Sena SMH10 Bluetooth Headset

Do you use earbuds while riding? I did for the longest time, and found the experience to be less than ideal. I hated the work involved with carefully putting your helmet on so that the earbuds aren't pressed into your ears uncomfortably, while making sure that that the cables weren't pulled caught up in the rest of the gear. There's nothing worse than a head turn on the highway pulling out an earbud with no easy way to fix it without stopping on the side of the road.

I finally gave into my technology temptation a few months ago and started looking at Bluetooth headsets designed for helmets. There is a wide range of makes and models available, which is good news for riders. When looking at the options, it's important to consider how you intend to use the headset to help determine which brand will work best for you.

In my case, I ended up with the Sena SMH10. Sena makes a number of headsets, from low-profile units like the SMH10R, the SPH10 for half-helmets, or the SMH5-FM for commuters. I went with the SMH10 mainly due to the longer battery life.

On longer rides that involve getting from boring point A to more exciting point B, I like to have some light music in the background while on the superslab. The SHM10 works wonderfully with smartphones for that purpose. The sound is not perfect, by any means, with some loss of bass, but considering how well I can hear it at highway speeds and wearing earplugs to protect against windnoise, I am more than happy with the results.

The headset has a small learning curve to use the buttons while riding, but the voice menus work very well, and even better with a voice-activated command system on a smartphone, like Siri on my iPhone. I can press the phone button on the headset and easily ask Siri to play my road trip playlist, give me the current local temperature or find a location with directions.

I like the features, but I like the price even more. I see it is current $154USD on Amazon for the single unit, or $270USD for two units for those who want to communicate with a passenger or fellow rider.

Ride on!