[DieselAnna]

Looking to purchase Cardo Packtalk edge or neo from US. Any connects or websites for the same which has offers in the US?

Right now, Amazon US prices as below:

NEO- $256 (Indian price Rs. 30,299)

EDGE-$319 (Indian price Rs. 35,499)

I have compared both of them and I am ok to let go the benefits of edge over the neo. Neo suits my requirements. I have not purchase an intercom till now because I wanted to buy cardo only. Currently I am using an ASG BT unit which is very basic.

[TheVaas]

Originally Posted by DieselAnna

Looking to purchase Cardo Packtalk edge or neo from US. Any connects or websites for the same which has offers in the US?

Just a word of caution: Cardo India won't aid in warranty issues if the unit has been bought out of India. You'll have to ship it back to US - in case of any warranty issues. Cardo India offers 2 years of warranty.

[skviknaraj]

Originally Posted by DieselAnna

Looking to purchase Cardo Packtalk edge or neo from US. Any connects or websites for the same which has offers in the US?
...

Hey DieselAnna,

Cardo most of times runs a 20% discount on their website. Either you have to use a Code provided by an influencer or some it will be based on some regional festival in the USA. Follow the Cardo US page on Instagram to get the coupon code / offer details.

Big bad Bikes is also currently running some offers on Cardo units. Look at them as you avail warranty support and avoid the hassle of buying in the US, getting someone to carry it back to India.

Regards,
Vik

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

After roughly about 3500 Kms since I've picked up the c30, I thought I'd weigh in and provide a review of sorts. My primary use case is within the city, on my daily commute where I listen to music and take calls regularly. I'm not going to get into the selection process as part of this post however. Let's jump right into that good stuff

1. Build and Ease of Use

The c30 is light, weighing it at just 70 gms, you barely notice it on your helmet. However I must admit that it is a little bulky. I haven't faced any quality issues with the antenna mechanism, the plastics or the rubber, and I must say Bluarmor has done a good job on this front. I quite like the carbon-esque finish as well!



Ease of use however, is where the c30 does not score as high. The buttons are quite tiny, and while you quickly get used to them with regular gloves, it is a whole different ballgame with winter/waterproof gloves. You barely can feel the damn thing. I think a dial of sorts like what the Parani has would have been better, or even a simple large button placement like the TVS S20x, which is just a rebadged c30.**

2. Battery Life and Charging

This is an area where the c30 excels. The claimed battery life is* 16 hours. I easily get around 22-24 hours when I'm using the c30 only for music and calls. With the intercom function, I used it for about 4 hours of ride time (MESH intercom + Music) and my battery dropped 10%, so make of that what you will.

The c30 charges really quickly. A full charge is roughly 20-25 minutes, and it also supports on-the-go charging, which is great!

3. Audio and Microphone Quality

"Jay Bee Ell speakers it has macha"
The Audio quality is good. It gets sufficiently loud for you to enjoy music while still allowing you to have spatial awareness. You can also use this if you use riding earplugs (Pinlocks in my case), but you'll need to max out the volume. Bluarmour includes enough spacers in the box to get the fit just right. However, if your helmet doesn't have recessed speaker pockets, it would be a problem I suppose.*

The noise cancellation is excellent. When I'm on a phone call, doing even 100kmph, the person on the other end can barely tell that I'm riding a motorcycle. In fact, I could still hear and understand my friend who was on a duke 390 with no windscreen, doing 110kmph. (The windscreen is still ideal though)

4. Intercom Use

The c30 offers both MESH and universal bluetooth connectivity, along with some nifty features. When you're connected on MESH, you can patch in either a bluetooth intercom, or even a phone call! To illustrate, say Person A and B are on a MESH Call, and Person C is the pillion of Person A with a Bluetooth Intercom, you can patch Person C into the MESH Call. Similarly if Person D calls Person A or B via phone, you can patch Person D as well. I however didn't try this feature out.

The c30, via its universal pairing mode can connect to any bluetooth device, including another person's TWS earphones. Please note however, that the range on bluetooth is only 50 metres and is only designed for rider-pillion use.

The MESH intercom has a claimed range of 1.2kms LOS, which I found to be fairly close in reality. I was easily able to maintain 600 - 800m of distance on the highway without an issue, but lost the connection after about 1 km. The audio also gets quite choppy at around the 900 km mark. The intercom instantly reconnects when you are back in range, which is great. In the city, I had no issues with the intercom, and was able to test it at about 500m of distance between us, in heavy traffic.*

5. The Mobile App

This is where my experience has been crappy so far. For context, I have a Oneplus 8 running Android 13. For whatever reason, despite me giving the app all the permissions under the sun, I am unable to accept or reject whatsapp calls (Which my friend with an iPhone 13 is able to do).

Secondly, the App has a feature which provides for a readout of whatsapp messages on the go, which is really useful imo. This was working great until a recent app update that came out after the Bluarmor HS1 was launched. Now, the app completely disconnects when I get a whatsapp message. This continued to happen even when I turned the feature off and even resetting the app, the intercom or the network settings hasn't solved this.

My friend and I were not able to pair our intercoms (initially) through the Bluarmour app and I resorted to using the Royal Enfield App, which has support for their Motowave X1 (Also a rebadged c30) that Whatsapp function still doesn't work though.

6. Miscellaneous

Another annoying glitch i've been facing is that the app randomly disconnects while listening to music (while still showing that its connected, but you can't hear anything) and requires a restart to reconnect. Additionally, there is random distortion while listening to music albeit rarely.

The customer service has been pretty responsive so far and their office isn't too far from where I live, so I probably will head there to sort these issues out.

7. Concluding Thoughts

I'm not too sure if the issues I'm facing are particular to just my unit (My friend has faced zero issues with his) but they are quite draining, especially when you've spent 11,000 Rs on an intercom. I hope to get these resolved soon, and if they are, this is hands down an excellent intercom. If you have any questions on something that I may have missed, please feel free to ask. Cheers!

[boniver]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyTangoFox

Another annoying glitch i've been facing is that the app randomly disconnects while listening to music (while still showing that its connected, but you can't hear anything) and requires a restart to reconnect. Additionally, there is random distortion while listening to music albeit rarely.

Long shot, but do you carry any other Bluetooth earphones with you while riding? This happened with my Parani a couple of times and I realized that my Bluetooth neckband that I use for office calls (kept in my backpack) kept turning on and off inside my bag when its buttons were pressed by other objects in the bag. That's when my phone would connect to both the helmet and the neckband but play music only through the neckband.

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by boniver

Long shot, but do you carry any other Bluetooth earphones with you while riding? This happened with my Parani a couple of times and I realized that my Bluetooth neckband that I use for office calls (kept in my backpack) kept turning on and off inside my bag when its buttons were pressed by other objects in the bag. That's when my phone would connect to both the helmet and the neckband but play music only through the neckband.

While I've faced this as well, the disconnection I'm talking about has happened even when I'm not carrying bluetooth earphones.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by TheVaas

Just a word of caution: Cardo India won't aid in warranty issues if the unit has been bought out of India. You'll have to ship it back to US - in case of any warranty issues. Cardo India offers 2 years of warranty.

I agree with this.

I bought a Sena SF4 last year locally after quite a bit of research and realized that I was paying around 3-4k extra here. But it was worth the peace of mind as I could approach the store where I procured it from in case any issues cropped up during the warranty period.

Same goes for all or most accessories such as aux lights, etc. Best to go with a reputed importer/reseller here that will honor warranty claims.

[anurag344]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyTangoFox

After roughly about 3500 Kms since I've picked up the c30, I thought I'd weigh in and provide a review of sorts. My primary use case is within the city, on my daily commute where I listen to music and take calls regularly.

Very well written review! I mostly agree with your viewpoint/observations. Let me add my 2 cents since my use case is different from yours.

My whole riding group (4 of us) invested in C30s after hearing high praise from a well known Moto Vlogger on YouTube () and few other riders. We motorcycle for touring and we typically cover 500-600 kms in a day (8-10 hrs). On open highways, we like to cruise at around 120kmph. Spoiler Alert: The device is practically useless at any speed above 80kmph.

We have the following issues:

• A lot of wind noise is picked up by the microphone(s) of the other riders and it adds another level of noise. All our helmets have chin curtains and we have touring screens on the bikes to minimize buffeting on the helmet. We also wear neck gaiters to keep wind coming into the helmet to a minimum. But to no avail. The noise drowns any music and becomes very irritating after a while. I would have thought that the digital signal processing on the device would be able to select human voice frequencies and cancel out any others especially wind noise.
• The claim that the mesh works until a Line Of Sight of 1.2 km is absolute nonsense. At 90kmph on a clean open highway, we have faced major voice breakage and broken communication when we are all riding in formation and within a few car lengths. On ghats or winding roads, as soon as a fellow rider disappears around a bend, communication is lost with him/her.
• The physical buttons are an ergonomics . No way can one do anything with touring gloves on
• Personally, I face a lot of wind noise due to this plastic block sticking on to my aerodynamic and smooth surfaced helmet. But this could be just the peculiar wind flow on my bike.

So as a riding group we have to eventually resort to disconnecting the mesh so that we can ride in peace. Don't get me wrong, the intercom does help when we are navigating through cities and towns at reduced speeds. But if the goal is to stay connected throughout a ride, good luck with that.

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by anurag344

Very well written review! I mostly agree with your viewpoint/observations. Let me add my 2 cents since my use case is different from yours.

I guess each c30 has its unique set of issues as I didn't have too much of an issue with wind noise (even though my friend was doing 110 kmph on a duke with no windscreen). But unfortunately a new set of issues has popped up now for me. The intercom randomly failed to turn on a few days ago. I was certain it wasn't the battery because the last battery callout stated that it was at 90% (about 10 hours prior). I contacted the BluArmor customer service team (credit where its due, they are very responsive) and they gave me a button combination (Center+Down+Right) which started it right back up. Apparently it was a cache buildup and nothing to worry about. However, the device simply refused to pair with my phone after this. I tried resetting my phone's bluetooth settings and even the c30, but to no avail. I've shipped the device off to them and am hoping to get a fresh unit as a warranty replacement. Having an issue like this just after 8 months of ownership is frankly quite disappointing.

[100Kmphormore]

I've shipped the device off to them and am hoping to get a fresh unit as a warranty replacement.

I am assuming its at your own cost? They should cover it as the standard warranty provided is 1 year

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

I am assuming its at your own cost? They should cover it as the standard warranty provided is 1 year

Yes, I paid for the delivery charges. They've told me it'll take 7-10 business days for them to run a "complete device functionality test". Still waiting to see how this plays out.

[rawdeal]

They've got a new device coming out today. Based on the teasers, it seems like they have at least attempted to fix all the hot button issues in the successor.

Heading to the event today. Will keep this thread updated on initial impressions.

[anurag344]

Originally Posted by anurag344

My whole riding group (4 of us) invested in C30s after hearing high praise from a well known Moto Vlogger on YouTube () and few other riders. We motorcycle for touring and we typically cover 500-600 kms in a day (8-10 hrs). On open highways, we like to cruise at around 120kmph. Spoiler Alert: The device is practically useless at any speed above 80kmph.

We have the following issues:

As much as I wish the device performed better on highways, we recently were in a situation where it performed like an absolute champion.

Last weekend, @night_eagle, @livyodream and I were on our way to Goa. We had taken the Haveri-Mundgod-Yellapur route and somewhere in the western ghats (around 30kms before Ankola) we hit a massive traffic jam. Both lanes were completely blocked with trucks.


PC: @livyodream

According to the truckers in the opposite lane, the jam extended for kilometers. This was right in the middle of nowhere with no shade, mobile signal or amenities. On top of it, off the road was full of slush and deep ruts.

Realizing that we could be stuck here for hours, we decided to weave in and out between the lanes and getting off the road where possible. There were trucks, buses, tempos all trying to maneuver and occupy any inch of space they could, cutting us off at the last moment.

Having BluArmor connectivity ensured that we did not lose track of each other and could guide the following riders on the path. It took us a couple of hours to get out of this mess. We thanked the fact that we were all connected throughout this ordeal.

[night_eagle]

Originally Posted by anurag344

Having BluArmor connectivity ensured that we did not lose track of each other and could guide the following riders on the path. It took us a couple of hours to get out of this mess. We thanked the fact that we were all connected throughout this ordeal.

I fully agree. We were connected with crystal clear audio even though there were numerous vehicles between us. Such instances are the reason why we haven't been able to remove BluArmor from our helmets despite all the inadequacies (that @anurag344 has mentioned in his earlier post) at triple digit speeds. As a group, we are contemplating upgrading to Cardo or Sena but not really sure whether they are any better at triple digit speeds. Any insights from the members will be appreciated.

On a side note: Lately I have heard people mentioning Discord as an alternative to mesh. Can somebody share their experience with it? Does it work well when cruising at high speeds and can we switch from Discord to mesh seamlessly (eg. when there is no mobile network) or some manual intervention is required?

[prashantuchil]

Originally Posted by anurag344

Very well written review! I mostly agree with your viewpoint/observations. Let me add my 2 cents since my use case is different from yours.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated to BluArmor and am just a regular rider

Myself and our group has been using the BluArmor C30 for about a year now. Below observations are based on the experience we have had over this duration.

Ridegrid Connection
We were riding back from Subramanya side through Shiradi Ghat on NH75, with the lead, 2 Marshals and a sweep all connected on C30, we were able to shepherd the entire group of 12 riders through the ghat roads (on when to overtake on the curves and when to stay back because of oncoming traffic) with so much ease. After reaching Sakleshpur, all of us were like wow.. that was smooth and fast through the curves thanks to the crystal clear connectivity.
On an other ocassion we were riding outwards from Hosur with lot of truck traffic. In between ridegrid connectivity was patchy. We reported the same to Bluarmor and they gave us some tips to ensure we have a better experience - the current tech latches on to another C30s connection when the intercom is activiated - now if this rider moves away from you and others in the grid are closer to you, your connection is through the first established connection. We now hop on to the grid only after we get into the formation. This tip has helped us maintain better connectivity.
I hear that in the new C50 Pro, they have eliminated this by making the device look for a better connection continuously if one is available, it switches to the better on - thus overcoming this problem.
Another feature in C50 Pro - in crowded areas like cities where ridigrid performance is not optimum, it switches to data automatically to provide better connectivity.
Both of the above remains to be seen as to how they perform in real world when the C50 Pro is shipped out later this month.

Noise Cancellation
I feel they have a pretty good algorithm. We are able to have conversations near triple digit speeds and the person on the other end could not even say that I'm speaking while riding. The intercom as well is quite clear.

Phisical Buttons
This has been a challenge. I have not been able to operate this with my riding gloves on. I had to pull over and stop to operate the buttons.
C50 Pro addresses this by providing a remote which can be fixed on the handle bar.

Battery Life
Full marks here - as we never faced a challenge. On a ride from Bangalore to Gokarna abt 500kms and arnd 12 hrs of riding with multiple stops, it still had 40% left when we reached the destination.

Customer Support
This is where Bluarmor has a clear edge over the international players. They are very responsive in helping the riders out on the issues with the device, they troubleshoot on the call and suggest fixes, if not they help with reapirs/replacement.
Got to mention their CEO PK here - his passion for the product and customer experience/staisfaction is truly commendable. They are committed to taking feedback and improving the product for a better rider/customer experience. This clearly reflects in the kind of features they have bundled into C50 Pro. Some of them the competitors would not have even imagined!

At this price range - it is definitely a bang for your buck.
Overall, I am a very happy customer and would like to assert the positive experience I have had with the device.