A little over two years ago, a friend and I decided that we wanted to give comm systems a try. To limit our exposure we settled on a pair of low-cost FodSports M1S Pro units. They worked, and for the money, they actually worked quite well. Needless to say, we came to appreciate the ability to more easily communicate, make or take call if needed, and easily control music from our phones with a gloved hand. Still, the M1S comms were not without their shortcomings, and so we asked ourselves--were Cardo units really worth the significantly higher cost?The answer in short, is yes. After going for a ride yesterday with that same friend to try out our new Cardo Palktalk Black systems, we both came away feeling very satisfied with our purchases. The Dynamic Mesh Communication (DMC) connects almost instantly upon startup and the natural voice protocol is fantastic. No hitting buttons if you don't want to. Once connected you can just talk as though your standing next to the person. Music fades into the background as you converse. Then once the conversation stops, the music returns to the preset volume. It can be a touch buggy--mistaking a loud exhaust for conversation under hard throttle--but it beats the button-pushing alternative; especially if you need to say something quick, like a warning to your trailing friend about the car pulling out ahead.A combination of "Hey Google" and "Hey Cardo" commands allow you to easily navigate many smartphone feature, and the Cardo commands perform flawlessly at navigating tracks, in my case, even at highway speeds. Adjustable speed-sensitive volume was a feature I quickly came to enjoy much more than I thought I would. And speaking volume, although I cannot say that the JBL drivers are 'louder' than the FodSports, the difference in sound quality was immediately noticeable and substantial. Though neither set up beats a good pair of earbuds for sound, the JBLs offer unquestionably better range, and with the included velcro spacers, placing the speakers closer to my ears, I was able to hear my music far better than I ever was before. I could actually hear the song fairly clearly while going down the interstate, whereas before, I would have been lucky to know what song was even playing. How much of that is the speakers, and how much is the placement, I can't say for sure; but regardless the results were significantly better. My friends feedback was similar. For reference, I wear an LS2 Citation, and he wears a Biltwell Lane Splitter.In summary, I have a hard time imagining how these things could be much better, other than to maybe be a bit more cost competitive. For bikers on a seriously low budget, the FodSports do the job--rain or shine--and I still think they make a great first step for people in a position similar to that of my own a couple of years ago. However if you have the money and are asking yourself if the extra dough is worth it, I would have to say quite solidly, yes.Bottom line: It works as advertised and I'm about to buy a 2nd. Anyone expecting dolby surround sound or 12 speaker car audio quality... doesn't understand acoustics and the environment this operates in. Do I wish it was more robust sounding audio, yes. But it is a good balance of on the road entertainment and still being able to track what's happening in your environment, YES!Longer Version:Ok, so I've had this and used it on my daily commute for about 4 months now. So far I've never run out of battery, but I've not been on a ride longer than 4 hours yet. However, I've gone 2 week or so without charging it with roughly 30-40 min round trip runs. Still, not the advertised lifespan tested, but again no issues. I've only paired up with someone once. Worked without any headache. I bought mainly for audio navigation and music. Both have worked pretty flawlessly.Noise cancelling is quite good. I've had trouble with people hearing me on a call when testing it in my apartment (I think it was too quiet in my apartment for the noise filtering to understand lol). But it seems to work great when on my bike. At 80 mph, they can still hear me as well as 25mph. At pretty much any speed, I'm told that the volume coming through on the call is low, but clear. I haven't discovered a setting that seems to impact that. It's not ideal, but it does allow me to flawlessly answer or make calls if necessary without stopping or any fumbling or fuss. Practice using the button to hang up on a call. I haven't discovered a voice command to hang up and it took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure that you had to press a button to end the call.Music - the big one. Look, if you want to blast your music in your ear while riding, I'd humbly suggest reconsider the safety of that. But that's also what headphones are for. Having said that, I'm a music guy and I want to have tunes rolling while I ride. This is my first helmet system. So I can't compare it to anything else, but I am an audiophile and if you heard how strong, full, balanced, and clear my system is in my car, you'd know I spend a lot of time and effort getting it right. This system just works. I actually think it sounds very good. For those that claim they can't hear it or it's unimpressive, I don't know what you were expecting from a small scale speaker competing with 85-100db from road, engine, and wind noise in even the better helmets. But 2 things have made a big difference for me. Make sure your volume level on your phone is turned up pretty much all the way. This seems to have a very real impact to the volume range of the system for me. Also, to protect my ears, I ride with some Alpine riding ear plugs in that claim they filter out the white noise and spare reduce the strain on your ears. I think they do that well and a great investment. I also find that I can actually hear my music much better when I wearing those plugs than without and at a greater range of volume levels.I'm about to purchase my second unit for my second helmet. I have a HJC RPHA 11 and a RPHA 90. One for short runs and imo improved safety. The other is for the longer hauls I've started running. So far this has been running in the 11 with the full face mic. I'll install on the 90 with the modula mic and update if I find a noticeable performance difference. It might help that I'm also on a semi quiet bike (2018 Versys 650) without burning cash on any aftermarket pipe. I also have an aftermarket windshield that is very effective. But even when I have that dropped down for some airflow I don't notice much, if any drop off in hearing my music. Weirdly, I feel like podcasts also tend to come through more clearly. But you have fewer audio waves fighting the environment to reach your ears. So to me I suppose that makes sense.I spent the first 30 years of my life paycheck to paycheck. So even with the resources now to buy premium products, I can't shake the habit of bang for buck buying. I think this is a great bang for buck if it fits your budget and if comms and audio while you ride are important to you. If there are better options, I'd say this is at very least not a wrong choice.Ayant été surpris et suspicieux de cette "promotion" j'ai décidé d'investir. Et la quelle ne fut pas ma surprise lors de chaque étape du déballage. je m'explique:premièrement l'emballage autour de la boite était déchiré (un hasard me direz-vous)deuxièmement aucun film plastique sur les intercoms (bon ils ne sont pas obligé non plus me direz-vous)troisièmement il manquait des éléments dans chaque boitequatrièmement en regardant de plus près les intercoms, je me rends compte que l'un d'eux à déjà été utilisé (visible sur la broche dorée et trace noire sur la partie argenté de l'intercom, comme un frottement très difficile à faire partir).En clair si vous vous posez la question comme moi de l'intercom et de sa promo, et bien sachez que cela n'est nullement du neuf mais bien du reconditionné. Sur ce point, très déçu par Cardo et Amazon qui nous mentent tout les deux sur le fait que le produit est neuf. et là , alors que tu pensais avoir fait une bonne affaire, et bien tu te sens prit pour un pigeon.Decidimos comprar el Cardo Packtalk Duo para poder agruparnos con nuestros amigos usando el modo DMC. Queríamos poder conectar un intercomunicador Bluetooth a nuestro grupo usando el modo Bridge ya que no todos podíamos pagar un intercomunicador de más de 200 EUR.El primer pack que compramos (no era JBL) carecía de alcance tanto en el modo DMC como en el modo Bluetooth. Tan pronto como superabamos los 50 m, comenzamos a escuchar algo de distorsión y ruido estático. Los probamos tanto en un área muy amplia de la ciudad a velocidades de aproximadamente 40 km/h, como en carretera a velocidades de 90 km/h con resultados similares.Pensamos que era una antena defectuosa, llamamos al servicio técnico y al final acabamos devolviendo la unidad, todo decir que sin ningún problema por parte de Amazon.El segundo pack que compramos (JBL) comenzó prometedor, lo cargamos y probamos en un entorno totalmente plano, aunque ligeramente urbano, y, aunque no se mantuvo fiel a sus 1,6 km anunciados, teníamos buena comunicación hasta aproximadamente 500m. Aunque no nos impresionó mucho, era mejor que el pack anterior, por lo que procedimos a instalarlos en nuestros cascos para realizar más pruebas.Primero, el alcance es un problema, a veces podíamos escuchar estática y no entendernos tan pronto como dos coches se interponían entre nosotros (alrededor de 15-25 metros). No sabemos si sucede por interferencia de algún sistema de los propios coches o vete tu a saber, pero es un poco indignante.En segundo lugar, los micrófonos que probamos son malos y baratos. No estamos seguros si estaban defectuosos o no, pero a los cuatro micrófonos (dos en cada pack, velcro y boom) les faltó claridad (demasiados bajos). Mientras estaba en una llamada a través de mi teléfono por bluetooth, dos de mis amigos notaron que la calidad era mala en comparación con mi intercomunicador chino. Es una lástima que entreguen estos micrófonos de baja calidad con un intercomunicador tan caro, especialmente estos que son JBL y que para INRI, se anuncian como "La mejor experiencia de sonido (The Ultimate Sound Experience)".Para concluir, personalmente estoy decepcionado. A veces me pregunto si los packs Duo se venden más baratos porque no pasan alguna prueba de calidad de rango y están dirigidos a compradores que van a usarlo con su pasajero (ahí el rango no importa, estás a menos de un metro). Por otro lado, no entiendo como recibe críticas tan buenas de otros compradores. ¿Es que acaso hemos tenido mala suerte y nos han enviado unidades defectuosas? ¿O es que para la mayoría es su primer intercomunicador y no han probado ningún otro para comparar? En fin, siempre me quedará la duda.I used this item for a week and have to say that as a technology it did its job. Overall I was satisfied maybe I'm being biased because of the scenic views I've seen in Swiss Alps.These are the good things I have to highlight about Cardo:- 10 hours plus of non stop speaking (no turning off)- quick charging- waterproof for sure (three hours under the non stop rain)- radio wave range is pretty impressive, it can easily reach another rider even if it's 500m in between you on the straight line but when you are amidst mountains 100-200 meter max.These are the bad things I found about it:- it's too smart (tries to switch to DMC mode all the time) it's annoying when you keep the phone in the back pack and you cannot hear the rider and you have to stop and fix it.- built quality - I'm surprised how this item can be waterproof, because, rubber plug for USB socket never stays snug inside the socket, small touch and it falls out. Other parts like speakers and mic are rubbish.- software isn't good (upgrades aren't easy and straightforward it took quite a long time to upgrade it on my laptop, online website isn't easy and looks from 90s, it's hard to find information you need, UX of mobile app could have been better).The last pain point for me was the fact that on the fourth day riding it refused to connect with another cardo item and I couldn't do any types of resets, event factory reset. I downloaded manual tried a few times still didn't work.Weighting all pros and cons above I realised paying £280 isn't worth it. You know if you want to get a decent quality radio your choice is going to be either Sena or Cardo. I get that, however, paying such money wouldn't be wise. I had Cardo SMARTH (bought for £100) and it performed exactly the same.I've had various Bluetooth helmet systems over the last 10 plus years and they all have their limitations, so after considerable research I decided to install the Cardo Packtalk bold on our new helmets in the hope that it would provide a more seamless experience and broadly it does. There were a few glitches: the helmets would not sync initially, steadfastly refusing to hook up in spite of repeatedly following the instructions to the letter. I eventually got them to talk to each other (I have 3 units) by performing a full factory reset on each unit (I'd already downloaded the latest firmware updates). The installation of the hardware is not as simple as it is made to look in the video, but I got better by the time I'd finished the 3rd helmet. Overall the system works well, we use our helmet intercoms on track days and when we were swapping helmets between family members, getting in and out of the car the system works extremely well, certainly the best helmet intercom we've ever had and by a long way. We could hear each other at all times, not overly loud but clear enough above all the other noises. The other features, radio, music, phone etc. all seem to function as expected although they get much less use on a track day than they would on a long journey on a bike.Purchased this after really enjoying Pactalk Bold. Really unhappy with this. Several major complaints:- The rubber covers came off both the units after two days of use (see picture) exposing the electronics beneath and leaving us scrambling to try and press the buttons without their covers, which was difficult and distracting;- The sound was really quiet (even after double checking five times that we've got it set to max volume as per instructions)- The range was nowhere near what's promised (we'd lose each other at about 100 metres in DMC mode with just two people)- The battery life was also a lot shorter than what most people seem to have experienced (more like 4 hours in DMC mode, with two people)All this just leaves me wondering whether we were issued a defective unit. I've contacted Cardo about this and will update this review if I hear back... In the meantime thinking of going back to a Bold.