OK Milo The Action Communicator, a kitesurfers first impressions.

Welcome to our first impressions and demo video of the OK Milo action sports communicator.
Tested with Ben Kelliher at the Tribe Watersports Pro Centre in Watamu Kenya, with Chris Bull, ex Kite World Magazine head tester and owner of CBK Kitesurfing on Hayling Island in the UK.
A quick summary; we were pleasantly surprised at the performance, but there is still some room for improvement a solid 7.5/10.
www.okmilo.com

[@p0l0us]

I found the performance in the water very poor. When we submerged the device for some time (surfing, longer time in water when fiddling with kite) sound volume reduced to less then 50% and device became useless. Probably due water in the speaker I don't think it is using Bluetooth as mentioned few times in the video. Milo should use ISM/2.4Ghz with custom communication protocol as explained in Kickstarter FAQ and Bluetooth for very short distance (20-40m) could be a helper. The only use cases I found Milo fully working is walking/hiking and ski touring (not skiing) and short distance baby monitoring. So I wouldn't be calling Milo "action communicator". There is still a chance they will fix some of issues by software updates.

[@Tribe-watersports]

Yes we are, in a position to agree with you on this, after further use. I will be going through another test, with the new updates and see if there is a change in our opinion.

[@robisibo]

We tested 4 Milos in 25 knts+ while kitesurfing in Morocco and the result was very Poor: on land we could still hear each other quite ok, but as soon as we entered the water it was not possible to hear anything, just noice and each minutes someone went out of reach. We did do the last upgrade, and were using boosting mode in volume. On top of all one Milo broke (just wouldn't start). Might be a cool gadget for some non water sports, but pretty disappointing for Kitesurfing. We meant to use them during diwnwinders, totally useless. I wore one Milo on my wrist, my colleagues on the shoulder or on their chest, that didn't seem to make any difference. Anyone has had similar experience?

[@Tribe-watersports]

Yep, in short this is our same opinion after trying to use them for 6 months now. Apparently there are some big updates coming in the next couple of weeks that are supposed to fix issues found with water sports (was mentioned on milo users face book page) . I am waiting for this update before releasing my updated review video.

[@colthenrie1631]

@@Tribe-watersportsThis was the update I wanted to see. Thanks! After the water sport update comes out and you had a chance to test it, could you give us another update? Maybe a long term review video?

[@Tribe-watersports]

@@colthenrie1631 it's in the works, season has slowed down now so will get on it this month

[@benjamindanesits2780]

i bought 3 to test to teach kitesurfing, they are not worth the price nor the performance. Any walkie talkie in a plastic bag will do a better job. I feel scammed to be honest.

[@Tribe-watersports]

Hey Ben, yeah we are starting to get the same opinion tbh, we still never got our replacement device and we have not used the radios at all for teaching as they are just not practicle enough. As you say radios in a plastic bag are the best option.

[@Tribe-watersports]

We did finally get our replacement device, but still not got round to reusing them. Need to try the new updates.

[@benjamindanesits2780]

@@Tribe-watersports same :/

[@trophyclone8881]

@@Tribe-watersports love to see an updated review!

[@Tribe-watersports]

@@trophyclone8881 currently working on it now. Hope yo have it out soonest

[@Mittelbayrisch]

There was a recent update that brought a volume boost and more range. They can be easily updated via the app.

[@Tribe-watersports]

Yeah I tried that but didnt make a massive diffrence. I will get them out again with the new bluetooth headphone options

[@MichelleAnderson-s6x]

Russel Fall

[@Jo-elvanBergen]

Any chance for a 1 year on review?

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

Perhaps an idea to hang an extra unit at the top of the kite, it works as a mesh point and will increase the range dramatically

[@Tribe-watersports]

Will have to give that ago, not a bad idea.

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

@@Tribe-watersports Looking forward to the next video then! Vic! The Netherlands

[@DenisShakhovsky]

great idea. the only showstopper is the cost. that extra unit isn't cheap

[@slogoheinzy8695]

whats with the delay at 02:27 ? and why not show that you can have a ( without delay ) chat while riding? a poor demo sorry. i don't see how anyone can say these perform like everyone thought they were going to

[@Tribe-watersports]

Sorry this wasn't supposed to be a demo, it was our first impressions of using the Milos, and this was our opinion. Having used them a bit more yes it is evident there is a slight delay. I didn't ay that they performed like everyone thought they would. The main point is the issues that we experienced should be rectifiable by software updates.

[@nancyfriedman362]

The mount should be improved!!! Too flimsy

[@OVER-bENGINEERED]

That kind of sounds like a battery thermal runaway if it melted!

[@kiteandpizza]

Does some1 know the underlyling technology used?

[@IRWE905]

What's your average Battery Life when using on the water?

[@PackYourBags]

any updates suppose to receive my unit in a month. bought it for surfing paddle boarding , but after seeing reviews seems like it sucks in the water.. just wanted to see what you guys think after testing for a while.

[@Tribe-watersports]

Hey Man, we not really been using them tbh. We had some bad experiences with downwinders and got bored of trying to use them. A new update came out today so I will plan to do a follow up video in the coming week. This there is a good use case for behind the wakeboarding boat for training with that so will try that out this week and try get a follow up video out next week.

[@keithrobinson6201]

Can you please confirm if this is a paid sponsorship? Did the vendor review the video before you posted it? Was the equipment given to you? Thank you.

[@Tribe-watersports]

I bought the radios, no connection with Milo

[@keithrobinson6201]

@@Tribe-watersports thank you for a thorough review!

[@Tribe-watersports]

@@keithrobinson6201 I am in the process of doing an update video, unfortunately the results are not as positive.

[@keithrobinson6201]

@@Tribe-watersports holding off on purchasing the units until I see that new review. Thanks again

[@Tribe-watersports]

@@keithrobinson6201 what activity would you be looking to use them for ?

[@TheIBROWman]

50 meters? Not far enough for snowboarding. Thanks for your review!!

[@Tribe-watersports]

No its more than that, but if you do discontect you need to be closer to each other (within 50m) to reconnect.

[@cameroncameron6800]

I heard they pair to bluetooth headsets, this might solve the voluume issue. Have you guys tried this?

[@Tribe-watersports]

I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to do another test of the radios soon and share the results

[@gtranquilla]

Melted at connection point…..Happens to many smart phones when body sweat gets into the connection port. Expect it if you do not prevent body sweat or salt water to create a current path while attempting to recharge.

[@Tribe-watersports]

This was straight out the packet never used unfortunately

[@Leviathan189]

paid for two on kickstarter, still haven't received ours yet

[@Tribe-watersports]

How you getting on did you get them yet?

[@montimahner9357]

Kickstarter sends products lastto those who got in early. There is no priority given to those who invested early. I’ve been there done that. Hate kickstarter

[@denon83]

Thx for the review. Got 2 Milos myself now and wanted to know a bit about what to expect. Would be great if you could bring a followup after a bit of use. (Batterylife/Clip performance) I think you used it without a Plug in the USB-C. In my package they included plugs, to use in saltwater, did they not provide them in your delivery?

[@Tribe-watersports]

Hey, Im planning a follow up video shortly, We had a pretty dissapointing experience trying to connect 8 people on a kitesurfing downwinder so will report back on that, I want to try them behind the boat and cover that. . Yes we used the plugs they were good and not lost one yet either. keep an eye out for our next update.

[@bbtalkineu1943]

You guys need to check the devises to compare. Just a few things: We do not use mesh system. This is only when you ride to far. It's not a walky talky. When you ride with friends or students. I tend to stay side by side for safety in downwinders. Or keep an eye on students not more then 100m away. This mesh system MILO uses, is only for users that go to far to often. In that case... why communicate you are ridding alone anyway? I would not go to a school that leaves me 300m away from shore while the instructor is chilling on the beach. But if you do need it. We have 1200m for you. Mesh system is not able to reach this 100%. Our microphones are closer to the mouth. You will be the first ever claiming microphone need to be as far as away from the source for the best sound. Our sound is not made by computers analyzing the difference between sound and wind. You will loose quality 100% sure. I see you are holding your shoulder when talking to your friend to get the best sound. Did you try the set in 25-30 knots? We did. Our sound was even beter then yours at the moment :) and we did not have to hold my arm up. Mount the devise higher for more distance. We have our mounts on the helmets close to the head. The reason is Bluetooth is bouncing of the water disrupting the signal. Signal gets weak and you loose distance. Please look at this to understand. They don't tell you. But we do. There is a 20-30% less distance when mounting to the arm. www.bb-talkin.eu/bbtalkin-general-information-how-does-bbtalkin-work/ The usb port and the open microphone is not going to last long. The idea that you USB port and your microphone will last even for 6 months is not true. You will be the first ever claiming they have a solution for corrosion from water and salt. Impossible. We have them for all sports fully integrated. Meaning we have special valve to make sure the devise stay IPX7 waterproof. It's not a promise. You see there are no open holes in the devise. Milo has 2! The mic and the usb port. Yes. When you connect more devises such as headsets you will loose more distance. This has to do with the max power the devise and Bleutooth can generate by EU law. Did you know the quality of analog sound is better than bluetooth? Why put them 2 times thru a bluetooth connection. At the end. You will never buy a Dr Dre Beats for you music setup during the ride. It's impossible to have music streamed while keeping the sound good. The quality you don't put in. You can't get out with even the best bluetooth headsets there are. When you want music. You always need the source (IPHONE) close to the devise. There is no other option possible. Our devise is tested already for 10 years. We are the biggest in the market. And for a reason. Please do not fall for the Kickstarter things that let you wait 2 years before you even get the chance to try it and see why ours is far superior. This devise is made by kiters. Not some fancy designer. When you are in the water and the milo is attached to the side. You will loos connection the moment you the MILO goes under water. It is strange they let you attach it on the arm. I realy use my arms underwater while swimming. Keeping my head high. Another good reason for not putting the MILO on the arm. and something else.. How is that possible? So you almost had to buy a new home while you are promoting this devise. That is something... I mean... are you sure you want to promote this to your students? The same USB port in the water without protection from UV, Salt and sand? Don't forget. Our price for only the intercom is far cheaper than MILO. Only when you buy headsets you will be over our price. And ours don't burn when you use them. Anyhow guys. I just had to say something. In general. I am happy to see you guys have communication for lessons. This is really a must have for any kiteschool or teacher that really wants to teach their students while ridding. Also in a 2p session. After 50m youre students still needs the feedback. Best not to wait until the crash on the beach to let them know what they did wrong. For any other that does not want to wait or want to invest in something that is not going to last... Go to:

[@Tribe-watersports]

Thank you for spending the time to leave such detailed description as to why your product is so superior. It does come across as a bit of shamless plug for your products, and I dont feel it would be neccesary for you to leave such a long response to our video if you did not feel at least slightly thretened byt the products Milo have produced. Im sure most people intrested in the devices who come across our video will also see it this way. Please be aware this is an independent review, we are not claiming anything other than giving our opinion and this first impressions video is no way affliated with OK Milo. Please note it was also not a comparison video between BB Talkin and Milo so I'm unsure of why your comment has attempted to make it so. Unfortunately speaking for my company and also from a vast amount of feedback from many other individuals and schools, who we have worked with your devices, the BB Talkin devices have not been durable enough for a kitesurfing school. Even with maticulous care in cleaning the devices after each use, I could not get them to last longer than a month. I went through the warranty process three times, was then accused of misuse when they failed again for a 4th time. I finally just decided to throw them away. BB Talkin devices have not been able to last longer than a month for us, the communication was buggy and it just became an annoyance to the students as they felt they were being undersold our services due to faulty devices. It's for this reason we went to a more basic system with £20 radios in waterproof bags. This has worked very well for us and we get great feedback from our students in the school as explained in our video. Given that this is a new product it has so much scope for software improvements. Yes we did try them in windy conditions and we where amazed at the quality of the sound. It was for this reason that we felt it would be suitable to mount on the bar as we felt that even if it was high up we would still be able to communicate well. This is not fact it was an opinion maybe we will be wrong. Apologies but I don't understand why having a long range is a problem, this is something that we would welcome. Just because it has a long range it doesn't mean an instructor has to send thier student that far away. We decided to explore this option, as on paper and our first impressions all looks very positive. We got in early on the kickstarter campaign and the cost of our 8 devices was very reasonable. From what I can see the prices do not differ massively from the cost of a bb talkin device. We are always looking for better ways to communicate with our students and so far we have not found anything up to the task. Hopefully your concerns on durability will be proved wrong and the Milo devices and these will work out well for us.

[@bbtalkineu1943]

​@@Tribe-watersports Hi, Of course, no problem. I like the fact you are replying long to. Making videos' about products. So you are taking it serious. It's not you to decide how long a reply should be. Right? And yes we are better than MILO. Ofcourse... so I like Apple. Could be you have Samsung :) Opinions... It's hard in a free world. Let your followers decide what to do. They are free to read the comments. As well as mine. I am sure people do like to make their own opinion. And no... we are not afraid. We can share a market and let the market decide. There have been many more before you. Even Sony tried. Just here to tell there are more options. And we do not work different from MILO, but we do have more experience from the market and better quality. We tested it for 10 years and we get some feedback from the market of course. If you experience product problems. You can always go to your dealer and ask for service. If you miss used the product. It is probably because water came inside. Its a shame, but then we can't send it to production telling it broke and it's a bad product and we want warranty. There is a disclaimer on MILO to about water inside. Other than that you get the same promise about our products as from MILO. By EU law we are obligated to fulfill. We can't put things out there that does not work. If we did... we would be ending up the same as our competitors. If you like the £20 radios. Stick with the cheaper ones. You can buy 10 radios for that price and destroy one each year for a decade. This has nothing to do with MILO or BbTalkin. If you want to make it even cheaper. Don't use anything but you're voice and training. There are more schools without MILO or BbTalkin than with. Still hope this changes left or right. Also a lot of schools that need a lot of distance and still use Walky Talky. We can't solve the distance... yet.. I do hope it will last for you sake. But we doubt it will be a solution that will last. Thats my opinion. I was not aware of your purchase. If not. Do come back to me for a better price. I think after a real explanation about how to use the devise and a proper service from us. This video would be about BbTalkin. I am 100% sure. It's a shame your experience was that bad you decided to go for something else. And if MILO is better. I am Happy for you guys or anyone. Make sure you keep the water safe. MILO or BbTalkin or the cheaper bulky walky talky. It's about keeping the people save. progressive and have fun at the end. Take care! And still really like the video. You put an effort in it. I did not want to steal your thunder.

[@Tribe-watersports]

@@bbtalkineu1943 thanks again for your response. I wished for years that the BB talking stuff had lasted us longer, the concept is great but from what I understand the execution is not. It was actually a fault with the connector socket that we kept having problems with as well as failing ear pieces. I had considered for a few years to try again, but kept getting similar feed back on reliability from others I had spoken to regarding the product, especially those using them in salt water. I didn't want to risk losing my money again. It was at this point the Milo system was advertised so decided to try out the product as there are very few alternatives. We had been looking at another system coming out of Australia the band name escapes me. Due to the large delays of the Milos getting to market, we eventually settled on the walkie talkies as they were more reliable and as you say cheaper. They satisfy the same needs for the end user and couldn't be any easier to use. I will plan to do a video on this method for the future, for other schools looking for options for radios. I will continue to test the devices and share our feedback here and on our Instagram account. If you wish for us to compare the BB talkin devices please feel free to send us some to do a comparison video.

[@bbtalkineu1943]

​@@Tribe-watersports I understand the situation you had. This would have been solved easy with the right service. Any equipment you use in water will need attention. Rubber dries out. Metal deteriorate. Plastic will harden. The more you use them in extreme conditions. The faster it will wear off. Use your wetsuit every day and you will see you need to have a new one faster. Everything from BbTalkin that is delicate is replaceable. Microphone. Speakers. Points that wear off very fast. The headsets are replaceable if needed or only the boom microphone. We have new cases to protect your BbTalkin inside. New rubbers to replace the old etc. The reason is we fight the Sun, Water and Sand. Those elements will always win. So we decided to do a workaround. Unfortunate we cannot repair the outside case without replacing. It's not like a boat we can paint to maintain. That is our biggest problem with marine products. The fight is hard and long. And I see you sufferd from this to. Like al marine sports coaches. We had a same solid devise as MILO years ago. It died very fast and when something was wrong we needed (or customer) to replace the full system. I wished you got back to me when thinking about your decision to let BbTalkin try again. We would have made you a great deal and give you the support needed to understand the product. At the moment you have what you need. I would be happy to make a really good offer to you personally if you are stil interested and take away your doubt. But maybe we can work something out. Mail me at [e-mail] for your idea. I would be glad to see a new video. Compare them. We have both benefits and downsides. And no product is perfect! But I really like your feedback. I think it is important an honest. Thats is for 100%! You did a good job with this video. Talk to you soon!

[@Tribe-watersports]

@@bbtalkineu1943 I think the term we are looking for here is hindsight is a bitch. Unfortunately we didn't receive the fantastic customer service that you pledge to offer now when it was actually needed it. Replacing parts withing a month of owning a product just wasn't durable enough for us and given our location the time it takes to get replacements was just not realistic to have to keep replacing parts. I will keep trying with the Milos for the time being. Let's see how we get on with this option at the moment as so far we are pleased and are looking forward to seeing improvements with upcoming software updates. Thanks for your conversation. 🤙

[@07973559203]

Great review guys. Did you ever try it in a phone pouch strapped to your arm? Any loss of signal or clarity? Thanks