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How well does the Harley communication system truly work? In particular, making phone calls and communicating with the passenger?
I currently have Schuberth helmets with the SRC bluetooth system and they work decent to good. What is surprising, they work better at 80 mph as compared to 30. Not sure if it is a noise cancelling thing or what but callers hear me better when I am flying down the interstate as compared to when I am on side streets.
If the Harley communication system works really well I'll be more seriously considering a Road Glide.
I have excellent performance with my Harley head set. My phone calls are clear at all speeds to the person am calling. They are all surprised when I tell them I'm calling them doing 70MPH on a motorcycle. They work very well using voice to dial numbers, CB radio and using voice to control the GPS. You can even use voice to pull up a certain song from your MP3.
I wear foam ear plugs and still can hear my tunes, phone conversation and GPS prompts through my head set which I have installed in my 3/4 helmet.
I haven't used it to communicate with passenger yet.
It is good to ask the questions up front and I have a some info for you on HD Communication System:
The services supported within the Bluetooth profiles in the HD 6.5 radio are..
HFPAG (hands-free profile, audio gateway) This establishes the connection to handle audio for mobile/cell phone.
HFPHF (hands free profile, hands free device) This recognizes the hands-free unit (phone or other) as the end point.
AVRCP (audio-video remote control) This allows voice commands from a Bluetooth headset to control the following - radio to skip, pause, etc. audio tracks on a media player.
A2DP_SINK (advanced audio distribution profile, sink) The radio can act as a receiver for a remote Bluetooth media player.
A2DP_SOURCE (advance audio distribution profile, source) For sending media to a Bluetooth headset, the radio can act as a media source.
The HD unit technically should be capable of being set up to play music to your Bluetooth headphones, or can be set up to play music from your phone. It is also able to control(fast forward, skip, pause, etc.) by your Bluetooth headset (provided your headset has such controls and AVRCP - which most good units do have). Sena units should be fine.
This is all about accessing and control audio (music mostly).
I have used the HD communications system with a variety of helmets and it works great for both phone calls and music from my iPhone. But I currently use a Schuberth M1 helmet with their integrated SRC system and favor it over the HD system for two reasons - one is that the SRC system allows my passenger to control her music independently of mine and the other is that I kept strangling myself with the cord on the HD system because I would forget to unplug it before getting off the bike! I find that the SRC system functions fine for phone calls, but would also admit that controlling all of the functions takes a bit of study and experimentation.
But the HD system is of very high quality and functions well.
It is good to ask the questions up front and I have a some info for you on HD Communication System:
The services supported within the Bluetooth profiles in the HD 6.5 radio are..
HFPAG (hands-free profile, audio gateway) This establishes the connection to handle audio for mobile/cell phone.
HFPHF (hands free profile, hands free device) This recognizes the hands-free unit (phone or other) as the end point.
AVRCP (audio-video remote control) This allows voice commands from a Bluetooth headset to control the following - radio to skip, pause, etc. audio tracks on a media player.
A2DP_SINK (advanced audio distribution profile, sink) The radio can act as a receiver for a remote Bluetooth media player.
A2DP_SOURCE (advance audio distribution profile, source) For sending media to a Bluetooth headset, the radio can act as a media source.
The HD unit technically should be capable of being set up to play music to your Bluetooth headphones, or can be set up to play music from your phone. It is also able to control(fast forward, skip, pause, etc.) by your Bluetooth headset (provided your headset has such controls and AVRCP - which most good units do have). Sena units should be fine.
This is all about accessing and control audio (music mostly).
The 6.5 is NOT capable of being set up to play music to BT headphones w/o using an additional (wired) BT interface to connect to the BT headphones. It does not support the HSP BT function (headset profile).
It allows 6 (max) BT devices to be paired, but only allows 2 connections (1 phone, 1 media) at a time.
HD wire system works well. How ever wife and I use the BT Q3. I can talk to her when she wanders off some where.
I would gladly play to have BT for music to my head set ,I hate the wire.
I have a Schuberth C3 Pro that I have used with a BMW K1600GTL and the HD on both a 2014 Limited and now a 2016 CVO RGU. I like the HD unit better. And no charging at night on a trip. Phone calls, music, and GPS info are all clear .. The unit understand voice inputs better than the BMW did.. I tried the Sena and not a fan.. Hope this helps. Of course my wife says i'm deaf, in that case HD's system REALLY works well.
Pros of the HD headset:
No need to charge headset
Full functionality of Infotainment System
Decent audio quality
Cons of the HD headset:
Mic sensitivity and VOX is terrible. With a passenger be prepared to always adjust VOX sensitivity otherwise you will either be yelling or listening to noise.
Tethered to the bike with a cable.
Said cable likes to detach fairly easy.
Cable needs to be hard seated into headset dongle to establish connection.
Pros of Sena:
Better intercom function.
Better Sound quality.
No wires.
Cons of Sena:
You need to use a SM10 or AKE module in order to have full functionality with the Infotainment System.
You need to charge the units after 12 hours of use.
I have tried the HD headsets and I am currently switching back over to using Sena headsets with a SM10 module plugged into the headset port. Only time I need coms is when I am with my passenger and the mic on the HD units drives me nuts. With Vox set at 2 bars above the middle sensitivity is fine for under 45 mph. Between 45 and 65 it requires a 2 bars below the middle. Above 70 I have to usually drop it down to only 1 or 2 bars and still occasionally get wind noise or just shut it off since at that level my wife is yelling to get it to work anyway. The cord comes out of the headset all to easy and is difficult to line up and plug back in while riding down the road. 1 out 2 times we get on the bike and one of us has no sound or signal which means that one of us needs to reach up and press the connector firmly in the headset for it to connect again.
I have a Schberth C3 and I have the hardwired Harley set up on my 2015 RGS.
I love it. The wired part is not that big of a problem and the quality and functionality is awesome.
Also, I had them mount the female end/port down by my left knee where the tank ends and meets the frame. Very subtle and low profile. Very awesome.
I highly recommend it. No Bluetooth probs, syncs to my iPhone for calls easily.
And using the solid onboard controls for music is great. Very loud and clear.
One of the best choices I made. Every ride is better with clear clean music.
Works great for me. The cord never bothers me. My only problem has been, that sometimes I forget it's there & when I get off the bike, takes me a couple steps before I remember to unplug.
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Harley Communication System vs Bluetooth
