Cardo PackTalk Bold Communications System
Cycle News Staff | November 15, 2018
Product Review
Bluetooth communications systems used to be plagued with inconsistent connections that could be very irritating, but they have advanced dramatically over the past few years. And now a few motorcycle communications brands, including Cardo, have their own proprietary systems that work better than Bluetooth. The Cardo alternative to Bluetooth is called Dynamic Mesh Communication (DMC) and we have been using a PackTalk Bold unit with up to four riders for several months now.
List Price: $329.95 Single or $579.95 for a pair
Website: https://www.cardosystems.com/products/devices/packtalk-bold/
Standout Feature: Nearly 100% successful connectivity to passenger and riding partners
Rider Analysis
Even if you only ride by yourself, it is great to be able to connect to your phone to listen to music or GPS instructions. And if you ride two up or with a group, it dramatically improves the enjoyment and safety to be able to talk to your passenger or riding partners to point out sights or safety hazards. As far as connectivity and features, the PackTalk Bold is the premier unit in the Cardo line.
Here are the Packtalk Bold features we liked the most:
- The DMC system allows for easy connection of multiple riders that does not “break” the group when one rider leaves or gets disconnected. A typical Bluetooth group uses a “daisy chain,” so if rider number three gets disconnected, all the other riders after that rider are also dropped. This is not the case with the DMC connection as each unit is connected to each other one to one.
- Voice-activated commands allow you to operate all the functions without taking your hands off the bars. Just say, “hey Cardo, music on,” or “answer” to accept an incoming call. If you prefer buttons, they are intuitive, and the volume-control wheel is easy to use, even with gloves on.
- The sound quality from the 40mm-wide speakers is among, if not the best, we have used.
- The automatic volume adjustment increases the volume as the speed and wind noise increases so you don’t need to adjust your volume up and down.
- Up to 13 hours of talk time gets you through the full day.
- Multiple audio sources are seamlessly mixed together, so you can be listing to music and still get prompts from your GPS and talk to your partner.
- The Cardo Connect App allows you to easily set up groups or fine-tune your preferences for things like the volume of music in the background when your riding partner starts talking.
- The Packtalk Bold is waterproof and we can vouch for this during a trip to Europe.
- That DMC connection really works for communicating with any riders that you have line of sight with up to a little over a half mile. You will lose connection if a rider goes out of sight, around a hill for example, but it will reconnect as soon as that rider comes into view.
- The PackTalk Bold features DMC, but you can still use Bluetooth to connect to older non-DMC units, even those from many other brands.
- FM radio that will automatically find the strongest signal.
- Like most current communication systems, you can make and receive phone calls, and the speaker quality on the PackTalk Bold makes it so you can actually hear.
We have used a lot of different models and brands of communications systems over the past few years and the PackTalk Bold is currently our favorite.CN
You can learn more at the Cardo website: https://www.cardosystems.com/products/devices/packtalk-bold/