Cardo Systems Scala Rider Q2 Multiset
Cardo Systems Product Details
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$245.99
Sales Rank: 386
Cardo Systems
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Product Features
Cardo Systems Scala Rider Q2 Multiset
- General Talk time up to 8 hours
- Standby time 10 days
- Weight 1.18 oz 33.5 gr
- Battery type rechargeable Li-Po
- Charging time 3 hours
Product Review
Product Description
Cardo Systems Scala Rider Q2 Multiset The MultiSet includes two ready-to-use SCALA RIDER Q2 wireless headsets for hands-free and safe bike-to-bike communication at distances of up to 540 yards as well as for use with mobile phones. General Talk time up to 8 hours
Standby time 10 days
Weight 1.18 oz 33.5 gr
Battery type rechargeable Li-Po
Charging time 3 hours
Rugged Design Rain and snow resistant
Certificates FCC, IC,CE, Bluetooth
Bluetooth version 2.0, class 1
Bluetooth Profiles Headset, Handsfree mono
Chip manufacturer Cambridge Silicone Radio CSR
Intercom Bike-to-Bike intercom communication up to 1,640 ft. 500 m range full duplex in wide open terrain
Rider-to-Passenger communications up to 33 ft. 10 m range with all scala-rider models full compatibility
Audio Noise cancellation Microphone
AGC technology Automatic Volume Control according to speed
VOX technology Accept or Reject calls by voice commands
Speaker Booster
Functional Fit to full and 34 Helmets
Quick-release mechanism for headset
Two ultra-slim speakers 4.7 mm 0.18 in.
4 large control buttons
Hands-Free Profiles Voice dial
Last-number redial
Call reject
FM Radio 87.5 MHz to 108 MHz receiver
6 Station memory with Search and Store functions
Automatic radio muting incoming calls
Radio On time typical 8-10 hours
Charger 110240V 5060Hz Universal Travel Charger
Standby time 10 days
Weight 1.18 oz 33.5 gr
Battery type rechargeable Li-Po
Charging time 3 hours
Rugged Design Rain and snow resistant
Certificates FCC, IC,CE, Bluetooth
Bluetooth version 2.0, class 1
Bluetooth Profiles Headset, Handsfree mono
Chip manufacturer Cambridge Silicone Radio CSR
Intercom Bike-to-Bike intercom communication up to 1,640 ft. 500 m range full duplex in wide open terrain
Rider-to-Passenger communications up to 33 ft. 10 m range with all scala-rider models full compatibility
Audio Noise cancellation Microphone
AGC technology Automatic Volume Control according to speed
VOX technology Accept or Reject calls by voice commands
Speaker Booster
Functional Fit to full and 34 Helmets
Quick-release mechanism for headset
Two ultra-slim speakers 4.7 mm 0.18 in.
4 large control buttons
Hands-Free Profiles Voice dial
Last-number redial
Call reject
FM Radio 87.5 MHz to 108 MHz receiver
6 Station memory with Search and Store functions
Automatic radio muting incoming calls
Radio On time typical 8-10 hours
Charger 110240V 5060Hz Universal Travel Charger
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Product Details
Cardo Systems Scala Rider Q2 Multiset
- Publisher: Cardo Systems
- Label: Cardo Systems
- Studio: Cardo Systems
- Average Customer Review: based on 12 reviews
- Sales Rank in Automotive: #386
Customer Reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Scala Rider Q2 2010-03-12
Comment: This is by far the best Bike to Bike system I've ever used. My Wife is a new rider and I wanted to be able to talk to her at all times, when riding. The sound is so clear and you can talk at a normal rate and still be heard easily. The two way communication is the only part I've used so far, But if you just want to stay in touch with your riding partner this is an excellent choice. Very satified user.
Customer Rating:
Summary: All works well except pairing an extra helmet 2010-03-10
Comment: The good:
1) Both units are factory paired so there is no work in getting the two units talking. Very easy.
2) Mounts are universal: Use the standard "clamp" or use the adhesive adapter if needed.
3) Connected each headset to a mobile phone. Very easy to do and sound quality is perfect. Allows call answering by speaking into mic. Totally hands free.
4) Mic boom is long enough to work with my large modular helmet with easy. Only improvement I can think of here is to make the mic thinner (only if no sacrifice in sound quality).
5) Sound quality is excellent. Very clear, minimal wind noise, loud exhaust pipes don't get picked up by mic(yeah)!
6) Charging is easy and hold good.
7) FM tuner. This is like having a back seat in a sports car. Nice to have, but completely not the point of ownership. Seems to work OK, but haven't tested extensively.
8) Audio port for connecting a music player by wire. [[Too bad my iPhone 3G can't play via BT. Oh well.]]
The bad:
1) After many many attempts, have been completely unsuccessful in paring a "secondary buddy". Purchased a 2nd multiset (4 headsets total now) and have not been able to get any of the headsets to pair with any other headset that was not factory paired. Sent an email to customer service. If I get this resolved I'll update the post.
Verdict:
If you only need to talk to one other person, definitely buy it. If you want to talk to two different people (system max), don't buy it. I'll improve the rating if customer service can get me up and running on pairing issue.
1) Both units are factory paired so there is no work in getting the two units talking. Very easy.
2) Mounts are universal: Use the standard "clamp" or use the adhesive adapter if needed.
3) Connected each headset to a mobile phone. Very easy to do and sound quality is perfect. Allows call answering by speaking into mic. Totally hands free.
4) Mic boom is long enough to work with my large modular helmet with easy. Only improvement I can think of here is to make the mic thinner (only if no sacrifice in sound quality).
5) Sound quality is excellent. Very clear, minimal wind noise, loud exhaust pipes don't get picked up by mic(yeah)!
6) Charging is easy and hold good.
7) FM tuner. This is like having a back seat in a sports car. Nice to have, but completely not the point of ownership. Seems to work OK, but haven't tested extensively.
8) Audio port for connecting a music player by wire. [[Too bad my iPhone 3G can't play via BT. Oh well.]]
The bad:
1) After many many attempts, have been completely unsuccessful in paring a "secondary buddy". Purchased a 2nd multiset (4 headsets total now) and have not been able to get any of the headsets to pair with any other headset that was not factory paired. Sent an email to customer service. If I get this resolved I'll update the post.
Verdict:
If you only need to talk to one other person, definitely buy it. If you want to talk to two different people (system max), don't buy it. I'll improve the rating if customer service can get me up and running on pairing issue.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Didn't live up to expectations... but maybe set too high 2010-03-03
Comment: I suppose I expected too much from this product. It did allow communication during my rides but that communication was not very reliable and quite buggy, which ultimately meant I had to play around with it a lot in order to become familiar with the quirks and tricks for overcoming them. Doing that was not a big issue. This is common with any new technology. It was however a hassle when trying to introduce the product to new users.
Aside from the communication factor, it was also complicated to connect to higher quality helmets. These don't usually have a bunch of excess room for installing products like these. Again I found a way to make it work, though.
On a good note, this did make convenient to answer calls and listen to music. These features were noted rather frequently amongst the various people I've met who have used it.
Aside from that, perhaps I just expected the same wave of technology that we've been seeing lately in other cellular style products; compact, easy to install, etc. I'm sure there'll be improvements in future models.
Aside from the communication factor, it was also complicated to connect to higher quality helmets. These don't usually have a bunch of excess room for installing products like these. Again I found a way to make it work, though.
On a good note, this did make convenient to answer calls and listen to music. These features were noted rather frequently amongst the various people I've met who have used it.
Aside from that, perhaps I just expected the same wave of technology that we've been seeing lately in other cellular style products; compact, easy to install, etc. I'm sure there'll be improvements in future models.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Intercoms!! 2010-01-27
Comment: We have tried several different intercom systems. And these are definitely top notch. First- No wires!! How nice for a change. 2nd. you can hear each other talk, even on the interstate. Also they are very easy to take off from your helmet. If you need to leave your helmet with your bike, there are "no worries" about your system. Haven't tried pairing it with another set. But as well as these work , I can imagine that the pairing will work fine. Very glad we got these!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Communications, Weak Music 2009-10-27
Comment: I have mixed feelings about Cardo's Scala Rider MultiSet Q2. The bike-to-bike communications feature was highly desirable since my wife & myself ride separate machines. This feature works well between the two headsets (preset at the factory) and is very easy to use. The Scala Rider also works well with my TomTom Rider 2 GPS, with setup just as the owners manual described. Finally, my Samsung cellular phone works through the TomTom Rider, with setup for that just as the TomTom owners manual described.
Installing the headsets onto the helmets was easy enough. After some trial and error, discovered the easiest way to accomplish this was by removing the headset's back plate, using a screwdriver to carefully separate the foam lining (held with adhesive tape) from the helmet shell, inserting the back plate into the helmet, and then reattaching the headset. Even on our half-helmets, the boom mic (longer than earlier Cardo headsets) was easily able to reach the desired position.
That said, I'm not nearly as impressed with either the MP3 input or FM radio. Given the high-pitched speakers with absolutely no bass (good for voice, not music), nobody is going to be jamming down the highway listening to music from these. Homemade spacers to position the speakers closer to the ears did help considerably, but I truly doubt anything will make these speakers sound all that great with music.
Setting up the headset's FM radio was surprisingly difficult. The radio tunes by scanning until a station is found. Afterwards, one button stops the scan on that station and another stores the station into memory if desired. Otherwise, scan continues after a pause of a few seconds. Without a frequency display, finding a specific station is not easy since one really doesn't know whether to tune upwards or downwards from the current position. Further, the headset's hard-to-push buttons (pressed many times) were eventually painful on the fingers.
To make matters worse, none of my favorite local stations (fairly strong signals) were even detected by the built-in radio. I eventually used a small FM transmitter (placed just inches from the headset) to locate those stations long enough to store them into memory. Sadly, once the FM radio was set up, reception was extremely poor, with considerable noise and static. I eventually gave up and switched to the FM radio built into my MP3 player.
The MP3 player input feature is not much better than the FM radio. Even with the MP3 player's volume control turned to maximum, the volume (loudness) is far too weak. The headset does not amplify the MP3 player input and there are no tone adjustments on the headset. Of course, nothing (even turning MP3 player's bass all the way up and treble all the way down) could really improve the sound quality from the tinny speakers. Actually, given the poor sound from those speakers, perhaps it's a good thing the volume is so sorely lacking.
Since I mentioned an FM transmitter, let me also comment on that. For a truly wireless arrangement, I initially tried connecting the MP3 player to such a transmitter and then listening to MP3 music through the headset's FM radio. However, after trying several transmitters (Belkin, etc) on each of the two included headsets, it just didn't work (fading, hiss & uncomfortably loud static). The headset's FM radio just appears too insensitive to reliably receive such a signal. A transmitter deploying a wire antenna helped, but even that was noisy and faded often. I ultimately gave up and just plugged the MP3 player directly into the headset.
In the end, after much fiddling with volume and audio adjustments, I achieved what could only be described as moderately comfortable background music - something to listen to while riding, but not much else. Again, no cruising through the countryside while jamming to loud music. However, I should point out that my bike has a windshield and is very quiet. Someone with a louder machine (loud mufflers, wind noise, etc) might not be able to achieve even decent background music. On the plus side, the voice communications feature works well in noisier conditions.
So, in conclusion, three features (communications, GPS, & phone) work well, one feature (FM radio) works horribly, and one feature (MP3) is marginal. Had I purchased this setup only for the latter two, I would have immediately returned it for a refund. There are clearly much better options for both music and FM radio. The first three features prevented that return. However, as it is, I can only feel lukewarm about the Scala Rider MultiSet Q2 since it really doesn't fully provide everything desired and promised.
Installing the headsets onto the helmets was easy enough. After some trial and error, discovered the easiest way to accomplish this was by removing the headset's back plate, using a screwdriver to carefully separate the foam lining (held with adhesive tape) from the helmet shell, inserting the back plate into the helmet, and then reattaching the headset. Even on our half-helmets, the boom mic (longer than earlier Cardo headsets) was easily able to reach the desired position.
That said, I'm not nearly as impressed with either the MP3 input or FM radio. Given the high-pitched speakers with absolutely no bass (good for voice, not music), nobody is going to be jamming down the highway listening to music from these. Homemade spacers to position the speakers closer to the ears did help considerably, but I truly doubt anything will make these speakers sound all that great with music.
Setting up the headset's FM radio was surprisingly difficult. The radio tunes by scanning until a station is found. Afterwards, one button stops the scan on that station and another stores the station into memory if desired. Otherwise, scan continues after a pause of a few seconds. Without a frequency display, finding a specific station is not easy since one really doesn't know whether to tune upwards or downwards from the current position. Further, the headset's hard-to-push buttons (pressed many times) were eventually painful on the fingers.
To make matters worse, none of my favorite local stations (fairly strong signals) were even detected by the built-in radio. I eventually used a small FM transmitter (placed just inches from the headset) to locate those stations long enough to store them into memory. Sadly, once the FM radio was set up, reception was extremely poor, with considerable noise and static. I eventually gave up and switched to the FM radio built into my MP3 player.
The MP3 player input feature is not much better than the FM radio. Even with the MP3 player's volume control turned to maximum, the volume (loudness) is far too weak. The headset does not amplify the MP3 player input and there are no tone adjustments on the headset. Of course, nothing (even turning MP3 player's bass all the way up and treble all the way down) could really improve the sound quality from the tinny speakers. Actually, given the poor sound from those speakers, perhaps it's a good thing the volume is so sorely lacking.
Since I mentioned an FM transmitter, let me also comment on that. For a truly wireless arrangement, I initially tried connecting the MP3 player to such a transmitter and then listening to MP3 music through the headset's FM radio. However, after trying several transmitters (Belkin, etc) on each of the two included headsets, it just didn't work (fading, hiss & uncomfortably loud static). The headset's FM radio just appears too insensitive to reliably receive such a signal. A transmitter deploying a wire antenna helped, but even that was noisy and faded often. I ultimately gave up and just plugged the MP3 player directly into the headset.
In the end, after much fiddling with volume and audio adjustments, I achieved what could only be described as moderately comfortable background music - something to listen to while riding, but not much else. Again, no cruising through the countryside while jamming to loud music. However, I should point out that my bike has a windshield and is very quiet. Someone with a louder machine (loud mufflers, wind noise, etc) might not be able to achieve even decent background music. On the plus side, the voice communications feature works well in noisier conditions.
So, in conclusion, three features (communications, GPS, & phone) work well, one feature (FM radio) works horribly, and one feature (MP3) is marginal. Had I purchased this setup only for the latter two, I would have immediately returned it for a refund. There are clearly much better options for both music and FM radio. The first three features prevented that return. However, as it is, I can only feel lukewarm about the Scala Rider MultiSet Q2 since it really doesn't fully provide everything desired and promised.