Evaluating the Sena SMH10 Bluetooth Headset

When I purchased my new helmet last month, I also decided to upgrade my Bluetooth headset.  My decision to upgrade was partially because my previous Bluetooth setup was hard-wired into my old helmet, and partially because I wanted a set, so that I could communicate with my daughters, who frequently ride on the back of my bike.

After a lot of research, I chose the Sena SMH10 headset, and I'm happy with my purchase.  Installation was simple and straight-forward.  The only difficulty I had was finding the proper position for the speakers, and that wasn't a real problem... just a bit of trial and error.

Sound quality is far superior to what I had with my old helmet.  I was able to receive phone calls and communicate with passengers at freeway speeds.  I was able to hear music at freeway speeds, but the sound quality wasn't that good.  This, however, is still a massive improvement over the old system, which was effectively useless at speeds above 45 MPH or so.  The two things I've noticed aren't directly related to the headset itself... One is that the headset mounts in such a way that opening and closing the sun visor on my helmet is a bit problematic.  The other is that, because I'm an animated speaker, people tend to look at me like I'm crazy, because when I talk to my passenger, I tend to nod, shake my head and so forth.  With all of the Bluetooth headsets available for phones in general these days, you'd think that people would be a bit more used to this, but I guess not.

It's very simple to switch back and forth between the intercom and the phone, fast forward or rewind music, and increase/decrease volume via a dial.  My daughter, who's a bit shorter than me, wishes that the dial didn't stick out so far from the helmet, because she usually looks over my left shoulder, and it blocks her view a bit, but this was an offhand comment, not a consistent complaint.

While the set isn't as clear as a set of Beats, you really can't expect that from a motorcycle headset.  That said though, the sound quality is adequate enough to play music (unless you're on the freeway) and good enough to communicate with a passenger or take a phone call even at freeway speeds.