Helmet communicators. Safe? Illegal some places?

In another safety forum I brought up the subject of the Sena SMH10 communicators. It seems there might be some places were they (and other brands) are illegal. Also, the question of safety came up. I'm curious as to where they are illegal and how and why they might be considered unsafe.

It may be helpful to note that the device Ferrell is referring to is similar to any in-helmet bluetooth communication device. It is not an "ear bud type" of system. I kept reading the reference to Sena SMH10 and did not know what is was,

My wife and I use a similar system manufactured by Cardo - Scala Q2.

Never had a problem in that area. I swear by blueant interphone, but apparently they dont make them anymore, to bad, they were the clearest i ever used. i think there still available in some places.It was small and very powerful!

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I already suffer from tinnitus so I'll take wearing earplugs over losing a bit of ambient noise anytime. I use the Interphone F4 helmet communicators for rider to passenger chat and sat nav instructions. I wear custom made earplugs and can hear everything being relayed through the two speakers in my helmet. It's a few seconds work to disconnect a lead and go over to one speaker, and removing one is pretty easy too.

As for ambient noise I'd say how much you hear at normal road speeds is down to the wind noise generated inside your helmet, or by that rubbish Honda screen if you haven't already binned it. Who goes snooping around inside your helmet anyway!

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bigbird wrote:

In my neck of the woods an over the ear or single bluetooth type communicator is legal. As long as you can hear ambient noise over the communicator it's legal. I was referring to total coverage headphones, earphones, or earbuds that cover and isolate both ears as being illegal. Sorry if there was any confusion.

Actually I was following in your track on this as well. It wasn't until I did a web search and saw that the product was a comm set that is installed into the helmet that I realized what it was. Up until then I thought it was an ear-bud system.

Ear plugs (not ear-bud speakers) are legal in AL (all of US?) as are helmet mounted systems.

bigbird wrote:

Meldrew: I had a laugh when I read your signature.

Where can I order the Dr. Pepper and Joe Custer variator stuff?
The grocery store?

Yes, don't buy a Molasses clutch though, there's problems with them sticking!

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Grip Poopies have been the one cheap easy to fit add on I've been disappointed with. My right hand tends to cramp up between thumb and forefinger, and they definitely lessen the efficiency of the heated grips.
To help with the cramping I fitted a 'Throttle Rocker' over the Poopies, it was an improvement but came off when I was adjusting it on an autobahn in Germany last month.