Review: Scala Rider (Teamset Pro)

[c_dug]

On the run up to Christmas I was caught up between a helmet camera or a rider to pillion headset. I had pretty much settled upon a headset of some sort when I stumbled upon a teflon mike post on the subject, which basically said they are all shite. I think he may have recommended a CB radio or something. With that I decided I wanted the helmet camera, and was only swayed last minute by my father, who stumbled upon the Scala Rider Teamset Pro on Amazon at around £150 for a pair, which I believe is a good price for that kind of thing.

Features

The obvious main feature offered by these headsets is rider to pillion communication. The headsets also allow you to plug in an MP3 player, connect to a phone, or connect to a Sat Nav. The headset prioritises so that music is the lowest priority, followed by rider pillion, making phone calls or Sat Nav the highest priority.
The headset offers Voice control or Button control. The headset is controlled by two big easy to press buttons, plus two for volume up and down.


In The Box

For your £150 you get two headsets, each with two mounting options, two cables for music input, and one charger with a split end to charge both headsets simultaneously. The headsets link up to each other and to your phone via bluetooth. I believe it also comes with 2 years warranty which I tested as the first set I got had a faulty bluetooth bit in one of the headsets, the replacement was quick to arrive so no complaints on service.


Fitting

One I had a working pair I went about fitting them to mine and my girlfriends helmets. As I mentioned above there are two fitting options, the suggested method is with a clamp that fits between the shell and foam of a helmet. They also provide a sticky pad which allows you to stick the scala directly onto the side of your helmet. Initially I thought there was no way that the clamp would fit between the layers of helmet as suggested so I went with the sticky pads option on both helmets, this was easy enough to do, they even provide alcohol wipes to give a good clean surface to stick to. The set must go on the left hand side of the helmet.
Next is the tricky job of getting the earpieces in place and the wiring out of the way. Each earpiece has the hook side of velcro on the back, and you are provided with the eye side in two sticky pads, the idea being to stick the pads directly to the foam under the helmet lining. Due to my helmets design this wasn't really an option as the chin strap attaches to the helmet in the exact place you would want to stick the pads. Instead I chose to stick the earpieces directly to the lining on the inside of the helmet, with the added advantage of bringing the earpieces closer to your ear, and the disadvantage of them rubbing irritatingly on your ears on longer journeys! The wires tuck neatly underneath the lining of the helmet. The microphone goes under the bottom of the helmet and is then positioned in front of your mouth. It probably took half an hour or so to get the first helmet set up, the second one took half that.


Setting Them Up

The headsets are paired to each other from new, if for some reason they unpair they are simple to set back up. Connecting them to a phone is simple again, and once they are paired they will automatically connect as soon as your turn the headset on which is a nice touch. Music is played through a reasonably standard cable (3.5mm to 1mm I believe). You shouldn't really need to spend more that 5 minutes setting these up for the first time, and daily I don't find they add any time to my getting ready.


In Use

If you are looking for this kind of headset it is probably for rider to pillion communication and so you will be glad to know it performs excellently in this department. Getting the headsets to open a link to each other can be a bit tricky sometimes, there is probably a knack but I haven't sussed it yet! Once they have acknowledged you are trying to have a conversation though it is all plain sailing, they open a link and keep it open both ways meaning conversation flows naturally without any pauses to link again. It takes a lul in the conversation of about 5 or 10 seconds for it to decide you have ended your conversation and cut the link. If this is the case it then plays music if you have a player plugged in, or remains silent otherwise.
The function I use most is as a hands free set, it allows you to receive and make calls, with varying ease depending on the phone. As I mentioned above, a call is seen as a top priority, so if the phone goes your music will be cut (but not paused) and any link to a pillion will be cut too. The standard ringtone is "God Save The Queen", I'm unsure if this can be changed. A call is answered either by making any sound, or by pressing the main button on the headset. Once connected it keeps open both ways of communication until the call is over. If your pillion tries to open communication while you are in a call they will hear two beeps to signify that the line is busy.
Making a call varies in ease depending on the phone you are using, with my phone I can only dial my last dialled number which is pretty much useless unless there is one specific person you would like to speak to. My girlfriend can do voice dialling on her iPhone 3Gs, it struggles to recognise some names but I think that is the phone rather than the headset. From the way that it functions I think you could probably use Siri on the latest iPhones or your Android Equivalent meaning sending texts is plausible.
The music input seems to have been a bit of an afterthought with these sets, it plays too quietly to be much good, bass is non existent, and anything higher than talking sounds tinny and crap. I wouldn't bother.
I haven't tried Sat Nav so I can't comment.


Is It Any Good???

The important bit is how well it all works in practice, and I am glad to say the answer is very well. The audio is clear at all speeds, it could do with being a touch louder at times but it is never so quiet as to become an issue. Speech is transmitted with the use of magic and pixy dust and is done so well that most people won't even realise you are riding at the time. Music as above is pretty cack, but then I doubt you'd buy one of these just for the music. Battery life is excellent as long as you remember to turn it off! I charge mine over night once every two weeks at the most, and I use it practically every day.


Any Niggles?

I would have liked the option of using headphones instead of the provided earpieces.
The voice activation beeps to recognise you have made a sound when it is not connected to a call or pillion, I have no idea why, it means if you have a habit of singing to yourself like I do that you will constantly be beeped in the ear. You learn to ignore it after a while.
Both my girlfriend an I find the sound to be very biased to the right ear. I have a feeling I set them up a bit wonky though
Lastly the maximum range is about 5 meters, which means when you send her in to pay for the petrol she is usually too far away to ask for a sneaky snickers. This also means they are no use for bike to bike coms.

All in all I would highly recommend this headset and give it a solid 8/10.
____________________
I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Hairy Ben]

[Paulington]

We have two sets of Scala Rider G4s and they are fantastic, can't complain about them at all.

We had Q2s before but they broke so we upgraded to the G4s. I can say there's no reason I'd ever use anything but the G4s that I can think of, they tick all the boxes.

Scala stuff in general is pretty darn good. !
____________________
"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[Howling Terror]

Worthy of a resurrection in my opinion a great write-up thanks. Just bought myself a set
and looking forward to trying them out.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[c_dug]

I should really edit my first post to add that they in fact do a very commendable job at bike to bike too, my dad and I used a pair for touring Europe and could get something like 50 meters of range without too much issue and they lasted all day long.
____________________
I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Muscle Bike Rider]

+1 for Cardo Scala, use mine for comms, phone and sat nav. 4yrs and no problems, thinking of upgrading to newer set this year.
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Previously Known As A5tra_G
Old Bikes :2010 Kawasaki ER6 F & 2000 Honda VTR Firestorm
Current Bike : XJR1300

[ws4936]

Another for cardo scala but I believe mines the q3. Amazing distance, as said rider can dart of half a mile, then your borderline. Use mine mostly for radio/phone/satnav in that kind of order. Can also connect to other riders passing by if they have theirs set to receive requests.
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If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.

[grr666]

I was thinking seriously about the Q3 multiset.
Me and the mrs definitely need something when she is pillion.
But if she gets through her CBT which she hopes to take soon
we'll be needing bike to bike. May as well get something that does both.
Maybe next month though, we've just bought her a HJC RPHA ST
(real catchy guys!!! Arfur! ) lid in pearl white so that's the kit budget blown this month.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[alexanderfitu]

I have a Scala rider G4, excellent bit of kit. I even managed to conference in me, my other half, and a phone call once when we were on the bike, was very impressed with that.

Cut the bloody thing off after 2 minutes becuase who wants to be riding a bike whilst on the phone!

I mainly use it for music. Its a shame it doesnt have something like the Parrot SK4000, handlebar remote type thing, having to hold my hand onto my helmet is annoying when I want to change tracks/volume.

[Mr Scala Rider UK]

[BigDan1190]

You can add a headphone socket instead, if anyone wants to know how give me a shout and i'll write something up.

Cheers,
Dan