SENA 50C Camera & Bluetooth Intercom

I purchased this for the trip to Cornwall and Wales mainly for the Camera use. And it worked extremely well. The unit is integrated very well that I did not have any difficulty using all the main functions. Example switching between FM Radio to Sat Nav on the Phone whilst recording the ride and even when the battery was running low, I stopped and plugged an usb lead to the unit and continued onwards. Seamless. Only con is that I would like to have control of more camera recording settings such as adjusting exposure etc.. as it overexposes the highlights thus they come out blown.

Got this to replace an old Sena kit from my Shoei GT Air.

After about 300 miles of use, I'm pretty impressed. I wanted a helmet cam and when I found this with it integrated with the comms kit I decided to take the plunge.

Pros

Great footage, the image stabilization isn't amazing but it's better than it bouncing around.
Amazing sound - the H&C system is great!
Battery life is great.
It's easy to mount. Nice features like allowing it to charge whilst in use means it could be used for long tours with the right cables.
Clever charging dongle allows it to update the firmware automatically as you charge.
Easy to use on the bike, buttons are nicely spaced apart and each do a different function.

Cons

A bit big. Not so much face on but side on its a bit of a unit.
It needs a separate Sena app for each feature and it's frustrating. To access the footage is the Sena camera app which is different to the normal app. You have to connect via WiFi for the footage and Bluetooth for the general Comms stuff. Really could use a single app for both. It is a real head scratched trying to get it all to connect. I haven't tried manually inserting the SD card into a PC yet, might be easier. I could go on and on about features they could bring in for the apps but summed up they require a bit of tech savvy to navigate and workout.

All in all, worth it but a hefty price tag for something which isn't massively user friendly app wise.

I was looking at the 50S then decided on this for a few reasons.

1. 50C is 'supposedly' IP65 rated, though I haven't actually seend that documented anywhere on Sena's website or user manual.
2. Camera can record audio from the microphone in the helmet with video.
3. I'm not expecting the camera to be full youtube quality, there's other devices for that. This essentially for me is the equivalent of a dash-cam and additional footage.
4. Can be powered while in use so battery doesn't wear out.

Rather than focus on everything that is great about this comms unit, I'll focus on a few major flaws that lose it two stars.

The software and the documentation - it's just utterly poor. It's challenging to work out the various options and how they work. The youtube videos from Sena themselves are equally unclear.

I cannot detect the 50C using the PC based Sena Device Manager, the software itself doesn't list it as being compatible during setup, however the manual says it is. The Sena Motorcycles App is 'okay' when it connects - sometimes has a huge delay before it shows as connected.

I can pair via intercom with my Sena SRL2 which my son uses, and then subsequently Mesh with friends so we can all communicate. My motorcycle has Intercom mode too, which is designed for both intercom to connect to the bike and phone to connect to the bike, giving the bike controls for music, phone calls etc. from the switch-gear. However, when connected like this I cannot mesh with friends, which is odd and frustrating.

Playing music and sharing music doesn't seem to work well. I've been able to get music to play in my headset alone, but not sharing over intercom. I'm not suggesting this is impossible, the documentation isn't brillaintly clear.

The dial - I'm unsure if I'm the only person in the world that has this problem, however it appears the volume dial on the side of the device catches on my shoulder while doing shoulder checks, causing the volume to drop off regularly. When adjusting back, it almost appear as though the dial doesn't stop and low or max but cycles round, making it a challenge to actually set the volume accurately and keep it there while riding.

My entire group of friends who all have Sena devices all have issues with the built-in Sena voice commands.

With 1.21 gigasettings, many of which seem overly complicated and poorly documented, it would be better good if you could disable and/or reconfigure buttons to your liking.

Perhaps when bikes themeselves have Mesh and all legacy technologies are finally removed and we're mesh only, things might be better, but the software will need to improve drastically.

All in all though, I still think this is worth the extra in difference over the 50S for possibly being IP65 rated and having the camera. Are any of these actually worth the price we pay for them..? Probably not.