I’ve been using a Sena ST1 intercom for the past few months, and I’m impressed. I’ve ridden in sunshine and rain, had long days by myself and ridden in groups large and small.
Sena describes the ST1 as a “Mesh Only Intercom”, which doesn’t mean there is no Bluetooth connectivity – there is! – only that there is no Bluetooth intercom facility.
The good news is that you don’t need a Bluetooth intercom. You have Sena’s Mesh technology, which far exceeds anything a Bluetooth intercom can do.
Past Life
My history with Sena intercoms goes back several years, starting with them long before MESH technologies arrived and back when it took an hour in the office to get two devices talking to each other. Thankfully, all I wanted back then was to listen to Nagging Nardia, my GPS.
My first Sena was an SMH-5, which cost me around £90 and had two Bluetooth channels. One to listen to the GPS and the other for connecting with other Sena intercoms.
Since then – in the last five years – intercoms have become multi-faceted communication devices, had cameras installed in them, become expensive and then, as with all technology, the price has fallen.
£90 five years ago is, according to the Bank of England, £120 in today’s money, which puts it £30 behind the Sena ST1 and £20 behind the RT1 model, which is the same intercom, but with button controls rather than the Sena patented jog wheel.
And what does that extra £20-30 get you … A lot.
Sena ST1
The top of the Sena intercom range is the 50S or perhaps the Sena 50C, which has all of the features of the 50S, plus it records 4K video.
We did a full review of the 50S when it came out, as it was groundbreaking technology at the time and remains an impressive device today.
The Sena ST1 has all the same features as the 50S, the only difference being that Sena has toned down the scale of some of the features, putting the capabilities of the Sena ST1 squarely in the middle of the functionality we need and will use every day.
There is no need to pay for features you may not need, but if you need maximum-everything, then the 50S is the device for you.
Sena ST1 Specification
- Mesh Intercom range max 2km
- Extends to 8km with 6+ riders
- Group Mesh supports up to 24 units
- 9 channels in open mesh mode
- Bluetooth 5.1
- Supports HSP – HFP – A2DP
- Sena Advanced Noise Control™
- Premium HD speakers
- Talk time: up to 11 hours
- Charging time approx: 1.5 hours
LS2 Explorer
Putting the ST1 in the perfect helmet would have been easier, but that isn’t what happens in life.
I’ve been using the carbon version of the excellent LS2 MX701 Explorer for the past two years. Along with the superb fit, the frankly stunning optically perfect visor and its lightweight come the disadvantage that it can be a little noisy at autobahn speeds.
Up to 60mph, the LS2 successfully deals with wind noise from the Tracer’s screen. Over that, the wind roar gets irritating. On the KTM 1090, the cut-off point was about 45mph.
There is nothing wrong with the LS2, which has an angular design, or the motorcycles. Occasionally, you get an ill-matched pair, and hence the wind noise. Take the same helmet, the same rider, and the same ears and put them on a Ducati Multistrada, and wind and road noise are not an issue.
The other reason I picked the LS2 Explorer as the test helmet is the absence of speaker pockets in the lining. Yes, I could have picked a more accommodating helmet, but testing shouldn’t be like that. This is the real world.
Sena ST1 Installation
All of the Sena intercoms come with an array of thin Velcro pads that you place where you want the speakers and microphone to sit inside the helmet.
The absence of speaker pockets on the LS2 gave me a lot of options, and after a few test positions, I found a comfortable – I can’t feel them – position for the HD speakers.
For the microphone, I opted for the boom mic over the button mic and fed it behind the cheek pad on the left, with the business end of the microphone placed in the middle of the chin bar. The advantage the LS2 Explorer has is that with its extended oval shape, I can have the microphone directly in front of my mouth but still far enough away that I don’t know it is there.
All in all, it took about 30 minutes to get the placement of the internals where they were comfortable and in the right place for the associated part of my anatomy.
The angular styling of the LS2 Explorer added a little more time to the installation as I searched for the ideal spot to locate the main Sena ST1 unit. An adhesive mount secures onto the helmet’s shell, and the Sena ST1 clips into the mount.
The cables for the speakers and microphone are detachable from the main unit, but only for easy installation. Once connected, you can disconnect them if you wish, but the idea is that everything stays plugged in and attached to the helmet.
I did lots of pondering and thinking, followed by some considering and deliberating. Then there was a bit more pondering, but I eventually found the ideal spot, which also gave me a clean exit between the cheek pads and the neck roll for the cables.
Total installation time was about an hour, and it was a simple enough task. Most of the time, I spent deciding where I wanted things mounted and tucking the cables away. If I was doing it all again, I think it would take me about 15 minutes.
Sena ST1 Road Test
The familiar Sena “Hello” greeting that plays when the intercom is powered on, sounds dreadful compared to the same greeting on the Sena 50S. For a few moments, while I quickly worked through the menus to pair my phone, I wondered what Sena had done.
All that has happened is that Sena has reduced the quality of the synthesised voice. The quality of the music playback from my phone was a delight. I could even pick out some of Mick Fleetwood’s intricate drumming from the Rumours album (I’ll leave you to Google that reference).
The Sena ST1 has the same blended audio capabilities as the Sena 50S. I connect the Sena ST1 and my phone to my Garmin XT GPS so that phone calls and music route through the GPS to the intercom.
Using the blended audio channel – Sena calls this GPS Pairing is important. We covered this in-depth in the Achieving Audio Nirvana article.
The short version of that article is that the digital Mesh technology and Bluetooth will assume you are using them exclusively unless you use the GPS Bluetooth channel. Using this blends the audio streams into a mellifluous auditory experience.
I also used the Sena ST1 to connect to the Honda NT1100 using Android Auto, with the same excellent results.
The Last Three Months
When using just Bluetooth connected to the Garmin GPS, the Sena ST1 has been faultless.
Turn the Mesh on, and the experience is still excellent; chatting with others on a ride out to the coast for tea and cake wasn’t a problem, while Nagging Nadia would tell me where to go.
This has been my everyday experience using the Sena ST1 – So simple that I take it for granted.
Occasionally, over the past months, I noticed that I was no longer hearing the GPS, but everything appeared connected. Turning the Sena ST1 off and on again – the universal fix for any technology – would restore all of the audio connections.
I can’t quite nail the circumstances under which this happens, and it has only happened a few times over several months and numerous hours of riding.
Using Mesh and Bluetooth together is perhaps one of the contributing factors, but if the source of the disconnect was the ST1 or the Garmin XT, I couldn’t tell you.
Once my infamous paranoia became aware of a possible disconnection, I’ve been waiting for it to happen again – which, of course, it never has.
Yet other than that one perplexing inconsistency, the ST1 has been rock solid.
Mesh Technology
If you have ever tried Bluetooth intercoms between two motorcycles, you will appreciate the pain of getting them to reconnect if you get separated.
Thankfully, today, we have Mesh. If another Sena intercom is on public Mesh and on the same channel (there are nine channels to choose from), riders will automatically join, leave, and rejoin the Mesh network.
Which is why I find the discussions about range so mystifying.
In perfect conditions, the single rider to single rider range for the Sena ST1 Mesh intercom is 2 Km, but we never get perfect conditions. Then, there is the additional range that comes if there are more than two Sena intercoms in the Mesh.
Yet, the essential part for me is that if I lose connection to the Mesh, I will automatically rejoin as soon as I’m back in range.
If my colleagues are “on one” and disappear over the horizon, I know I’ll automatically reconnect to the group conversation when I catch up or they slow down.
If we are in traffic and one of us catches a red light and goes out of range, we dawdle up to the next light, and when we are within sight of each other, everyone reconnects.
The obsession with talking to a solo rider 2 Km away is lost on me, but if it is an important part of your decision-making, that is the single rider-to-rider range. Between six riders in a Mesh group, that range increases to 8 Km (5 miles), assuming perfect conditions.
Value For Money
All of the Mesh technology features, plus playing music from my phone, relaying instructions from Nagging Nadia, taking phone calls and playing internet radio stations (from my phone) … the Sena ST1 will do it all.
As I write this, SportsBikeShop sells the Sena ST1 for £149.99. The Sena RT1, the same as the ST1 but with buttons rather than the jog wheel, is £139.99
As mentioned back at the start, the Sena ST1 is £30 more than the SMH-5 was selling for a few years ago. It is amazing how much extra technology that £30 buys you today.
