In part three spoke about trying something new, a smart helmet. Well I got one and this was my experience.
Being an old school rider this was something totally out of character for me to have. But times change and we should at least consider some changes. You never know, you may actually like some of the new modern technology. For me riding solo a lot the thought of being able to call from help from my helmet is what peaked my attention so for me it was a safety issue as opposed to an entertainment one. I chose the SENA Outrush R helmet because I had heard good reviews on them. I heard they fit snug so order a size or two up. I'm glad I did because it did fit very snug, even with one size up.
Next came the function test. The helmet has many features but I was mainly interested in one, the ability to make and hear calls in an emergency. Once I paired the helmet with my phone it worked flawless. This was good and all but I was still standing in my living room. Let's put this thing to the real test. At that point I grab my gear and headed out for a ride. Everything worked fine but at higher speeds it became more difficult to hear the sound. I had the volume turned all the way up on my phone and I thought that was going to be the best that I got until a light bulb went off, turn up the volume on the helmet. That rectified my hearing problem. I had read other reviews of the same issue and was wondering if they too had forgotten about the two volume sources. During my research I found a quick hack to improve the clarity of the sound from your helmet. Below is some pictures and instructions on how to improve the sound quality. This may be for a SENA Bluetooth helmet but may also work on other Bluetooth helmets.
1. Remove padding around ears to get to the speaker behind and pull the speaker out of hole.
2. Get some velcro and cut some circles to fit hole or buy some already curt circles.
3. Refill the hole with velcro circles and some back to back or front to front to fill the hole flush. However they need to stick to each other right.
4. Make sure the last part of velcro up is the hairy side so it sticks to the speaker. I moved it to about here in photo to work best for me.
5. Putting padding back in and speaker should be raised and almost center in the place to the left of where the strap goes through. Sounds 300% better and I can actually hear bass now. Almost too loud on occasion.
My conclusion is I probably won't use all the functions that the helmet is capable of but in an emergency it is always better to have something and not need it than it is to need something and not have it.
Follow this thread as this seasoned rider continues to conform to modern times.
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