Seeking Real World Owner Experience of Using Cardo 4X / Cardo Edge...

[Scoot65]

I'm looking to buy a bike intercom and after doing quite a bit of research I've decided to go with Cardo.

 

My useage will be:-  1) I need to be able to speak with my wife (pillion). 2) Need to connect to my sat nav at the same time as being connected to my wife 3) Needs to be 100% waterproof 4) Needs to have good quality sound when wife and I are talking 5) No need for connection to other riders.

 

I've looking at the Cardo 4X but have read a few people experience connection drop-outs with the 4X, which would bug me so I've also been looking at the Cardo Edge (which will be overkill for my needs, but worth it if the connection is 100% stable ie Mesh / DMC connection

 

I'm seeking owner opinions / experiences of using the 4x and Edge units. Cheers!

[Simon Davey]

Hi @Scoot65

I've done about 4000 miles with my Edge, but confess, I've not paired the intercom with another. 

 

However, Bluetooth connection is solid to any device.  

Battery life is phenomenal. 

Music quality is superb. 

It only needs to be controlled with voice commands, which is awesome. 

Read the instructions though, it took me ages to realise that you connect it separately to your phone and sat-nav. 

Edited March 31 by Simon Davey

[Scoot65]

Thanks for the reply, very useful Simon. Much appreciated!

 

Regarding the voice commands, how do they work with a phone? Is it that a phone and / or sat nav needs to be paired via bluetooth and the Cardo unit will instruct Siri (or similar) to make the changes requested ie volume up / down etc?  

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Simon Davey]

Just now, Scoot65 said:

Thanks for the reply, very useful Simon. Much appreciated!

 

Regarding the voice commands, how do they work with a phone? Is it that a phone and / or sat nav needs to be paired via bluetooth and the Cardo unit will instruct Siri (or similar) to make the changes requested ie volume up / down etc?  

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

It uses two separate simultaneous connections to your phone and sat-nav, works perfectly. 

Volume is controlled by, "hey Cardo, volume up", etc. 

You can use "hey Siri" for dialling, if you wish, via the Cardo unit. 

[Hairsy]

In terms of quality of intercom on my Edge, the weak point is the speakers. The mic seems to be excellent at noise cancelling. From about 60mph+ though, the other person can be quite hard to hear through the speakers. Also, as a result of the wind noise you're experiencing, it's almost inevitable that you shout.

 

The solution for me was custom earplugs. This makes the other person super clear and, because they block out most of the wind noise, I continue to speak at a reasonable level.

 

I previously had a 4+ (in fact I still have one) and it worked fine for music but I never used it as an Intercom. The big problem for me was that the design has the volume wheel pointing downwards. I found that I often adjusted my volume when the volume wheel touched my jacket as I was moving my head. It was a right pain! I think the 4X may have the same design. The Edge has the wheel pointing out to the side so the problem doesn't happen.

[Simon Davey]

@Hairsy

Do your custom ear plugs just plug in to the Cardo?

[Hairsy]

11 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

@Hairsy

Do your custom ear plugs just plug in to the Cardo?

 

Yes, they plug straight in. Although I've actually chosen to set them up with a 3.5mm Y so I can still have the original speakers in place as well. That way I can still have music on short local hops where I can't be bothered putting the earplugs in.

[Simon Davey]

@Scoot65

There's also plenty on this forum about custom ear plugs. 

[RideWithStyles]

Well cardo are waterproof ones were as sena is a low level water resistant .

 

Oh and the mesh is primarily just universal software piggyback connection system with auto connect which is beneficial if you have aload of friends that are more than 750ft away out of eye sight and that might not have the same make of unit but have mesh.
As that war has been agreed as sena were arsey about universal connection for years.

 

Technically the security of the connection is  better but I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that when your not even feet away from your partner, plus your traveling a speed and im sure your not going to be talking about sensitive issues unless your wife want to do the hurl obsence words so the cashier and others around you hear while your paying for fuel trick, it never gets old.

Normal units you have to connect/pair them first each time unless its a duo pack then they should be straight away, till you have to replace a unit then repairing will be required of course that is assuming cardo havnt done a memory auto pair feature?

 even cheap units on markets do a good job of auto connect if you go out of range for moments and they don’t have mesh.

Connection and distance is still blue tooth dependant but it’s been worked over for a better system.

 

Edited April 1 by RideWithStyles

[Scoot65]

Many thanks for the replies, all very useful. 

Regarding the 4X, I've read quite a few people say that the position of the volume wheel often means that it can rub on jacket collars changing the volume up / down as the rider moves their head left or right. That what made me consider the Edge.

I'll try the standard speakers and see how I fair, but I'll keep the suggestion of custom earplugs in  mind. So thanks for that suggestion too!

 

 

[Stu]

I had a packtalk bold for 5 years then upgraded to the edge 

 

In that time I have probably covered in excess of 40k with various other riders and pillions etc 

 

Never have any drop outs and no issues with connecting back up unless one of them has been messing around with theirs then I had to add them back to group 

 

Suffering tinnitus and a bit of deafness I also got custom earplugs with in built speakers and the sound quality is amazing with the volume at its lowest even at silly speeds 

 

Phone call quality is good as is music and sat nav too 

 

I still have a set of packtalk bold that I'm will to sell for a good price if you're interested 

[Scoot65]

Thanks for the reply and I've got to say, from what guys are saying, custom earplugs do seem to be good bits of kit.

Regarding the bold, I think at this stage, 2025, I'll go for newer units (ie bluetooth 5.2 and supported softwear updates etc.) But thanks for the offer. Cheers!    

[Phil1]

I was looking at these too, I'm not bothered or would actually use the intercom function, it would be more for music/sat nav/calls (possibly). 

 

They do models with radio built in which I kind of thought well what's the point of that. 

 

Then it kind of twigged it's actually a good idea as a lot of my riding does involve being in the middle of nowhere with patchy/non existent phone signal. 

 

Another thing to think about if you potentially want to listen to music. 

 

[Phil1]

Another question for my own knowledge.... Presumably you could still use earplugs with these units successfully? They should block out a lot of the wind noise without affecting being able to hear the speakers I'm guessing. 

[Fiddlesticks]

We went for a cheaper brand (similar use case). No issues with earplugs.

[RideWithStyles]

Yes you can use and heard them with ear plugs.

not particularly as intended but will do abit, as its a layer filled in that would otherwise have the soft foam insert, that what ear plugs are for. 

[Stu]

32 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

Yes you can use and heard them with ear plugs.

not particularly as intended but will do abit, as its a layer filled in that would otherwise have the soft foam insert, that what ear plugs are for. 

 

What? 

[Simon Davey]

I'm currently researching custom buds for use with my Cardo. They'll reduce wind noise, and give me clear audio without having to blast it through my foam ear plugs.

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

I'm currently researching custom buds for use with my Cardo. They'll reduce wind noise, and give me clear audio without having to blast it through my foam ear plugs.

With speakers? Do it!

 

Best thing I ever did! just remember to turn the volumes down on everything before trying custom plugs! it will hurt your ears at half volume and most people have them set at max

 

Mine is set to minimum with the custom plugs 

[JRH]

I had custom plugs with speakers. The wires were so thin the first set failed within 12 months. Replacements were supplied foc. These lasted 12 months again more were supplied these packed up after a couple of years. Never bothered with plugs with speakers again. And now having lost a custom ear plug I find that the supplier is no longer in business. I wonder why.

[S-Westerly]

Who was that? I've had a set delivered last month from Ultimate Ear and I've used them before as they made the earplugs that worked best for me.

[JRH]

On 05/04/2025 at 11:25, S-Westerly said:

Who was that? I've had a set delivered last month from Ultimate Ear and I've used them before as they made the earplugs that worked best for me.

Mine were from Sensorcom. Bought at the London bike show about 2014. The speakers were removable and could be replaced with several different attenuators, which I finally did.

the plugs themselves were fine just the speaker wires were not good.

[S-Westerly]

Okay. I've used Ultimate Ear before and they've now got a digital record of my ears so I dont need to faff around with molds in future. I'd have been sad if they'd gone belly up.

[Phil1]

47 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

Okay. I've used Ultimate Ear before and they've now got a digital record of my ears so I dont need to faff around with molds in future. I'd have been sad if they'd gone belly up.

I wonder if it can be used against you in criminal proceedings if you were to leave an ear print at a crime scene 

[S-Westerly]

Probably but I'd rather not commit a crime where my ear could be used in evidence against me!