connected, can change their riding order,
leave and come back to the network and the
DMC system automatically re-negotiates the
connection and reworks the order.
Dynamic Mesh isn’t the only place where the
Cardo R&D team has changed the game. Cardo
units are the only ones with an IP67 rating, so
they’re pretty much waterproof. This allows them
to be used in any conditions – so are suitable for
road riding, dirt, trials, and even motocross.
I tested this out on a recent road-trip. Leaving
Wellington bathed in sunshine, I headed up SH1
to Taihape, then took the Gentle Annie towards
Hastings. As I got to the top of the Annie, it was
thick cloud and then heavy rain, which soaked
through my riding gear in short order. After a
quick lunch I carried on South towards
Wellington, where it only dried out at Masterton.
The Packtalk Bold attached to my HJC i70
endured around seven hours of driving rain, and
temperatures in the single digits. It kept
pumping out the tunes and had me in contact
with my riding buddy the whole way. I was very
impressed, not only with the waterproofing, but
the battery life was more than enough for two
full days of riding without a charge.
OPTIONS
Cardo has a fairly wide range of communicators,
with tiered price points, meaning most riders can
get into the Cardo ecosystem. If you’re a solo
rider, the Freedom 1+ might be the device for
you, allowing Bluetooth mobile phone Bluetooth
and music streaming. If you have aspirations to
ride with friends, then the Freedom 2+ is the
way to go.
Further up the line the Freecom 4+ allows 4
riders to connect, listen to their own music and
use voice to control the unit. At the top of the
range are the Packtalk Slim and Packtalk Bold.
Both are essentially the same, using both
Bluetooth and DMC, they’re able to connect
with other brands of Bluetooth communicator
and act as a bridge between the mesh network
and the outsider Bluetooth unit.
They can connect to two Bluetooth accessories
at once, one would be your phone and the other
could be your GPS.
These are equipped with quality JBL speakers,
which are nice and slim to be able to fit behind
the cheek pads of most helmets. The connection
from the speakers to the control unit is a simple
headphone jack, so you could use your own ear
buds if you wanted.
In the box there are different options for
mounting, including a stick-on mount, a clip-on
mount, a boom mic, a fixed sticky-mounted mic,
and a stack of foam pads to get the speakers
near your ears.
The difference between the Bold and the Slim
units is that the Bold is one control unit/battery,
whereas the Slim is two units – a slim control unit
for the side of your helmet and a battery pack
that mounts to the back of the helmet. The
benefits of the Slim may be to move the battery
mass to the centre of the helmet, and less wind
resistance on the side of your helmet. I’ve not
noticed any drag to one side or the other with
the larger Bold unit.
CONNECTIVITY
Another couple of features of the Packtalk units
are the ability to control setup and connections
via a mobile phone app (simply connect the
phone, download the app and you’re able to
control the unit, no need to remember
combinations of buttons) and they also have
voice control. Voice commands include finding
out the battery status, volume up and down, and
even activating Siri. Make sure you change the
unit’s language from English American to English
UK. Otherwise to get the voice commands to
work properly you need to put on a false
American accent to make it work.
One more feature I liked was way it automatically
increases the volume of whatever you’re listening
to so you can hear it over the wind noise as your
speed increases.
KIWI RIDER 29