Sena 10’s headset. A reliable mid-range bluetooth communicator.
The Sena 10S is Sena’s replacement for the old SMH10. Sena bills it as their flagship headset on their website, though I’m not entirely sure why as it sits around the middle of their range in terms of price and features.
The 10S is a pretty middle of the road comms unit in terms of size and fitment too: It’s not the slimmest or lightest and it doesn’t have the latest features (like a camera or mesh group chat for example) but it is a step up from your more basic, generic units – the type that you’ll find unbranded on Amazon or the like.
If you’re in the market for a new helmet communicator, then here’s all you need to know about Sena’s 10S.
- Max range = 1 mile (1.6km)
- Rider-to-Rider, phone, GPS and music
- Bluetooth based
- Supports 4 riders
- 12 hour talk time
- 3 hour charge time
- FM radio
- Sena app compatible
- Universal Intercom ready
- Water resistant
- Expect to pay around :
- £165 (single pack)
- £285 (dual pack)
Looking to buy a Sena 10S?
Please click below to visit the Sena headset pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS! (it's how we finance the site).
Overall/Summary
The Sena 10S intercom is a great mid-range bluetooth headset that the vast majority of owners rate as a solid piece of kit.
It’s been around for a few years now which means Sena has ironed out any problems through firmware and while some owners might have a problem or two, it’s generally a very reliable and well liked bluetooth headset.
It has most of the features riders are looking for in a headset – rider-to-rider intercom and pillion connection; phone conversations, GPS and music player connections along with a 3.5mm external connection.
And while it’s not the slimmest headset, it does mean it’s relatively easy to use and sturdy. Plus it comes with a wide range of adapters, mounts, fasteners and a couple of microphones in the box.
All in all, if you’re looking for a good quality intercom headset for your ride, then the Sena 10S is well worth the investment.
But don’t take our word for it. Here’s some other scores for the Sena 10S we found online.
Sena 10S online ratings
| Amazon UK | 4.3 |
| Revzilla (US) | 4.1 |
| Google Shopping | 4.4 |
| Average Review Score | 4.3/5 |
Quick overview – how the Sena 10S will work for you
Like most comms units that aren’t integrated into the shell of the helmet, the Sena 10S can be clamp or sticky/velcro mounted.
Inside the box, you’ll get the main communicator unit, a pair of speakers, data cable and a ton of connectors, sponges and mounting options. You’ll also find the clamp unit that you slot the communicator onto before mounting on the rim of your helmet.
The 10S has been designed to be as flexible as possible – so it’ll work with as many helmet types as possible and cover all the functions most of us will want.
So that’s rider-to-rider intercom, pillion intercom, GPS audio feed, phone calls and music player connection.
Installation
There’s a pretty good guide that comes with the helmet and while helmet headsets always have possibility to be fiddly when you try and install them, most owners we came across reckoned it was relatively straightforward with the 10S.
In the pack, there’s a boom microphone on a flexible stem and a wired mic – so you’ve got options on which to use, depending on which you prefer or which will fit your helmet best.
There’s also a range of connectors, ties and pads that’ll help you tailor the fitment to you and your helmet.
Mounting
The Sena 10S bluetooth unit comes separately from the clamp mount in the box. So to clamp mount it to your helmet, you’ve to push the bluetooth unit onto the clamp.
Once connected together they’re a pretty chunky unit and that clamp mount isn’t the thinnest, which has presented challenges to some owners.
Because it’s chunky, it can make it difficult to slip around the rim of some helmets and meant that they’ve had to use the sticky (or glue) mount instead.
Free Sena App
There’s a companion app for iPhone and Android that’s free to download/use and lets you configure quite a few settings, including as audio multitasking priorities, group chat setup and noise control.
It will tell you what firmware version you’re running too but if you’re looking to upgrade the firmware (and Sena does release upgrades and fixes via firmware – as do most manufacturers) you’ll need to connect it to a PC/Mac and use the Sena Device Manager.
Connection & Pairing
Pairing’s straightforward in theory but there’s always chance it’ll be a pain – especially at first. Most owners don’t have a problem but you’re never quite sure. But once it’s paired, the 10S is designed to automatically reconnect in future.
Pairing to a phone involves pressing the large central button on the 10S for five seconds to enter pairing mode. You then have to look for the Sena on your smartphone bluetooth list and pair from there.
To connect with up to 3 other Sena 10S headsets, you press the large button for 5 secs on each unit until a red LED starts flashing on both and it the 10S says ‘intercom pairing’. Then press the button on one unit and they should connect.
And if you want to connect to more Sena 10S headsets, you do the same to connect to the next headset and so on.
If you’re used to bluetooth kits, then you’ll know it’s the usual sort of step-by-step routine that you have to go through for most bluetooth devices.
And of course you can also connect the 10S with another rider plus your phone and satnav at the same time (for example).
Key Operations
The Sena 10S is well designed and has far fewer buttons than many units. That makes some operations nice and straight forward but it can mean you have to memorise lots of combinations of button presses to reach the more obscure functions.
Having said that, most of the basics are pretty easy to access and that’s probably what counts for most of us.
Rider to Rider
When you connect to another Sena 10S, that’s the first paired unit. You can call to chat with that unit by pressing the jog dial once – and the same again to disconnect.
It becomes progressively more complex to connect to two sets so you’ll have to pour over the (good) manual and do lots of practice connects before you become a dab hand. But essentially, connecting to the next headset involves two button presses and so on for the third.
A small handful of riders seem to have problems with connecting to other 10S headsets, but most seem to not have a problem and overall connecting to other riders with the 10S is about as simple as it gets.
Phone and voice commands
There’s button at the back of the unit to activate the phone feature when you’re connected to a bluetooth phone.
For an incoming call, press the phone button or jog dial button to answer/drop the call.
The 10S also has a speed dial function where you can use the jog dial and phone button to choose a stored speed dial number.
Plus, the 10S has a Vox facility that works on intercom or phone. It’ll then pick up on key words to start a conversation or answer a call automatically.
And if you make lots of calls through your headset, there’s also an HD voice facility to enable higher definition calls.
Music Playback
If your connected device supports AVRCP (Audio/video remote control profile) then you can control playback from a Sena 10S. That includes stuff like changing volume, skip around a track, changing track etc.
If it doesn’t, you’ll have to use your phone or player to control the music – or just set your playlist going before you ride and leave it.
If you’re connected to other riders or a pillion, you can share you music with them. Whether your music (or other source) will quieten when you’re talking is dependent on your audio multitasking priorities (set via the app) and number of bluetooth connections you’re running.
There’s also a 3.5mm stereo audio jack socket on the back of the 10S so you can plug in an external audio device and listen through your in-helmet speakers.
Radio
There’s an FM radio built in to the Sena 10S that you can access by pressing the phone button for one second.
And like most radios, you can select station presets or seek forwards/backwards using the jog dial button.
Best places to buy a Sena 10S?
Please click below to visit the Sena headset pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS! (it's how we finance the site).
Tech
The Sena 10S uses bluetooth 4.1 to make connections with up to 3 other headsets.
It’s older tech than some of the latest Mesh headsets which can support up to around a couple dozen riders (or more). But it’s generally reliable and has as good a range as pretty well any other set on the market.
Universal Intercom
The 10S is Universal Intercom ready, meaning it can connect with other Universal Intercom bluetooth kits – not just Sena kits. All the kits have to support the HFP or Bluetooth Hands Free Profile, but it means not all your riding partners have to have a Sena before you can connect with them.
10S Range
Like most bluetooth headsets, the Sena 10S reckons it’s good for a range of about a mile. Expect that to be in perfect conditions – think a nice warm day in the middle of a flat desert with a straight road with no buildings or vehicles.
Deviate from that and expect the effective range to be hit.
Having said that, the word from owners is that their stated range is achievable, so that’s very good – but expect your group ride out to get less than the stated max range in most conditions.
And if you do most of your riding in the sticks/hills/city, that’s gonna be vastly reduced most of the time.
Audio Quality
Audio quality’s very good. It’s not going to be Apple airpod or Beats headphone quality if you’re used to that, but most owners say they’re more than adequate.
Quality perception may be distorted by: helmet type; how well they’re mounted in your helmet and how far away from your ears; type of motorcycle you’re riding, as well as whether you’re wearing ear plugs or not.
And, as always, once you get a move on and wind noise increases, audio quality and volume’s going to be diminished further as you get faster.
But overall, most riders say the quality of the speakers is fine. But get over 60-70 and expect things to get difficult to hear.
Volume
Volume’s an important factor when you’re buying a bluetooth kit because cheaper kits can start to become inaudible and very low speeds. And when you’re cruising between states at high speed, you really need your comms unit to perform.
On the Sena 10S, you use the jog dial ring to increase/decrease the volume. That’s much easier than on some headsets where you’re supposed to find a minute button, blind, while you’re riding.
Plus the 10S has a volume boost function (louder but lower quality) and a noice control function to reduce background noise when talking.
The 10S also remembers the volume for each device, even after restarts. So you might have one volume for rider-to-rider and another for MP3 playback. That’s a fantastic feature.
Most owners of the 10S we’ve Come across say it’s loud enough and good quality.
Battery/Charging
The 10S comes with a USB charger but not a wall charger. So you’ll have to either charge it up from your USB device (like a computer) or buy a plug adapter.
Sena quotes its lithium polymer battery as giving 12 hours talk time and 10 days standby time from a 3 hour charge.
It’s not really possible to verify whether that’s true or not in the real world – suffice to say that owners reckon it lasts long enough for an all day ride without running out of juice.
A couple of useful links…
– Our Top 10 Modular Helmets –
– Safest helmet reviews –
Weather Proofing
The Sena 10S isn’t billed as waterproof, just water resistant. Having said that, in our research, we didn’t find anyone who’s had a problem using the 10S in rain.
Sena might have marked the 10S down as just water resistant because they’ve put that 3.5mm jack socket on the rear so you can plug another player such as an MP3 player into it.
3.5mm stereo audio sockets can be really useful but they’re not waterproofable. And even though it’s got a rubber cover over it, that’s possibly why Sena has just called it water resistant.
According to several owners, it’s fine in all weathers. Just don’t go swimming with it!
Size and Weight
The bluetooth module itself weighs just 60g but together with the clamp mount that goes up to 125g. Not heavy in the scheme of things, but pretty sizable for a small piece of electronics.
It’s also not the most slimline unit either. The bluetooth module is 85mm long, 57mm tall and 27mm thick. It’s not big enough to really be a problem except for catching a bit of air and making a noise.
The flip side of this of course, is that a bigger unit means it’s easier to locate on the side of your helmet and operate those chunky buttons and jog dial in gloves.
So it’s a compromise and most owners reckon it’s paid off with the 10S.
The speakers are 40mm in diameter and 6.5mm deep – so check your existing helmet to make sure they’ll fit. In the box you’ll also find a pair of thin foam speaker covers along with a pair of thick and thin speaker pads.
Sena 10s Issues/Problems
Like most pieces of tech that have to work in a hostile environment (i.e. your noisy helmet) and are self-fitted, there can be some problems. As you can see from the overall scores, most owners are happy with their Sena 10S’s but there have been one or two problems reported.
A couple of people said they couldn’t get their Senas to pump audio out of both speakers. There’s also the occasional problem connecting to other riders and other hardware like obscure phones or older operating systems on common phones.
But that’s the usual story with modern tech I guess – a mixture of the occasional QC issue and device compatibility.
The bottom line is that your config is probably going to be slightly different from the next person. So while the scores show most folks are happy, we’re all guinea pigs to some degree, right?
So buy a 10S in good faith, but buy from a store that’ll give you a refund if it doesn’t work for you.
Sena 10s Video
Here’s an excellent 6m look around the Sena 10S.
Looking to buy a Sena 10S?
Please click below to visit the Sena headset pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS! (it's how we finance the site).
