimes Etymotic ER20s. I'm on an R1200R with the "touring" windshield, so there's some wind noise, but not tons.

The only issue I've encountered so far is that with the higher volume, those li'l speakers get overloaded pretty easily. If I get it up to max with some higher gain music (say, the new Bad Religion album) the speakers just can't handle it and the music distorts pretty badly. I'm waiting on a set of Tork speakers I recently ordered - hoping that will help with the fidelity issues. Of course, I'm not expecting hi-fi, and I really shouldn't have it that loud anyway, I suppose.

[slartidbartfast]

Have the early adopters of 4.2 noticed any other functionality changes? ...or can anyone else explain what else might be improved? The release notes were cryptic at best.

[Perkio]

Does anyone have any time with the SMH10R?

I'm wanting to buy 4 of them but was hoping to find an early user with a review or advice.

Bueller, Bueller,Bueller,

Perk

[BlueLghtning]

Anyone have an issue with their SMH10 draining the battery while not in use?

My wife's unit seems to be killing its battery even if not powered on for a week or so. My unit in the same time frame has no issues. Even if I use mine and don't charge it, it still has juice and her's just completely dies without being used. It is winter time, so we aren't using them as much, but this is the 2nd time we've noticed her unit completely dead when we went to use them.

My wife's SMH10 unit did get rather wet to the point it stopped working last year (Sept time period) during a full day of heavy rain and I thought it was dead, but with the help of Sena and doing a reset, I was able to bring it back to life and its worked fine since then other than just noticing this battery drain issue here recently. I'm starting to wonder if there is any corrosion or something inside the unit or some other damage from the water? Other than that, the unit actually works fine. We haven't been on any long trips or even used them all day in awhile to know if it still lasts all day, but I might have to try that and see.

Is there a way to measure across certain pins while the unit is off if there is a measurable drain of power to give myself a starting point to look at?

[bkwags]

I have a pair going into their third season. Battery life has been good. Need to make sure you shut it off manually between rides.

I had some issues with volume fluctuations and an occasional cross talk where my radio plays in my partners ear piece during a conversation. Short tem fix for each issue was to re-boot. Eventually these were both taken care of by Sena under warranty. They are a little hard to get a hold of. But once I got a communication going it was only a matter of a week to 10 days before I had TWO replacement modules.

Regarding bike to bike, they work great as well. I am guestimating but about 200+ yards between riders. But you must have a clear line of sight for the longer distances.

I do not use the blue tooth phone or gps, but a buddy does and they seem to work well for him.

Overall, I rate them very good to excellent and Sena has been very good about taking care of any issues.

[danham]

For Mac users, I just braved the beta firmware update (4.2 for the SMH-10) using my iMac i3 for the first time (OS 10.8.2).

Despite the "sky is falling" warning from the Sena device manger app, I did NOT have to find a wired keyboard or mouse or disconnect any BT devices, including mouse and keyboard, and the update went smoothly.

Weather is too crappy for a road test of 4.2, but after performing a factory reset and re-doing all the pairing, it all works fine on the bench [g].

-dan

[TowPro]

Originally Posted by TowPro

got both my SMH10's back today after warranty replacement for bent pins. the new block below the pins should help a lot..... But one of my pins is already stuck in the down position and all I did was open the box. Might be a little short on quality control

Finally got around to calling Sena on this one. They were really sorry this happened.
They are sending a UPS call tag to pickup the brand new (replacement) unit with bad pins. There are 2 pins that are stuck inside the inner pin bore. anyway, its too cold for my passanger to ride now anyway.

Its a shame it had to happen, but they are taking care of it for me.

[slartidbartfast]

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

Anyone have an issue with their SMH10 draining the battery while not in use?

My wife's unit seems to be killing its battery even if not powered on for a week or so. My unit in the same time frame has no issues. Even if I use mine and don't charge it, it still has juice and her's just completely dies without being used. It is winter time, so we aren't using them as much, but this is the 2nd time we've noticed her unit completely dead when we went to use them.

My wife's SMH10 unit did get rather wet to the point it stopped working last year (Sept time period) during a full day of heavy rain and I thought it was dead, but with the help of Sena and doing a reset, I was able to bring it back to life and its worked fine since then other than just noticing this battery drain issue here recently. I'm starting to wonder if there is any corrosion or something inside the unit or some other damage from the water? Other than that, the unit actually works fine. We haven't been on any long trips or even used them all day in awhile to know if it still lasts all day, but I might have to try that and see.

Is there a way to measure across certain pins while the unit is off if there is a measurable drain of power to give myself a starting point to look at?

You still have some moisture inside the unit. You might notice the LED glowing very dimly when it's off but the moisture is what is discharging the battery. After this amount of time you may indeed have some irreversible corrosion but you want to get it absolubtely dry inside irregardless. If you have lots of patience, open the charging port and set it in a warm place like on top of a computer monitor for a few days. Otherwise open it up with a small allen wrench or torx driver and air it out in a warm, dry place. You have to be very careful prying the two halves apart as you can damage the pins.

[SF_Hooligan]

Originally Posted by TowPro

Finally got around to calling Sena on this one. They were really sorry this happened.
They are sending a UPS call tag to pickup the brand new (replacement) unit with bad pins. There are 2 pins that are stuck inside the inner pin bore. anyway, its too cold for my passanger to ride now anyway.

Its a shame it had to happen, but they are taking care of it for me.

I had a really good support experience with them as well. I emailed because the little rubber flappy on the charging port tore off and I was hoping to just buy a replacement, but didn't see it on their site. Mine are at least 1 1/2 years old. Anyway, they responded quickly and just sent me a new flappy. Cool.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by slartidbartfast

You still have some moisture inside the unit. You might notice the LED glowing very dimly when it's off but the moisture is what is discharging the battery. After this amount of time you may indeed have some irreversible corrosion but you want to get it absolubtely dry inside irregardless. If you have lots of patience, open the charging port and set it in a warm place like on top of a computer monitor for a few days. Otherwise open it up with a small allen wrench or torx driver and air it out in a warm, dry place. You have to be very careful prying the two halves apart as you can damage the pins.

That's what I'm wondering. After the incident with the rain, I left it in a bowl of rice for about 2wks to help dry and draw the moisture out. I've seen the glowing LED like you mentioned after it got wet, so I know what to look for there. It doesn't do that now. I'd really be surprised if there is still moisture in there after that much time, but corrosion I could definitely see happening over time.

The other OP about making sure its shut off might be a good point too. I need to make sure she isn't leaving her helmet on by mistake. (SMH)

I'm trying an experiment right now and actually have the unit off the helmet for this week fully charged and I know its off. I want to see what it says the battery power is after sitting for a week without use.