Tronsmart S2 Plus Wireless Headphones

Andy HReviews Leave a Comment

Tronsmart S2-Plus
Colours: Black
3 x Earbuds supplied
RRP: £19.99
amazon.co.uk

We’re had a few wildcards in these pages over the years, but this one is taking things to new places.

It’s not designed for a motorcycle, I didn’t buy it for use on a motorcycle and it will have limitations on a motorcycle, but for the price, they are not an issue.

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Indeed, the limitation might make it more attractive to many, because one thing that I hear a lot is that our bikes are our way of getting away from the rest of the world.

It used to be mine, too, but a lot of the time, a bike is my office and I need to be contactable.

So, I wear a Sena 20S: an amazing piece of kit that never ceases to amaze me – and anyone who rings me on the bike, and I’ve not spoken to anyone yet who has believed me when I tell them where I am – regardless of which bike, what speed and which helmet I’m wearing.

And if I do want peace and quiet, I simply switch it off … well, actually I don’t, because I am fully embedded in the wired world. I find it easier to tell people I’m on my when I am on my way, not when I’m getting ready, and I spend a lot of time travelling to places I’ve never been to before, with a schedule to meet, so I use SatNav.

Dull, but important.

On occasions, though, when I’m fully off-duty, maybe wearing a helmet that isn’t wired for sound – or I haven’t got time to switch the Sena from one to another – there are still times when I would kill for the ability to answer the phone without taking my helmet off – a screened call, obviously.

And then there is the scenario where I’m in the middle of nowhere, lost, and haven’t got any means of clamping my phone to the handlebars, or to hear what it is saying through my helmet.

That’s where this has proved invaluable.

Full disclosure: this does not work with every helmet. My Davida fits too tight over the ears and it feels as though it is burying the earbuds into the ear canal – the bass drivers are a fair size – but then I know it’s a snug helmet at the best of times, so that’s no surprise. Everything else has been fine.

And that kinda gives the game away: this is an inexpensive comms system.

No, not a mobile comms system: what makes the Sena so good is its noise cancelling system on the mic, and while this can cut out city soundscapes, I can’t see it coping with 70mph winds on my Buell, but that’s not what I use it for.

Tell your phone where you want to go, pair the headset, and let your phone give you audible route instructions.

But you already do that with the wired headset that came free with the phone, and yes you can, but your wired headset uses the phone’s headphone socket’s amp, which tends to be on the weedy side, and – and I can’t stress this strongly enough – they have wires. That limits where you can put the phone, and means you’ve got wires training all over the place. I hated that before wireless was an option: I loathe it now. Everything is pulling on something.

Not this: you wear the main body round your neck like a flexible ‘torq’, one end is weighted by the battery, the other by the controller, and the earbud cables run in an open channel between them, with only as much cable as you need released.

As such, it is not unique – it’s becoming a popular form factor – and others might be better, but they’ll struggle to be cheaper: this is almost disposable!

The range isn’t brilliant – the Bluetooth signal starts to break up at ten feet in the real world, which is a long way from the 33ft claimed – but to be fair, you only want it to reach from wherever you’ve put it on your body. At worst, to a phone mount on your bike, when the wireless thing is a godsend.

I’ve got no idea whether it would connect to an Indian Ride Command – although there’s no reason why it shouldn’t – just that it certainly won’t with a Boom!Box without a WHIM upgrade.

And why would you want it to?

The clear relay of SatNav instructions and music. And, to be honest, while this is a no-brand, bargain basement offering, the bass drivers aren’t too shabby at all.

Headline numbers.
• The battery is good for 24-hours playback or 15 days of standby from a couple of hours of charging,
• Bluetooth 4.1 is very energy efficient,
• CVC 6.0 (Clear Voice Capture) will reduce a lot of backround noise but don’t too  excited:
• Splash resistent – IPX45 is a long way short of IP68 but if the rain comes down, tuck the ‘torq’ inside your collar. you will lose access to your central ‘operation’ button and the +/- volume buttons above and below it, but once the volume is set, you don’t really need them.

And they make a decent noise, they fold up small and fit in a supplied bag – the action of coiling them up to fit, goes a long way to reinstating some spring in the ‘torq’.

An excellent low budget solution for anyone wondering whether it’s worth spending a lot of money on a Sena 20S – whether they would use it: after all, the Sena is sold as an Intercom more than a comms system, but is so much more.

It isn’t in the same league as the Sena, but then it’s £20, intended as a handsfree bluetooth headset and will cope with you working out or jogging through a shower … or a hands-free headphone to free up both hands for typing.

And as a means of relaying SatNav instructions from your phone to your helmeted ear – subject to it fitting inside your helmet – it is a serious bargain.

I do need to advise you it could be a gateway drug that could lead you onto a more sophisticated solution.

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