Shoei GTAir-3 and SENA SRL3 - Wind noise

I'm an older rider and I use hearing aids along with ear plugs when riding. How well does the Shoei GTAir-3 and SENA SRL3 bluetooth cope with my hearing and multiple devices?

[@iangoodwin345]

Just purchased a new Shoes Neotec 3 today Steve after 5 years with the Neotec 2. I had a Sena 10 unit on the N2 which is now 11 years old and has never missed a beat. When looking at the N3, the salesman told me about the Sena SRL3 integrated unit. I figured that a new helmet and comms will be a treat. I fitted the SRL3 to the helmet today and wished I had asked the sales guy to do that. Refitting those damn cheek pads with the wiring in place was a real challenge. It is pouring rain where I am this week, so I might leave my road test for a less miserable day. My custom moulded ear plugs worked well with the Sena 10, so fingers crossed that the new unit works just as well. Another good review mate!

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks Ian, try Mesh when you can. I’ve got a follow up video in the works, cheers

[@BigManBikingReconDMV-fm2pn]

Outstanding review and very detailed. Thank you for the amount of work you put into this review. Ride safe and enjoy.

[@StevesBikes01]

Much appreciated! Cheers

[@andrewshore262]

Good review, I’ve been using a Shoei GT Air 2 for the past 5 years, I have reduced hearing in my right ear following a bout of shingles so a quiet helmet is something I’m after when I replace next year. Have to say good that GT Air 2 has been I’m disappointed Shoei haven’t moved things on much, my Air 2 has the SLR 2 fitted and I find it feeble at higher speeds - the problem with the GT 2 & 3 Shoei drive you down one road regarding comm’s and I think Packtalk is just a superior product, both in sonics and overall performance. Anyway, thanks for the review it’s helped me make my mind up.

[@StevesBikes01]

I’ve found mesh to be really good. A bigger windscreen would help too

[@robhuff1190]

Thanks for your review. I have been looking at SHOEI helmets to augment my collection but it appears they are plagued with noise issues. As with nost of us in our age group, we are looking for a "quiet" helmet. Relying heavily on reviews like yours as throwing money at helmets is not very practical. My daily right now is a Scorpion R1 Air w\ Cardo Freecom 4 whicih I want to retain when I finally do purchase a new helmet (options are getting limited now with partnerships). MotoSafe earplugs on every ride by the way. Need the the added protection. At 160kph there is obviously windnoise but I am able to hear music\calls and use voice commands fine. Only issues I have with the combo is when I enter areas of poor reception (radio) or when it is extremely windy. Just my experience with the combo.

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks for the feedback, cheers

[@GH-ss7sn]

Great video, Steve! I can't comment on your helmet but have the Sena 50S. My experience with wind noise is smack bang the same as yours. For clarity, my hearing is good (WiFi would of course disagree at times 😂), I ride your bike as you know, run 50:50 nobby tyres and wear nonoise ear plugs that I highly recommend. Your Sena has open Mesh, right? This is nowadays the ONLY option I use for communicating with fellow riders as, I believe, the volume is louder, clearer, crisper but I could be wrong. Pretty high price tag for an intercom system to only use it with Mesh tech ☹️. I doubt however that Cardo would be any better and ask myself often why Sena do not enable riders to set the vol at their desired level (without damaging the speakers). They could limit their liability by stating "If you increase the vol beyond this level, it is at your own risk if you damage your hearing." But really... do we need this parental guidance? Further, @Sena - why don't you develop SW that adapts the vol in line with riders speed in- or decreasing as well as based on wind noise? Now that would be a great new feature I might pay for and upgrade my current 50S.

[@StevesBikes01]

Good to hear from you. I’ve yet to try the mesh, it may be better. Cheers

[@Evo_Spec]

Nicely edited and put together video! I find the use of the CB radio very strange, however I'm sure the CB radio range is further that mesh alone. I have no idea how you and your mates ride but if your mates have mesh connection, you should definitely give that a try for the sake of clarity and volume. I've only ever ran the built in comms on both a Sena 20S Evo on bluetooth and now a Cardo PackTalk Edge on Mesh (since my friends use Cardo's) and never had any issues with clarity or volume when in range. I found on the Sena 20S Evo at max volume to be sufficient with earplugs and the Cardo is louder for sure and have it around 80-90% volume with ear plugs. I'm not sure if my hearing is as bad as yours but I think it is since I badly need hearing aids as well, just can't afford them right now.

[@StevesBikes01]

Hi, our group has a mix of guys with CB’s and some with new helmets and Mesh. The mesh group are growing and the CB’s dropping off. I might do an update video soon. Mesh is very good even at high speeds

[@chrisbourke528]

Hey Steve. Thanks for vid. I too have a gt air 3 with srl3. Try your lid with the chin curtain fitted. It doesn’t fit properly in my helmet, but it does quieten it down considerably. I only connect my iPhone to the srl3 and it accepts Siri commands, which is so much easier. Cheers. Chris

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks Chris, cheers

[@peterdj1942]

Hi Chris I got a GT air 3 this week I thought it was me having trouble getting the chin curtain locked in at the sides the larger chin curtain makes it harder to put the helmet on and off outside of that no compliance I don’t have a problem with wind noise but I have a good windshield.

[@marekdworakowski5665]

Thanks for the review. It's a pity you didn't say anything about the controls as the users of the old SRL model complained about the size of the buttons.

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks, I assume they complained they are too small, and they haven’t changed. Cheers

[@t-rex4211]

Have you got phone settings volume to max? I thought my coms was quiet and in settings there’s about an xtra 20% you can give it

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks, yes I’ve discovered that too, cheers

[@EndlessRoads050]

Noise, i bought an gt air2, same issue, extreme windnoise and could not use my coms. I use cheap coms. Got the helm refunded and picked up a shark RS carbon. i can clearly now listen to music or talk with my daughter at illegal highway speeds. Shoei was my brand but all i hear these days a loads of complaints unfortununally.

[@StevesBikes01]

This is my first ever Shoei and I had hoped for better, cheers

[@blueknight2004]

I am Profoundly Deaf from a Bike Accident in 1980 and have the same issues as you Steve. Your cheap over the counter Ear Plugs are the Wrong choice as I have used them and found that they are too noisy for Road use. Having used Ear Plugs with Noise Filters dedicated for Motorcycling is your next step up to Better Hearing !!!! whilst Riding. I now use the Alpine Hearing Protection by Motosafe and come in Two Hearing Levels. It is the Ear Plugs with NOISE FILTERS that you need to wear and they will take you upto 120kph+ before it gets too noisy. For around town my Moulded Earplugs are ok but like your current Protection not satisfactory. Please enjoy your Riding like me Steve..... 🙂

[@StevesBikes01]

I’ll get some Alpines thanks

[@a9503128]

Only one option IMHO, Earmold Australia and get a custom made set of plugs or headphones. Not cheap but then again you only have one pair of ears.

[@StevesBikes01]

Excellent suggestion thanks for watching. Cheers

[@robweston4608]

I agree… I think I paid $80? Not a lot in the overall scheme of riding bikes.

[@a9503128]

@@robweston4608 about 90 for just plugs and for plugs with earphones about 300, well worth it

[@DallasBros]

So because of motorbike riding (probably not using ear plugs) you lost some percentage of hearing?

[@StevesBikes01]

That’s what i put it down to as I’ve had office type non industrial jobs. Wind noise is the loudest thing i think I’ve been exposed to

[@yeagerdd]

I gotta ask. Do you get any wind buffeting with that configuration of windshield in the BMW? If the answer is no, where did you get it? Looks cool. Also, awesome review, it is very very detailed

[@StevesBikes01]

The screen on the 850 is low for off-road. A larger screen would help a lot. Cheers

[@kendelion]

I thought mine was bad as well especially with "Harman Kardon" Speakers advertised. I changed the settings to Multitasking OFF, Audio Boost OFF, and HD Voice ON. It's night and day sound quality difference

[@StevesBikes01]

Hi thanks I’ll try it. Also I have now tried mesh and the sound quality is great. I’ll do an update video, cheers

[@carlosalonso9866]

Hi, I had a R1250GS with the BMW Navigator paired to a Sena intercom on a Neotec 2. It was my first experience with intercoms and I was pretty excited by the prospect of listening to music while riding. My former bikes didn’t have any sort of connectivity. I always ride with earplugs and really didn’t bother listening to music after a while as there was too much noisey from the bike and the buffeting of the windscreen. I don’t think it has any thing to do with the helmet. I have no hard data to back up what I say but in the equation of factors that account for noise while riding a motorcycle, I would guess that the helmet is a rather marginal one. To a certain extent I think that motorcycle riding and listening to music via an intercom don’t mix well together. I since changed bike. I ride now a sports tourer with a smaller windscreen, you get more wind on the helmet but a cleaner flow, so no buffeting. I have a GT air 2 with intercom now but I only use it for the gps prompts. I ride in Europe and the windblast you get with legal and not so legal highway speeds would be unbearable on the long run without earplugs. I prefer to focus on the riding than settle with a subpair sound quality. Thank you very much for all the effort put into your video

[@StevesBikes01]

Thank you. I appreciate your detailed review and analysis. I don’t know if there is a perfect solution out there but I’ve spent about $2,000 so I’ll stick with this for maybe 5 years is so. Cheers

[@PhilbyFavourites]

Snap, 1250GS! Navigator 6 and custom ear plugs with Shoei GT Air 2. Never had the need to be “connected”. But I’m thinking the navigational prompts could be useful. I’m intrigued to know the clarity of the sound from the Navigator prompts while you’ve physically got ear plugs in?

[@Stevestravels01]

@@PhilbyFavourites G'day, the sound quality is fine up to 60km with earplugs, I struggle above say 80km/hr. However I have a low windscreen so a larger one would help a lot. cheers

[@carlosalonso9866]

@@PhilbyFavourites It's ok, you just have to adjust the volume, you need to set it much louder when riding at high speeds because of the wind noise, once you slow down the first prompt appears always to catch you off-guard because it's too loud...

[@blueknight2004]

@@PhilbyFavourites .. The Alpine Filtered Ear Plugs you should try and I am Profoundly Deaf and need all the assistance I can get .. see my recent Reply to Steve

[@discosuperfly6242]

I bought the gtair3 because of the write up on safety and wind tunnel tests, I thought that included noise. My 600 aud hjcf70 never needed earplugs even at higher speeds. This 1500aud helmet is soooo damn noisey. The sena 3 is great, The wind noise is ridiculous. I don't understand why shoei hasn't sorted that out being there are so many people around the world saying the same thing. I wish I'd looked up wind noise specific before buying.

[@StevesBikes01]

I have found Mesh mode though to be really good

[@IRLtrolls]

I have a Neotech 2 with the SRL3 and I have the same wind noise problem on my Super Tenere 1200. I found using foam earplugs works too well and blocks too much of the music. The best solution I’ve found is the rubber ear plugs with the 3 pyramids like “steps” that are rated for 25dB reduction. On my Goldwing I have zero issues with noise because….well it’s a Goldwing. I barely even feel the wind but on other bikes it’s extremely loud. I’ve heard good things about PlugFones. I might try a pair.

[@NoTengoIlusiones]

Did you upgrade firmware ?

[@StevesBikes01]

Yes mate

[@supernova82]

There are basically two things you can do to improve your experience. Use earbuds like Alpine MotoSafe Pro and chin curtain. The foam earbuds blocks everything including human voice hence diffficulty in listening to music.

[@StevesBikes01]

Yes I agree, my low screen is an issue too. Mesh is great, new video coming

[@J3UJB]

Are you aware that the Sena has a boosted volume setting? I have mine set to the boosted setting for the same problems you have, not least bad tinnitus. The setting can be found in the App.

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks I’ll check, cheers

[@LKESBO]

why u dont use bigger windshield

[@StevesBikes01]

Yes that would help on the highway. I go off-road a bit and a bigger windshield would not be good.

[@LKESBO]

@@StevesBikes01thats why i was wondering about the helmet its quite helmet overall compared to all modular ones every helmet will be a noisy helmet if there is no proper wind protection i almost tried them all,, best 2 schuberth and shoei ✌️

[@MrEtnorb]

That screen of yours looks to be near useless, based on that wind noise. Look at a US made Aeroflow screen. They are the best.

[@StevesBikes01]

The screen is a compromise as I do a bit of off-road. A larger screen would reduce wind noise. Cheers

[@Leon-gz2sq]

Did both speakers work for you? Only the right side works for me, do I have to adjust that?

[@StevesBikes01]

Hi, yes they both work, cheers

[@NoTengoIlusiones]

Thanks for video. You have to many " crap" on your control bar. To much distraction. Cheers , ride safe

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks for the tip

[@G91YS]

I have the PackTalk Bold from JBL/Cardo for 5 years now. I always wear 35db ear plugs (foam). And it's the only intercom that is powerful enough for highway and such. I'll be a GT Air III soon but will transfer my Packtalk.

[@StevesBikes01]

Thanks for watching, cheers

[@peterdj1942]

Seems to me you’re bike set up is the problem not the helmet.

[@StevesBikes01]

Yeah a bigger screen would help however that’s no good off-road