[Review] The Sena 50R Helmet Communication

We haven’t upgraded our helmet comms system in over 7 years, and a lot has changed since then! We installed the 50R by Sena on both of our helmets and we are excited to have the updated Mesh Intercom, better sound quality, and better battery life (plus rapid charging if you do run out of battery). The 50R system is not as frustrating as some of our past helmet communications have been, works really well, and may have even saved our lives once or twice. 

To start with, the Mesh Intercom is a huge improvement over Bluetooth intercom. We’re not really even sure we can pretend to understand the technology behind Mesh but for us, it works really well and that’s what matters. You can also easily connect up to 24 riders in a Group Mesh setting and this allows riders to be more reliably connected. We don’t even have 24 friends so we weren’t able to test that out but the Mesh connectivity was a noticeable improvement over our last Bluetooth connected comms. One of our favorite features of the Mesh connection is that if for some reason we get disconnected, the comms join back up once in range and do so automatically. They also do not prompt when disconnected or connected which can get pretty annoying if you are losing connection often. With Mesh, the connection seamlessly resumes. 

Sena states that with Mesh you have a 5-mile range. We do feel like this is possible in optimal conditions like a straight and flat road which is rarely the case for where we are riding. We feel as though the range with the 50R suffices for what we need to be done and even though occasionally we lose connection on a rough and windy road, the Mesh Intercom allows for reconnection without having to do anything.  

We have always had trouble getting our music to work separately when connected with helmet comms and we can say that with the 50R, we can easily listen to our own music. Tyson can listen to his music and I can listen to mine separately and when one of us talks, the music is silenced and when the conversation is over, we each hear our respective playlists again. We have not had this luxury in the past because it never worked right with our old comm systems so this was really nice! 

Not only has the audio connectivity improved, we feel as though the sound has improved tremendously. We both wear earplugs when we ride and in the past, if we were able to get music to come through, it was often too quiet to actually hear. With the 50R, you can jam out to your favorite tunes even with earplugs in. 

You can easily use the 50R hands-free thanks to the integrated voice commands. These voice commands work with Siri, Google, and more. If you aren’t the hands-free type, the buttons are easy to find and use while wearing gloves. There is a simple center button, volume on each side, and then one Mesh intercom button at the top/back side of the unit. 

The last major talking point for us on the 50R (there are so many, please read all the details on Sena’s website) is the battery life. The Battery life is sufficient for your average day of touring unless you’re like us and typically ride sunup to sundown without much stopping. Sena states that the battery life is up to 8 hours on Mesh intercom and of course, this depends on how much you’re talking, listening to music, volume, etc. We found the 8-hour mark to be pretty dang accurate with our usages. One huge benefit to the 50R is that even if you die at that 8-hour mark, you can plug your unit in for a mere 20 minutes and get another 3.5 hours out of it! In one hour, you have a full charge. This was not a problem for us as we would just plug into our towers after the 8 hours and then be set for the rest of the day. 

Overall, the 50R is a huge improvement from the Bluetooth-connected helmet comms we were using from almost 7 years ago. The sound quality, battery life, and intercom connectivity (Mesh!) have improved 10 fold in the last several years. Helmet communication is imperative for safe, efficient, and fun rides and there have been several times that our comms have gotten us out of a sticky situation. If you’re ready to upgrade your helmet communication system, look no further than the 50R by Sena. If you’re interested in purchasing the 50R, doing so using our provided link supports us as we get a small kickback from your purchase. We appreciate the support!

*We received this gear for free in exchange for a review, however, it’s important to know that all thoughts are our own.