Sena 50S Motorcycle Bluetooth Communication System with Mesh 2.0 Intercom, Dual Pack

Product Information

It is important to have a Bluetooth headset that has good battery life. This is especially necessary if you want to communicate with fellow riders, which eats up the battery a lot faster. It is a pretty extensive list, and you can pretty much do everything you would need to do on your headset using your voice. I have a lot invested in these systems and do not have resources to go to another system or I would. I’d never recommend Sena systems to anyone. WHile they work, they are great and the 50Rs work great until they do not. Now they do not. I get a low battery report after having used it an hour. REALLY! When pairing other Sena models, utilize the designated control, often the centre control (surface controls or Jog Wheel) to initiate BT pairing. If the two devices do not automatically pair, press the activating control once to complete the process; this will be confirmed by the flashing Blue LED. The Sena 50S – Breakdown Sena 50S – Overview

The Ambient Mode button, by design, is not hard to find – it is raised and the only object above the flat bottom of the base. When travelling and if not typically being ‘connected’ to a data source somehow, the ability to tune to travel area stations to get weather and traffic information can mean a lot. This feature has more than paid for itself during some of our trips. Sena Series 50 Voice Command & Digital Voice Assistants Sena’s Mesh technology offers an unprecedented level of intercom audio quality and robust connectivity for all Sena Mesh Intercom™ users. Tested and proven in the most demanding situations, Sena’s Mesh network keeps the communication lines with your riding partners clear and stable. The only feature not yet validated is Group Mesh…for some reason, neither the input sequence or the App Mesh Intercom controls result in Group Mesh creation; is this a firmware issue or user issue? We will find out. Mesh intercoms typically don’t work across different brands, but it’s just been announced that the new Mesh devices from Sena and Interphone will be compatible.

MULTI-CHANNEL COMMUNICATION AND PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS

There are 10 station preset slots that you can access by saying ‘Hey Sena, next’ or ‘previous’, by pressing the jog dial then rotating it, or through the app. The 50S comes with a large Jog Dial which is glove-friendly, whereas the 50R is a low profile unit with a trio of buttons. Intercom radios generally leave a bit to be desired, and I’ve yet to find one that gives anything like the stability of what you’ll find in your car. But the Sena 50S isn’t bad, holding a connection to Radio 4 over a 25 mile ride, though there was some interference and breaking up at times. However, its slightly higher price point may make riders with budget constraints prefer the Sena 50R. Ultimately, it comes down to the individual rider and their personal preferences when it comes to choosing between the Sena 50S and Sena 50R. Motorcycle Bluetooth Headset Buying Guide Bluetooth intercom is much improved with almost non-existent noise and far less interference overall. As often observed, rider to rider ranges are as good and often better than with Mesh; one road ride had a gap of close to 2.0km between riders without significant signal or audio degradation.

The 50S uses Sena's tried-and-true Jog Dial with a new design to operate the headset. The 50R uses Sena's 3-button design to operate the headset. When the 50R is OFF, press and hold the Centre Button and (+) for three seconds, the alternating Red/Blue flashing sequence appears indicating pairing mode. Put your mobile device in BT pairing mode (if needed) and select Sena 50R when it appears. The 50S module and base is noticeably larger than the smaller lower-profile mounted 50R, but there is familiarity and comfort in the module and base combination that is compatible with the 20S and 30K modules. The auxiliary connection might appeal to some users, but I expect any headset to connect all my devices via Bluetooth, so smooth connections here are really important to me, and with the GPS connected through GPS pairing mode, instructions are fed direct to the intercom. Thankfully, it all turned out to be true and mid-April saw the official announcement regarding the Bluetooth 5 based flagship 50 Series systems: the 50R and the 50S that did indeed feature Mesh 2.0 Technology.

Voice and Glove Controls

The equalizer presets for the 50S with SOUND by Harman Kardon have been fine tuned to deliver an unmatched audio experience. The presets included in the 50S with SOUND by Harman Kardon are: Certified by CE, FCC, and IC, the Sena 50S meets industry standards for safety and performance. It boasts a sample rate of 48 kHz, delivering high-quality audio output for an immersive listening experience. With the cheek pads separated from the inner liner, the individual speakers are disconnected from their modular connectors and mounted in the desired position in the elongated speaker recesses – a great design feature truly facilitating accurate speaker placement for users. This is how you test, validate, and promote a product in real-time. This video testimonial is a good one to watch, as is this blog posting.

The 50S includes 3 types of microphones, the boom microphone, the wired boom microphone and the wired microphone. The 50R includes 2 types of microphones, the wired boom microphone and the wired microphone.

Usability

In keeping with its ‘R’ designation also used for the diminutive Sena 10R model , the Sena 50R utilizes a more direct close-fitting approach with two mounting options. One uses hook-n-loop pieces that put the module about 2mm away from the helmet shell; the second option is a thin slip-in piece (good for full-face helmets) that also keeps the module close to the helmet shell. Tip – as with other adhesive base fittings done on the Schuberth C3Pro and similar style helmets where lower shaping and edging of the shell can impact the effectiveness of the adhesive pad, a small strip of 3M VHB is placed on the bench or lip of the system base for additional grip along the bottom of the helmet. It seems to help over time. With two Senas connected via Mesh the TomTom seemed to work fine, but I did notice that if either user presses the scroll wheel in, the Mesh connection is disabled as the unit connects via Bluetooth. Press the Mesh button and it reconnects, then disconnects itself, so you need to press the scroll wheel again to turn the Bluetooth connection off. The 50S can use the Ambient Mode Button on the bottom of the clamp kit to activate the Group Intercom feature to create a multi-way intercom conversation. The 50R can activate the Group Intercom feature by tapping the Plus (+) Button and the Minus (-) Button once at the same time.

There are three intercom modes available to users, ‘Open’ Mesh mode, ‘Private Group’ Mesh, and Bluetooth Intercom.Equipped with Bluetooth version 5.0, the Sena 50S offers advanced wireless connectivity options. It supports various Bluetooth profiles including A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, and HSP, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers. Here you can see where the ‘riders’ were for the Mesh test. Rider 1 is effectively the tail rider of this test, rider 2 marks the limit of that connection, then rider 3 shows how the Mesh system increases range while keeping everyone in conversation Setting Mesh 2.0 compatible systems to any one of the nine (1 – 9) Open Mesh works extremely well using both 50 Series systems and two 30K systems on hand now updated to Mesh 2.0 compatible firmware version 3.0.1. Two other Sena 50R systems were added to the mix for one testing excursion.