Interphone F5MC Single Bluetooth Headset

I had the Sena SH5H-FM before this which I thought was pretty darn good, right up to the point where a trip out in the rain and it was deader than a dodo and has never been revived..So, given these ones are supposedly 100% waterproof I went with this, I only passed my bike test in September and I have no intention of becoming a fair weather rider so I need something that can survive the wet and wild Scottish weather.Well, having has some disgustingly wet, cold and miserable weather rides over the last couple of weeks I can now fairly confidently say that this thing is waterproof, 100%, absolutely!A few things bug me, just seems like someone did not think before they coded when writing the firmware such as the FM Radio you have to long press to cycle the preset stations and short press to search for the next station - It seems to me that it would make more sense to be able to quickly run through your pre-selected stations of interest..The buttons on it are at times very tricky to find with gloves, especially the centre button, and that can be very frustrating - Say you are listening to music from your phone and you want to pause it you have to long press the centre button, but because its hard to locate you often half press it (short press instead of long) and that jumps to the intercom menu, now to get back to your music you have to find the down button, press three times, short press the middle and then long press the middle to resume playing. Does not sound like much but trust me if you miss press that middle button 3 times in a row you will be screaming blue murder!Fitting in the helmet is pretty straight forward, I used the stick on mount as it was fairly clear that the clamp type was just not going to cut the mustard on my Caberg Duke helmet, to be fair on my previous helmet with the sena I went with sticky mount, the clamp types just don't seem to look right to me..The speakers are nice and thin so should not be much of a problem in all but the very tightest helmets, they are fitted in little round pouches with velcro hook on the back and supplied with loop pads. In the Duke I removed the speaker from the pouches and, cut a slot in the helmet speaker recess foam inserts and slid the speakers into the slots before refitting in the lid, this put the speakers very close to my ears but still under a little padding so comfy and loud. - see photos.The Duke helmet is a flip front so I used the boom mic, I just unclipped the cheek pad and the hook velcro on the mic gripped the helmet liner without any loop so just popped the cheek pad bag onto its press studs and called it job done.I routed the wiring over the top of my head (under the helmet liner of course) rather than around the back as info on the interweb informed me you get better radio reception that way.The unit clips onto the sticky mount with a nice positive action, then the plug from the headset slides on from the rear and also engages in a key in the sticky mount so effectively locks the thing in place which is a nice touch, Sena take note how easy it is to stop the thing being knocked off accidentally every time you put the helmet down!Battery life is good, again Sena take note, I have not used the intercom much pairing with a Sena 5FM (anycom feature) it lasted a whole day on a charge, 7 hours, about half that intercom and half music streaming, GPS and phone use.The sound quality is great, its not hifi, its not Bose, its a motorcycle headset so you should not be expecting that.. For what it is it is more than adequate, plenty loud enough for my deaf head so anyone with 20:20 hearing will probably need to turn it down! Not had many phone calls since I got it while on the bike, just call me Biker Billy No-Mates, but the ones I had were clear and the other people did not seem to have any greater problem understanding me than when I am using the normal phone in the house.But by far the best feature has to be the built in instructions, the text to speech help system is just an absolute joy of a feature, Press a button and it tells you what it does, what to do next, and everything you need to know, it really is a case of the manual is not needed with this baby, outstanding.I guess I could give it a 4 star rating because it does have some slightly annoying features, but really that would just be unfair because the positives far outweigh any niggles I have, nothing is 100% perfect but this is pretty close.All in all its a lot of money, but then again its a nice bit of tech so still worth the price IMO. It has performed flawlessly for me so far and in some really horrendous weather at 80 or 90MPH+ so its a hard nut to crack, I will be buying another for the spare lid and maybe if my boy behaves I might get him one next time I visit.

The sound quality is very good and it was easy to install. System provides you with instructions as you set it up. I have not tried the communication with other riders so I cannot state how good or bad it is. The radio on the other hand could be better.

"Really good product for the price".After using a PTT 2 way radio on a previous motorbike tour, I wanted something a bit more up to date, wireless connection to phone and more features. Cost was a factor too.The pro’s and cons of this product are:PRO’s*Descent rider-to-rider comms- The unit pairs with another Interphone unit or other ‘anycom’ device. Once this is achieved, you can enable the conference bridge and start talking. Range is really by line of sight but even when separated by several hundred yards, we were able to have a conversation. Solid objects between units will have a big effect though, but still impressed. Re-connection is also automatic.*Able to understand each other at speeds (up to national speed limits obviously ;)- Very impressed here. The flat speaker pads are descent at projecting solid ranges of voice comms as well as music from the units FM RDS radio or via streaming. At motorway speeds (70mph) I was really concerned communication would not be possible due to wind noise but the mic is also good quality, Thumbs up on this point.*Be able to receive and make calls whilst on the move- People calling me whilst using the device thought I was using a handsfree or walking on the street rather than riding a bike at speed.*Stream music from the phone to break up the long stints cruising on the motorway- Interphone acts like a pair of Bluetooth headphones so u can use the buttons on the unit to skip the song etc. Descent speaker pads are good enough for you to enjoy the music, its not the best but good enough, wind noise is just a part of riding a motorbike.*Long enough battery life to cover a day of full use- On full charge I was able to use the unit continuously. The computer voice declares the battery status when you turn it on and from what it says I think you just get a battery status of ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’. I only ever got to medium before the end of the ride and a re-charge. I would rekon a full day and a half riding would be covered before the might start complaining about a low battery. More endurance testing needed here, but I’m happy.CONS’s*Buttons are fiddly- Yes this may go away with time but to start with its challenging to know which button you are pressing and I found myself messing with it more than not, not ideal when your riding around.*Process to turn the unit off- So to power the unit off u need to hold the main button down, however the amount of time seems to be a second longer than the amount of time you press to power the unit up. This might sound strange, but the delay difference can be confusing when you’re standing there holding the button waiting then due to the lengthy delay you wonder if you’re doing the right thing and release the button. Now you have to start again! It is something that will go away once you know how the unit works but still worth mentioning.*FM RDS radio- Yeah due to no visible antenna, the reception in the sticks is pretty poor, I managed to pickup only 1 or 2 stations. In built up areas the reception was alot better. Sound quality also depends on the signal strength. I would not sell this unit on this function, its nice to have and works, just dont expect great things from it. DAB would have been epic, though unit would be alot more money.Summing up I am happy with this unit and would recommend to anyone who needs to add comms to their helmet when they are riding in a group of just to break up the solitude that is hours riding from A to B. As it is compatible with the Anycom standard, it will pair with other more expensive manufacturers, which make this a good option.

Bought this so that i can use it on a number of helmets by buying the mounting hardware separate as required. Used on a 3 day trip through Scotland and the intercom was good for about 400m beyond that it did not work. This was ok tho as we were able to stay close for most of the trip. This is first time I have used the intercom feature and it was very useful. I have an N-Com system but for a Nolan Helmet but when i bought an X-Lite i found that I needed a different N-com system. Thus i decided to get a true universal system rather than chase N-Com products.