Talk While Riding With the SMH10 Intercom by Sena [Review]

Let's face it: riding is best done with friends and there's nothing worse than when you can't talk to each other while on an adventure. Sena is a company that solves that problem with the SMH10 Motorcycle Bluetooth Headset and Intercom.

When I was first learning to ride my BMW Adventure bike off road this headset was a necessity. My friend could give me real-time instruction and feedback every step of the way without spending valuable time regrouping, shutting the bikes down and taking off helmets to have a conversation. Even while wearing ear plugs we could carry on a normal conversation and I could get instant feedback on my riding.

Now I'm coaching Christine the same way as we tackle our mountain pass project together and it's made all the difference in the world.

Installation isn't exactly a breeze but it will depend on your specific helmet. It takes a bit of time to get all the wires, speakers and microphone routed behind the padding and placed correctly but once you do you'll rarely need to adjust them again.

Pairing is simple and straight forward. I've paired my headset with Christine's and we rarely need to do anything after turning them on; they'll usually find each other automatically within a few seconds. After initial pairing with my iPhone 5 I haven't experienced any issues there either. The SMH10 has always connected with my phone after powering on, as long as my phone's Bluetooth is on.

I often ride with friends who have 20S models mounted on their helmets. After our initial pairing a few months ago, reconnecting is always easy, involving only the push of a button. The units have always remembered their connections and sync back up without a problem.

Christine and I spend hours on our bikes every week riding Colorado's mountain passes. The purpose of the project was to spend quality time together but if we couldn't talk to each other our time together would barely count as quality.

When I'm riding by myself I usually like to listen to a podcast or Pandora. Once the apps are opened ...