10/25/2013 SENA SH-10 Motorcycle Intercom Review

Let me start by saying I've spent my entire riding career listening to the hum of the engine and the wind.  It's an awesome thing - right up until you start riding long distance.  At that point, you need to get the sound level way down and find something to entertain you if you have nothing but Interstate blacktop in front of you.  We can talk about GPS and XM Satellite radio later.  The subject of this blog is the Sena SH-10 Intercom.  My road test was the first time I've talked to another rider and the second headset I've owned.  My other is a Shuberth.  Hands down, the Sena beats the Shuberth.  It's an outstanding headset and I highly recommend it.

Still reading?  Fine, I'll go into detail.

Out of the box, it is very easy to install on your helmet.  You have a choice of very sticky tape (how I did it) or pinching the outside shell of the helmet with the provided bracket.  Because my helmet is too thick at the bottom, I had to do the former.  Once installed, I plugged in the unit to get a charge and configured it to link with my iPhone - this was just as straightforward as it could be.

Our road test was a 1200 mile trip to Utah and back.   The trip was over 3 days.  Day 1 was an 8 hour day, day 2 - 14 hours and day 3, 7 hours.   We talked nearly continuously over the intercom for all but about 1 hour of the trip. Many times, we were split apart by about a quarter mile.  We continued to talk like we were sitting next to each other.  Only in the canyons when we lost visual contact with one another and were split by over a quarter mile did the signal drop out.  The sound quality is outstanding.  There was a very minor white noise type sound that was wind noise.  It is so faint, I was glad it was there because without it, I'd have no idea that someone else was on the other end of the intercom.  When a strong crosswind comes in, the wind noise increases; but, this is more due to the lack of wind protection than anything.  The intercom takes care of most of that and the sound quality is fantastic.  I did make a phone call, and as expected, the sound quality was excellent.

There is an issue with Bluetooth and the K1600GT.  I have not tried to link the headset to the bike yet.  That's a test for another day; but, as far as basic bluetooth, phone and intercom, the Sena is awesome.

10/25/2013 Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park 435 miles PICS

Today's route was a loop starting and ending in Cedar City UT, through Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.  The map:

This route is very scenic.  The views are spectacular.  The whole route, including lots of picture taking took 14 hours.  We had temperatures between 27.5F on the low side to 85 on the high side.  During this trip, I rolled right past 10,000 miles on my K16.

There were a couple rather amusing moments on this trip.  It seemed that we kept getting stopped by foreigners who were asking if they could take a picture.  Naturally, we assumed they wanted pictures of BMWs creations - both BMW's flagship touring bike, the K1200LT (Paul's), or their replacement for that line, the K1600GT (mine).  That wasn't true.  They either wanted a picture of my Pennsylvania license plate, or to ask about my GoPro camera.  Unbelievable... thousands of dollars of world class motorcycles in front of them and they're interested in an $80 license plate and a $400 camera.the  I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

The other amusing moment happened about 20 miles West of Baker California.  We had recently stopped for gas and when I did, I picked up a couple protein bars for the rest of the ride.  While I was struggling with opening the wrapper; largely due to my gloves, an SUV came up on my left.  The lady in the passenger seat started laughing at me.  She was very amused and I didn't know if it was because I couldn't get the protein bar out of the wrapper or because I was caught with both hands off the handlebars or something else.  I put my arms out to the side and said "What??" like a kid caught with their hands in the cookie jar; but, she couldn't hear me.  I got the wrapper open; but, if I didn't, I would have motioned for her to open her window and asked her to open it for me.  That would have provided entertainment for the rest of her day, I'm sure.

Enough of that, here's the pics.  There's some wrap up comments at the end.

<<<Video 1>>>

 (Issaic, Abraham and Joseph)

I love the color of Paul's 1200LT.

So, this is the map of our return route.  The entire route started in Redlands, CA (bottom of the P) and we stayed in Cedar City Utah on Friday and Saturday evenings.  On Saturday morning, we came back south and did the incomplete part of the loop, moving North and West around the loop until we got back to Cedar City: Day 1 403 miles;  Day 2 427 miles;  Day 3 403 miles.

This is the first time I got to travel with Paul.  We met only a few weeks ago at work.  He's an outstanding rider and very patient.  I think I on Saturday, I must have gotten off the bike about 30 times to take pictures.  It really delayed our time around the loop.  It became a 14 hour riding day; but, it was really worth it.  When I go back, I really want to hike into the canyon and see these formations close up.

I have dozens of videos that I will probably add; but, in the meantime, this video does a great job of telling the story...