Cardo Packtalk Slim

I've never actually wanted to buy a comms system, I've never really seen the need for one to be honest. So you might be surprised I finally bought one. I'm as shocked as you. 

Whilst at my bro's for christmas he asked if I wanted one, my typical response was something like "Why the f*ck would I waste 5 or 6 hungy on something I don't want and never needed?"

He said what if it only cost about $250. Ok I'm listening now but still not convinced. He showed me the chromeburner website were they have some PACTALK slim Cardo units. I considered it for a day or two and said ok. It was a tough sell at half price. I looked at local prices and they are $999 here in oz, we got it for $540.

Chromeburner are in the Netherlands, it was air freighted on friday and was in Brisbane on Sunday. Due to christmas shutdown it sat at the warehouse for a week. Before our dodgy postal service took another week.

I thought I'd watch a youtube install video on my helmet. Yep there was a 12 minute video. Sweet as, I'll have this done in no time, let me just crack a beer open and get this done.

4 beers and several hours of frustration later and voila, she's fitted. My Airoh commander has been a little tight around the ears since day one so was skeptical this will work whacking speakers in there. I carved a little foam out to make sure they didn't protrude further than the foam, the helmet had spots for the speakers already I just made them slightly larger. Gee helmet foam is really hard, its unlike any foam i've ever seen before, very hard to cut. I think a dremel would have worked well but didn't have one.

Now to give it a try out. Message Scotty for a ride. He said he's got to be home by 12pm as he is expecting a parcel. All good a short ride today as its going to be 37°C here. A quick ride up into the Blue mountains and back.

On the way to meet Scotty it was quite good listening to some spotify. I connected it up through the Africa Twin dash so had android auto and maps and music. We headed up towards Comleroy Road and followed that along until it turned to dirt. It was quite cool up in the mountains today and when we dropped down to the river the temp must have dropped by 5 degrees. It was quite pleasant.

I noticed that the helmet seemed to be pressing uncomfortably on my left ear. I'll have to look at what I can adjust when I get home. I noticed I'd lost signal along here and my spotify dropped. out. I actually prefer riding the gravel without music to be honest. I think I'll only use the music when riding along the highways. I didn't seem to think it was that loud when on the highway either. I wear earplugs and I could hear it, it was just a bit soft but still audible. I think wireless earbuds would probably be better.

We turned along Mountain Lagoon Trail to Bilpin. This is quite an easy ride, just gravel road running along a ridge line, not much in the way of elevation changes.

We got to Bilpin about 10am and turn back onto the Bells Line and headed for home. I was glad we were going home so I could get out of the helmet and see what was wrong. I noticed the left earpiece wasn't as low down as the right one, so I took a bit more foam out. I will see how it goes on the next ride.

Still haven't decided if I like it or hate it yet. Time will tell.

Airoh Commander

I decided I'd like to get a new helmet with a peaked visor for day rides. A few weeks ago when we rode up through St Albans the low winter sun was flashing in through the tree's and with the internal drop down visor wasn't really much help, holding my hand up to cut the sun from going onto my visor did the trick but can't ride one handed like that everywhere, so I thought to myself maybe a peaked helmet would be great for this purpose.

So I thought I'd just buy a El-cheapo $300 helmet to try out and see. Adventure bike helmets to my surprise are either on the really cheap side or really expensive. I was looking at the LS2 MX701 as it looked good in photos and reviews. When looking at it in store the peak was just a flimsy piece of plastic, it felt like it was going to fall off when I moved it, very thin. Scratch that one off. I looked at the Bell MX-9 and it was also very cheap. I tried an Airoh Commander on in XL and it didn't quite fit properly. I then tried a Arai XD4 in XL and it fitted perfectly but no drop down visor. I also considered the Acerbis but it also looked too cheap for my liking. I guess owning 2 Arai and 2 Shoei helmet's for the last 25 years has spoilt me with a nice snug fit and extremely comfortable liners.

The problem I have is I won't buy a helmet without the drop down internal visor, it is now a must have item. This scratched both the Arai and the Shoei Hornet probably the two best helmets in this class. Note to Arai and Shoei - you are losing customers in this market segment, get your act together. If the Shoei Hornet had an internal drop down visor like your GT Air has I would have bought one without even trying anything else. That's how good your helmets are. Rant over. 

What to do? So I procrastinated for a while. Checking the Helmet Warehouse where I got my GT Air from they had the Airoh Commander in 2XL. So I thought I'd try it on. Right away it was a much better fit than in the XL. Funny they list the sizes as exactly the same but they are not. XL in the Shoei is a perfect fit, XL in the Airoh is too tight and would have caused headaches. Someone here is telling porkies......I guess I just have a fat head.

Initial Impressions

First thoughts out riding with the new helmet on sunday after 4 hours. The vision from this helmet is great as it has a very wide visor area. The drop down internal visor is much better than the one in my GT Air as it drops down further. There was a little bit of wind noise on the peak but was barely noticeable, probably a little more noise than the GT Air but still very good. The peak on the visor was good as it shaded the sun on the front during the low winter sun to stop that flashing light in the eye's, just what I was after. 

I did notice after a while my left ear felt like it was a little squashed so hoping that will be ok after the liner wears in. The internal padding quality whilst good, is not as comfortable as the Shoei. Ventilation seemed pretty good. I did accidentally try to grab the peak a couple of time's trying to pull the visor down when it was in the fully extended position, had to adjust and grab the side to pull it down as the two almost meet at the top. I noticed immediately how light the helmet feels on your head, almost like its not there. It's over 300gms lighter than my Shoei, doesn't sound like much but it is when its on your head. It comes pinlock ready with the pinlock visor in the box, although I haven't fitted it yet.

Pretty happy so far. Maybe I'll do a long term review later on. Here's me on last sunday's ride on the way up to Nattai Lookout with my new helmet. Cheers for reading.