Cardo Scala Rider G4 Resource Thread

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by thewarrior53

My question is will they stay charged while not in use? Or will they drain down if not plugged to an outlet?

I would guess they would drain some. Probably not a bad idea to plug them in the day before you know you'll be using them.

All things battery related, its much better to keep them charged and not let the batteries go totally dead. We use our headsets so regularly, they get charged all the time, but if you know its a few weeks in between uses, I would just charge them maybe once every week or two.

[thewarrior53]

While riding the wind seemed to keep the units on.

[rockinrog]

I have an afx 37 dual-sport helmet and I was tranmitting a lot of wind noise until I swapped the foam piece on the mic to the big round one that came with the unit. Since then no problems. The G4 will hold a charge all day in connected mode with another g4. I leave the g4 mounted on my helmet all the time and only charge them as needed.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by thewarrior53

While riding the wind seemed to keep the units on.

Are you sure you aren't manually connected? I noticed the G4's take a lot more noise/sound to activate the VOX compared to the Q2's and in my opinion, its more of a PITA to get the G4's to trigger the vox then the Q2's. I think people complained the Q2's were too sensitive, but they work great in our Scorpion Full Face helmets.

If its VOX connecting because of the wind, the person who's mic is being triggered would hear a beep in their ear. And also on a VOX connection, it should close down after 30 seconds. If you are using the A/B button to connect, that's considered a manual connection that will stay open until one of you closes it by pushing the button again.

And yes, the round foam mic cover cuts down a lot more on the wind vs the flat edge one which is more meant for full face helmets so the mic can sit further from the mouth.

[niemerbeemer]

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

Were you leaving the intercom open the entire time? 8-9hrs isn't bad if so. Our Q2's can be drained pretty quickly if we leave them open in intercom mode for hours on end. We usually could easily make a 12+ hr day if we didn't stay connected in manual mode for long periods of time. One thing we did start doing if we knew we'd be leaving them open for long periods is let them charge on the bike at lunch. That's usually at least an hour and allows you to pretty much talk all day in manual mode without killing them.

Yeah it was in open intercom the whole time... we were impressed with the time as well. We'll have to fart around with the things for future trips.

[sonic578]

The folks at webbike world have been working on a 3-way review / comparison of Bluetooth bike comm units:

- Scala Q4
- Interphone F4
- Sena SMH-10

They wrote up 2 reports on each device (1 general overview, and 1 ride report), and are about to publish a final comparison between all 3. Check it out if you want some additional details on how (well) these things work:

Link to all of their Bluetooth intercom reviews here

[Hodgo]

Anyone else have problems getting the G4 to work with and Iphone4.

I can BT the music to the headset but cant receive or make phone calls.

[RedFrogTango]

My G4 works quite well with my Blackberry Storm, which I use to play music (via the built-in mp3 player) as well as to make or receive calls.

If I receive a call my while listening to music, the music will mute and I will hear a jingle. Although I can answer the call by speaking loudly (practically shouting), I find it easier to just reach up and push the top middle button. When the other party hangs up, the music will resume playing.

If I want to make a call, I push the top middle button to activate the voice calling on my BB. I can then just speak the name of the party and it will dial automatically. When the call ends, my music resumes.

Sometimes the music will cut out or fail to resume after a call. I can usually re-start the music if I hold the front side button for 3-4 seconds.

When my wife is riding with me, I typically leave the VOX open and do not use the music player on my BB. As others have noted, voice activating the system can be difficult.

Sometimes while I am connected to my wife via VOX, the unit will start to pick-up static. I can usually eliminate the static by turning the VOX off and then back on.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Hodgo

Anyone else have problems getting the G4 to work with and Iphone4.

I can BT the music to the headset but cant receive or make phone calls.

Which button on the G4 are you using to "sync" your iPhone and G4?

[Hodgo]

The centre phone button. Vox is on and when I try & answer the call it answers but no audio from phone.

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

Which button on the G4 are you using to "sync" your iPhone and G4?

[John Smallberries]

Originally Posted by Hodgo

Anyone else have problems getting the G4 to work with and Iphone4.

I can BT the music to the headset but cant receive or make phone calls.

I've got both the Scala G4 and iPhone 4 and they work together just fine. I don't even remember pairing them, so it must not have been anything unusual.

The voice dialing works for me about 1 out of 5 tries - so I just don't call when I'm riding. Answering and talking works fine.

I did the modification to the G4 to replace the speakers with a 3.5mm headphone jack for my Etymotic ER6i's. This gives me great sound quality and wind noise isolation at the same time. I'm considering adding a Digizoid "ZO" subwoofer/amp to see if I can improve the sound quality a bit more.
http://www.digizoid.com/the-zo/

Note to the OP: Thanks for sharing your experience with the G4.

[mra35]

My wife and I got a set of the G4s this last spring and have been very happy with how they work. I have it paired to an HTC Incredible Droid phone and it works great. The only issues have been a limited range while riding trails in dense forest. That when I know I need to slow down and wait. Battery life has been good, we go for two full days of riding with no charging.

Some say that riding should be solo and quite, why have headsets? Well these have given me peace of mind knowing that I can ride at my pace listen to music, and when I need, point out road hazards, turns, or to deer on the side of the road.

Just upgraded to latest firmware and found that the upgrade software works on Win7 64. Kind of nice that you can also preset the radio stations with the cardo software.

[Jesse Mach]

My wife and I have had Q2's for about a year and a half. We recently upgraded to the G4's and put one of the Q2's on our son's helmet. We paired him as "Rider B" on both of our G4's so it will be easy to connect with either of us and that part has worked well. I have a Zumo 665 paired to my G4 that when I am riding solo does all I ever want and more. If I read correctly I should be able to broadcast the Zumo through my G4 to either or both of my riding companions. What combination of buttons do I need to push to share the Zumo output with other units?

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Jesse Mach

My wife and I have had Q2's for about a year and a half. We recently upgraded to the G4's and put one of the Q2's on our son's helmet. We paired him as "Rider B" on both of our G4's so it will be easy to connect with either of us and that part has worked well. I have a Zumo 665 paired to my G4 that when I am riding solo does all I ever want and more. If I read correctly I should be able to broadcast the Zumo through my G4 to either or both of my riding companions. What combination of buttons do I need to push to share the Zumo output with other units?

Hmm, I don't ever remember reading that as a feature of the G4's? Let me go glance at the manual again.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Jesse Mach

My wife and I have had Q2's for about a year and a half. We recently upgraded to the G4's and put one of the Q2's on our son's helmet. We paired him as "Rider B" on both of our G4's so it will be easy to connect with either of us and that part has worked well. I have a Zumo 665 paired to my G4 that when I am riding solo does all I ever want and more. If I read correctly I should be able to broadcast the Zumo through my G4 to either or both of my riding companions. What combination of buttons do I need to push to share the Zumo output with other units?

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

Hmm, I don't ever remember reading that as a feature of the G4's? Let me go glance at the manual again.

I just read through the manual and I don't really see this as a possibility at all. For one thing, the GPS take priority over intercom and will cut off your intercom connection if your GPS talks to you or you get a call through your GPS. So there is no way at the same time your GPS is talking to you that you could even upon up a simultaneous connection with someone else and have them hear the audio too.

Also as these paragraphs below state, if you are the person connecting to 2 other radio's (like your wife's G4 & his Q2) at the same time, then technically your phone and/or GPS are temporarily disconnected while those 2 connections are open.

These paragraph's explain that.

Whenever you enter the Intercom Conference mode among three or even four participants (including yourself), the participants who maintain simultaneously two active connections will not be able to receive mobile phone calls or GPS messages as long as the conference
call is in progress (see details in sections 9.10 b and 9.10 c)

And here's another one

IMPORTANT: Since Rider “B” uses two Bluetooth connections during the conference mode, Rider “B” will be disconnected from the mobile phone or GPS device until the conference mode is terminated. Upon termination, Rider “B” will automatically re-connect to his mobile phone or GPS. Rider “A” and “C” remain connected to their mobile phones or GPS devices during the 3-way intercom call.