Sena 50s

tnbill

Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 14, 2022
Messages
256
Location
shady valley Tn
Bike
91 st1100
Got a pair of the 50s units a few weeks ago and so far here is my thoughts on them. First it refuses to work with siri. I command hy siri i get 2 tones and immediately get a second of 2 tones so that part is a fail. The FM radio is an epic fail as the reception is worthless. The i phone app is also another fail. With the unit on and phone connected I cannot get to the settings menu as it says i am not connected. On the good side the intercom sound is wonderful but have not had a chance to use the mesh with a group ride.
 
I got a pair of 50s units as well as a Spider ST at the beginning of summer, I use them with Android. For the most part, Google voice control works well, but sometimes at high speeds, I encounter the issue you indicated. I've only used the FM radio a couple times, but it worked fine for me. YMMV. The Android 50s app works perfectly for me, however, I have never been able to get the smart charger to connect to my wi-fi.

My experience with the intercom is similar to yours. Very clear, excellent noise reduction, and it does a great job of differentiating speech from wind noise. This is why I find it so confusing that the Mesh is terrible. I constantly hear wind noise from my passenger from both the other 50s and the Spider. It apparently interprets this as speech, because my music/navigation remains mostly muted while it's going on. On the plus side, Mesh delivers on its connectivity promise. Pick a channel and go. I occasionally listen on open mesh, but it seems I am alone in the world.

On other fronts, as a daily rider, it's great. I can make and read texts by voice, answer calls. Music / navigation, etc. is clear and audible even with ear plugs. The battery life is fantastic. It feels really solidly attached to my helmet. Getting permissions set up on my phone to allow this was a bit of a chore, but that's a phone thing.
 
On the Bluetooth side with the other half last weekend i and as getting a fair amount of wind noise from her ( 1st time out with them ) i since than have moved her mike and will find out this weekend it that helps wit the wind noise. I will also try using the phone by pressing the phone button instead if the voice command to siri.
 
On the whole I’m happy with my 50S. I don’t have connectivity issues with Siri or with the iPhone app and since most of the handful of people I ride with have mesh the network is quiet and background noise free. Mesh sure does chew up battery life though or maybe we all talk too much on it. I'll use 50% battery in 3 hours or so so have to bring a charge cable on day rides with 2 or 3 riders and recharge at the lunch stop. If I am riding solo and listening to music or standby it lasts all day or longer. I do have issues with voice commands to Sena if I’m moving at speed but I guess I don’t use VC because of wind noise interference so I don’t miss it. I don't know if that is a problem with Sena's VC or my mike setup in my helmets behind my windshields.

I had no-workie problems with the first 50S I bought as an early batch had bad chips or some other defect that prevent the thing from even working right out of the box. Sena customer service took a couple of months back and forth and two also bad replacements to take me seriously and send me one that worked. Very aggravating. The last conversation I had with Sena was that enough people opened support cases with the same problem that they identified the problem. That was a long time ago when the 50S was first released. If it was still like that I'm sure I would hear about it on forums. Sena support even then was courteous and tried to be helpful.

One thing that is important is to make sure the latest /firmware software versions are loaded (1.1.1 on the 50S and 4.3.4 on the Sena Utility desktop app). The mobile app just changed a couple of weeks ago and is completely new.
 
After over an hour with sena tech support we got the no connection for settings fixed. That issue was you cannot use the sena 50 app with the 50s harmon kardon units you have to use the sena motorcycle app. Still no help on the Siri voice command and poor FM reception.
 
I have an issue with my early Sena 50s running Carplay through my Goldwing. I have no sound, but the mesh is connected because other connected riders can hear me. I just can't hear them. No music either, although it is playing. When I push the speaker/headphone button the Goldwing the music plays through the speakers. Ride before last I re synced and everything worked. On today's ride I resynced everything and it worked once, but after we stopped (and I left everything on accessory) it didn't work, and I resynced it several times. No joy. Any idea what the problem could be? This is an ongoing problem that as gotten steadily worse.
 
I'm no help, I only use mine solo for listening to music or podcasts, or phone calls when stopped.
I have calls turned off in the Bluetooth settings for Sena on my Android, and I don't connect it to the GPS or the TFT on my BMW 1250.
As I have no friends, I've had no occasion to use the Mesh.
I do like the battery life.
 
I may have fixed it. I updated the device, and it has worked 2 straight tries. We shall see. The Goldwing's Carplay is nice, but it is difficult to get it to work sometimes. First you have to turn off the BT on the phone, then turn on the bike, then turn on the Sena, wait for TWO beeps, then connect the cord to the iPhone, activate Carplay and hope for the best. If there is no sound, try turning the volume up on the phone. If that doesn't work, turn the volume up and down on the Sena unit and then the bike itself. I may just start running the whole thing through my phone and bypassing the bike entirely.
 
Sounds simple to me.
/sarcasm
Similar gyrations are involved to connect Sena, GPS and TFT on a BMW, if you want to see the names of songs displayed on the TFT.
 
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