Customer Reviews

Scala Rider Cardo G4 Motorcycle Headset System

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

We purchased a pair of these a few days ago, tested them out in one local drive around town, then just yesterday took them on a 300 mile trip.

Over all, they have worked as they should (even if not always to the level claimed), and were very useful for us in having basic communication. My unit was paired to my phone, and I was able to answer calls and have a conversation. The other party could not tell that I was on a motorcycle, going down the highway.

The range of the helmet to helmet communications is not as far as advertised, but that was to be expected. Still, in a line of sight situation, we could easily get more half a mile, sometimes up to a mile. But not if there were any hills or a lot of traffic between us.

On occasion they were quirky when we left a rest stop and tried to get them working again. Sometimes it would take a minute or so for the helmets to sync again. But as mentioned, they did work, and they were useful in us being able to communicate with each other.

I only tested the bluetooth connection from my phone for playing music, at home. It worked fine. I did not try to play music while driving. I didn't want to play with the phone while on the highway. But a person could easily get their music source going first, then get moving down the road. But we were more interested in staying in touch.

The units synced with our phones just as they should have. It took less than 2 minutes to get that done.

Mounting to the helmet was straight forward. I don't think I looked at the instructions hardly at all. It's pretty obvious.

I would say that they're not quite like having Star Trek Communicators, with that level of quality and ease of use. But they did work, so we'll keep using them.

I have had the original Scala Rider since it first came out and was quickly impressed with the battery life and wind noise suppression. Now I am married and my wife rides her own motorcycle so I decided after looking around at current communication devices I was not surprised when I settled on the G4 Powerset.

First thing I did was upload the latest firmware update to the units from my Windows 7 x64 bit home computer without a hitch (I read a previous reviewer that had an issue with this so apparently it has been addressed). Now you can program your radio stations, set sensitivity levels, and various other features right from the desktop without having to play around with it in the field. I consider that a big plus. When it's time to ride I don't want to have to monkey around with my gear.

On our first trip out we took some back roads through a couple of canyons on a windy day and there was not time I could not hear my wife clearly. The only time I heard wind coming from her mic was when the wind was hitting us sideways and pretty hard. Even when she was out of line of sight we could still communicate clearly though I doubt we got more than a half mile of separation. The auto-volume feature worked just like the old unit which forced me to turn it down a few levels but the volume control was an easy reach on the left side of my helmet.

My only issue with the Powerset is the intercom. If you hit the Channel A button you can talk all day long with no problems but the booklet advertises that you should just be able to talk into the mic and it would automatically initiate the intercom with a paired G4. That feature never worked for us and I was dissapointed as I don't want to have to hit a channel button every time I want to talk to my wife. I ended up leaving the channel open the whole time which worked great but killed my ability to listen to my mp3 player during the intermissions and allowed wind noise to transmit during the gustier parts of our ride.

One feature I think they should add is the ability to change the priority of the incoming transmissions via the software. Right now you are fixed with Cardo's priority setup without regards to what you would prefer the priority to be. If your phone is paired with your G4 and you receive an incoming call you have to answer/kill the call before resuming comms with your other riders. But this is only a minor issue and in no way a deal breaker here.

If the battery life on this one is as good as the original (they advertise 10 hours talk time) then I will be more than happy with the investment I made so far. You can charge the units off any USB port or use the AC adapters included (one cable and adapter per unit). In fact, you get two of everything in the Powerset so it is definitely worth buying over the solo G4 when you consider the price difference (you could sell the 2nd unit and make a profit). Hearing in stereo is a huge upgrade from the original Scala rider (which only had one speaker) and the quality is surprisingly good. It lacks bass when it comes to music but for how slim the speakers are it works more than good enough for me.

The G4 Powerset is a worthy buy letting me focus on the ride and not the gear.

I was looking for Motorcycle communication without wires, able to talk rider to passenger, bike to bike, Bluetooth to GPS and cellphone and FM from XM SAT radio. G4 power set does it all even at 100 klm. Great product at a great price!

Have tried all aspects of G4s they work as advertized .(GREAT) only complaint and this is not part of what the G4 does is wish you could just (briefly) talk between rider and passenger without group hearing what you say. Still very impressed . The group i ride with bought 3 powersets and 1 single unit, everyone happy.

I've had the G-4 power set for several weeks and have been very satisfied so far. I started looking at BT helmets but decided to go with a system that wasn't tied to a specific helmet. Feature-wise, the G4 seems to have about everything. After installing one, I was able to install the next in under ten minutes. The first may have taken fifteen because I had to move the unit forward after thinking I had it perfect. Pairing with my Droid X was as simple as any BT pairing. Bike to bike intercom has worked flawlessly and with good sound quality. The little pop-up antennas are easy to use on the fly and really do seem to help with increased separation. Phone calls also work perfectly with the caller not knowing I'm on the bike until I tell them. At highway speeds they say they can hear a little wind noise when I speak but have no trouble hearing me. Moving the mic a little closer to my mouth seems to alleviate this. Playing music through the speakers is a little lacking in sound quality but what can you expect from the thin little speakers. It sounds good enough to break the monotony of wind noise. The only negatives I've seen have been the built-in FM receiver - which requires a super strong signal to sound decent, and some quirkiness from my newness at working the controls. This is because each button serves multiple purposes and will just take time for me to be able to do what I'm wanting to do without having to think about it. It's obviously better to have so few buttons so you're not fumbling around with a full keyboard on the side of your head. I haven't fully tested the batteries but on a 200 mile round trip with a lot of talking, they held up fine.

I have used these on several two hundred plus mile trips. Rider to passenger works OK but the unit does pick up wind noise from the rider piece. I tried unsuccessfully one time to make call. Every time I tried it gave me a different contact than i asked for. I even changed the name of a couple of contacts to something more unusual. incoming calls however are crystal clear and my wife says she can hear nothing but my voice even at speed. I do like the unplugged idea a lot. Battery life for us was about 8-9 hours could get longer on standby i suppose, but my wife says if you got it use it(i.e she talks a lot).

I been using scala products for a couple years now and was quite happy with the old model minus a few quirks along the way. Since upgrading to the G4 seven months ago, I had not one problem with pairing, clarity, connection or range. This is a fantastic model with just a few options you can tweak via software / updater.

I rode with these in the rain many times as well without issue. The battery life is very impressive. Just one tip, when taking a rest break, theres no need to power down the radios. Just disconnect from your partner and the radios will give a single blink (standby mode). This conserves the battery and prevents the hassle of turning the units on and off all the time.

Many times I had the units in standby mode several days between rides. We obviously forgot to turn them off and had many hours of use left on the same charge.

I highly recommend this product...

These things are great. It's amazing how well they do, even in direct wind. I was worried they wouldn't be loud enough, but quickly noticed that the volume on the speakers turns-up as the microphone picks up more wind. Great product in my opinion.

After some tweaking to get earphone speakers positioned just right, works pretty well. Radio works, bluetooth paring to HTC incredible works, can answers calls, listen to music on phone. conversation with passenger works as well, just not quite loud enough. Helps to be behind a windshield. Glad i bought it and price was best here.

Fantastic!!! The perfect system for riding in company. Excellent sound clarity, simple to install and use, phone and ipod compatible, you couldn't want for anything more. Highly recommend this item. Being able to talk to your riding partner and share road information has made such a difference. Great range in all terrains.