Update: Spoiler alert, there’s truly a good end to this story, and even more so for globetrotting adventurers. But wait till the end!
One of the most important reasons for choosing a certain product is the back-up service you will receive from that company when things go belly up. It is even more crucial for long-term travellers or overlanders when deciding which brand or company’s products to use. At some stage you might need to email them to get help or advice with a faulty or not functioning product. This is when you will find out whether you are important as a paying customer or not.
Sena Bluetooth 20S review
Most well-respected brands try their best to understand the demands and challenges faced by round-the-world-adventurers whilst abroad. However, there are companies that will go out of their way to help and assist, going that extra mile.
We have used the Sena SMH10 since 2010, and even after all the dirt, dust, mud and falls in both Africa and Europe they kept going. They were not perfect by all means but did the job relatively well. The clips that held the unit into the bracket broke off easily, and the signal range was just rubbish to say the least, but even so, it worked for us.
In June 2015, we bought a Sena 20S set in South Africa in preparation for our trip through the Americas. Sena in South Africa has a really good reputation for back up and will always try and help as much as possible. Also, seeing that Sena now sponsors so many international overlanders and is a global company, it gave us the confidence to invest yet again. What could go wrong?
The Good:
- Battery power is good and charges quite fast via USB on the bike.
Round dial enables easy use of the functions. Easy to use with gloves. - Clips which connect the unit to helmet are aluminium and not plastic.
- Overall build quality is good and if not abused the units will last.
- Easy to pair with other units, a mobile phone or a GPS.
- Voice commands are surprisingly good, even with our South African accents.
- More features than most people will ever use.
Not so hot:
- The claimed 2 kilometre range is very iffy. (Maybe if you live on the Bonneville Salt flats you might be lucky to achieve that range). In reality real life application it is no more than a few hundred meters and must be line of sight, and that’s with the new antenna. It is even worse in forest or off road and sometimes even lose reception in car parks.
- FM/AM Radio reception could be better.
- The Red LED function indicator button came on at random and could only be switched off by doing a hard reset. (This was an issue with our units and not a general fail)
- We had a few issues when trying to update the units via the net.
- We experience a lot of static noise when the units are paired and ON but the channel between us is OFF.
- Service we received from Sena when we had problems was less than stellar from such a company selling themselves as a global entity. Our initial experience was much more like coughing your eyes out with a blunt knife. Long of the short we had issues trying to communicate with Senas’ distributor in the USA as long term overlander travellers.
The impression we got is that of a company not really geared to play as a global player with regards to their service and backup. As our units was bought in South Africa and not the USA it created a whole new level of frustration.
PS: Sena confirmed many of the software and reception issues we experienced have been fixed with the newer units.
But why is Sena then wanting to portray themselves as an international sponsor of global riders? We got the impression that having Sena as a sponsor would be the ideal in getting service.
UPDATE:
Our units became progressively worse as we kept travelling. Eventually I emailed Sena’s head office in Korea. At the same time, a fellow traveller and friend introduced me to the head of marketing for Sena in the USA. Within the first few emails with Sena Korea, new replacement units were on their way to us in the USA. No, sweat, no issues, quick and painless.
In the meantime, and after all the emails between Sena Korea
, Sena’s head of marketing in the USA and myself, we actually hooked a good relationship. With regards to their service, Sena seems to be taking it very personal. With their overwhelming success at time struggled a bit to keep up with their service. The Head of Marketing USA told me they are working very hard to constantly improve their service.
In our conversation, Sena asked me what I would want and how they could improve their service for overland travellers. One thing we agreed on was exploring a type of warranty that would cover the gear for extended travels, and cross-border overlanding. That in itself is really cool, and if Sena could pull that off it would be a huge benefit for their customers. Whether traveling from the USA to Canada or Mexico, or to a completely different continent altogether, you would be covered anywhere out of your normal service area, albeit within your warranty period. Let see what happens, I am sure they can pull that off.
Moral of the story, keep talking to a brand, you will eventually find someone who cares and takes their job seriously and caring about the brand they represent.
As with many other brands, sometimes it’s your luck to draw the short stick and land up dealing with a nincompoop. This happens with any brand, and no brand is immune. The moment I got to speak to the correct people stuff happened quick and fast. Sena have truly restored my faith in their brand. They do care and they do work hard to improve and keep their service top-notch.
Nope, we are not sponsored by Sena, but will definitely support them where we can for the foreseeable future.