Cardo Scala G4 Powerset Review

[vanion2]

I have been interested in getting a bike to bike communication setup since my wife started riding her own. I read all the reviews I could find on the different products out there (many of them from members here on the board itself) and combined that with my own experiences with products I have tried in the past before settling on the G4 Powerset.

This is my 2nd Scala Rider product. The first was the Scala Rider original. I could only pair it with my cell and at the time I thought it was a cool concept until I realized that I didn't care to be talking on the phone while riding. BUT I did recall that it worked great and the person on the other end never even know I was on a motorcycle at the time. The battery life was impressive and I never had any issues with weather. In fact, I still have it sitting on my desk collecting dust.

Anyway, I wanted something reliable, durable, and didn't require me to ride right next to my wife in order to be able to communicate. I picked up the G4 set for $315 and in came with 2 of everything (and I do mean everything) in the box. Off the top of my head it had:

2x mics/helmet cradles with 2 speakers each for full stereo.

2x blue tooth transmitters

2x helmet clamps as well as 2x glue mounts if needed

4x mic covers (came with a cover on each mic and then 2 extra)

2x male to male audio jack lines

2x AC to USB adapters

2x USB cables

1x Manual

and other accessories as well that I forget because I never used them and they are still in the box.

The features it advertises are:

1 Mile range using Blue tooth

10 hours talk time

1 week + standby time

Pairing with GPS, cell phone, and 2 other Card Scala devices (not just G4's) with range limitation based on which device you pair it to.

Pairing with AD2P devices.

Audio line input for MP3 devices.

Full duplex communications.

Up to 4-way intercom.

Weather resistant.

Auto-volume control (the noisier the environment the louder it gets automatically).

Wind noise reduction.

Firmware updates via computer.

And now the real world report.

It took about 10 minutes for me to install it in my helmet the first time I used it before jumping on the VFR and taking it for a quick run up into the mountains. I plugged in my MP3 player via the audio cord and at first was disappointed when I was only getting audio from the right speaker. When I got home I pulled both speakers out and sure enough both of them worked. It turned out that I just hadn't positioned the left speaker properly. So I pulled the cheek pads out of the helmet and carefully moved the speakers until I got clear sound from both sides. The speakers are held in place with Velcro so repositioning them was no problem. I put the cheek pads back in and then once again put the helmet on and Walaa! Full, clear audio in stereo. It even made getting my ears in the helmet easier as I had originally placed the speakers too far back in ear holes of the helmet. The sound quality of the speakers were surprising to me. While these probably won't appeal to audio enthusiasts I was only expecting decent sounds built around voice comms but it played my music with pretty damn good quality even under highway conditions. I had a hard time not rocking my head with the tempo as I was bending it through some fast leans.

Next came the first ride with the wife. Mounting her setup in her helmet went much smoother since I had all ready figured out how to do it and then we both turned on our G4's. A voice prompt announced "Rider A now connected" as they were factory paired so that was nice. Now the first glitch popped up. According to the manual if you talk into the mic the G4 should initiate the intercom automatically. To date I haven't got this feature to work. I read more into the manual and it said that if you have an audio cable hooked up that this feature is disabled. So I had the wife try to initiate the intercom. No go even though she doesn't have the audio cable hooked up. In order to establish an intercom we had to hit the "Channel A" button. After about a 3 second delay you hear a click and you can talk away no problem. The problem is this locks the channel open until you hit the channel button again so no road tunes in the down time between talking. And since it is spring here in New Mexico we were getting hammered by some westerly winds and with the channel locked open I was getting some wind noise from her mic when we were headed perpendicular to the wind. This is my biggest issue with the G4 setup and I plan on contacting customer support to try to address this issue.

As far as communication went, once we opened up the channel there were no issues. We went riding through some nice winding canyon roads under windy conditions and had no problems understanding each other at all. I let her get out of line of sight a few times in the canyon and we still had clear comms the whole time. We have not tested the distance where we lose comms yet but I can say that it is far more than we need with me following at very safe distances. The automatic volume control was a bit over powering so I had to turn the volume down a couple of notches and as I said before when we were getting hit from the side by the wind I was hearing some wind noise from her mic but that was because the channel was always open and it wasn't too annoying even then.

Using the controls while mounted on the helmet is pretty simple as the buttons on the side are the two channels you can select from (A and B). There are 3 buttons on the top. The one most forward is volume up, the middle is phone (also power on/off if you hold it for 5 seconds), and the last is volume down. If your blue tooth phone supports voice commands it will work from the G4 set once you have paired them up (I haven't tried this yet). I haven't paired my phone yet but they have added a new feature I like very much. If you are receiving a call all you have to do is remain silent for 15 seconds or push the phone button for 3 seconds and it rejects the call so you don't have to answer the phone while riding. To answer all you have to do is speak. I plan on pairing up my phone for ICE reasons only. The G4 has a preset priority in which it accepts incoming calls.

GPS/Cell

Intercom

AD2P

FM audio

Audio jack audio

Another feature I would like is to be able to change up that priority as I wouldn't want a phone call interrupting my intercom but that's just me.

One of the first things I did with the G4's when they came out of the box was hook them up to the computer, downloaded the latest Cardo software, and updated the firmware. It was fairly straight forward and the software is pretty good at guiding you through what you need to do to get everything setup. The true reason to get the software is the ability to modify the sensitivity levels of the VOX, auto volume control, etc as well as be able to program in radio stations and what not so when it is time to ride you don't have to figure out how to do all the buttons just right to get everything set manually (which you can do). I would rather spend 5 minutes on a computer than 30 minutes next to my bike reading a manual but again, that's just me.

You can charge the G4 off any standard USB port or plug it into the AC adapter and mine has not needed more than an hour to be fully charged between uses. You can tell when it is charging when the red LED is lit and when it is done the LED turns off and you are good to go. The G4 slides out of the helmet cradle by pushing it towards the front of the helmet and locks into place nice and tight with no movement so it is pretty secure. The boom mike is nice and long so you can set the cradle pretty far back on the side of the helmet and they now offer a mic that is connected via a cable if you want a more invisible fit. The mic is pretty good sized and in my medium Shoei RF-1000 it takes up a good amount of my "lip" space but is not uncomfortable at all. My wife's helmet has much more lip space available so she has no problem there (I believe she has a Shark).

Yesterday we took off for another ride and were again getting clobbered with westerly winds but this time I would kill the channel comms when we weren't talking and the ride was much more enjoyable listening to music instead of wind noise from the helmet. One thing I did notice was you have to speak clearly and firmly into the mic. My wife would talk softly and I would have to ask her to repeat herself at which point she felt she had to bellow into the mic damn near deafening me. Just speak firmly and clearly (as the manual suggests) and everything should be fine. After all, she never had to ask me to repeat myself and most of the time I had no problem hearing her when she did the same.

So all in all I would give this setup a solid A-. It has great range, very good sound quality, seems pretty invisible once installed, and is very easy to use. If the auto intercom feature would work as advertised I would have no complaints what so ever with this product. If it lasts as long as my first Cardo product then I can expect years of reliable usage ahead.

[NorthernVFRDave]

Thanks for the report

I've got on of the old Cardo units as well, and was looking at the G4, acctually 3 guys at work want one too, so going to see if the local guy can do anything on price for 4 sets (8 units) as they are $450 here in the great white north.

[vanion2]

I picked mine up off eBay and the $315 included shipping.

Cardo G4 Powerset

He charges $50 shipping to Canada though.

[Terminex]

Been running mine for over a year now.

download and install the software on your computer.

plug in one of the units. you need to check "VOX" ENABLED.

once you enable it, that is what will allow you to talk to each other without hittiing the button.

Just a head's up though, remember that 3 second delay you noticed between pressing the button to talk, and when you could start talking to each other? You will still have the same delay when using VOX.

translation - to start the communication with VOX enable, say something. wait a couple seconds, THEN you will actually be talking to your partner. (just remember that whatever you said to activate the VOX feature, will NOT be heard by your partner)

I had the Q2 multiset for 6 months before getting this set. I upgraded because I prefer to use Bluetooth for my music. (don't like cables)

I preferred the Q2 set until the latest firmware update they put out about a month ago.

Make sure you update the firmware on each og the G4 untis on a regular basis.

[Flightar]

I replaced my autocom last month with the G4 powerset. I find it works well but there is one annoyance. When you are talking to someone else on the thing, after a pause of a few seconds sometimes it's hard to get the system to activate via VOX. If you don't talk constantly with the other person this happens...the manual is also not much help with the issue. I did read it and have played with the settings but it remains an annoyance.

With the autocom you simply pushed a button on the bars and talked, no delays. Other than that one gripe, so far I like the G4's though.

[doubled]

Great report; thanks for taking the time to do this.

---David

[Flightar]

The G4 is also a bit finnicky with respect to using a GPS, MP3 player and the intercom all at the same time...it has a mind of its own sometimes and simply stops working requiring a full reboot of BOTH units. It also does not seem to like it when the two paired headets each try to use their own MP3 player.

Mine are still a work in progress...when they work however...they work very, very, well.

A call to Cardo Systems is in order I suppose because I think it must be a setting issue.