Being a motorcycle rider since the ripe old age of 5, I’ve ridden and owned everything from Honda 2 and 4-stroke dirt 
bikes to Italian exotics including most recently a 2006 Ducati Monster S4R. I have Amsoil in my blood and L-twins in my heart, needless to say I was anxious to try out the Scala Rider Q2 Headset given to me to test by our resident Smarter Blogs ‘Sports’ and ‘Gadgets’ blogger Nick. I’ve never owned a motorcycle headset (though I do admit to the occasional ‘iPod-headphones-under-the-helmet-trick’), so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this setup and as it turns out I was very pleasantly surprised.
When you open the packaging of the Scala Rider Q2 you get an immediate feel for the product quality. The packaging itself consists of a black jacquard woven, almost carbon fiber-like box which flips open to reveal two interlocking trays with all the gear you need to stay in touch with your riding partner, a passenger and/or the rest of the world using your cellphone via Bluetooth.
It’s obvious these guys spent quite a few hours in R&D ensuring the headset was durable enough to work in bad weather, stand up in high wind and have an ease-of-use you’d expect with other Bluetooth enabled devices built seemingly for the ‘iPhone generation’. My only real gripe with the headset is the volume up/down buttons on the control unit. With gloves on, the buttons can be a little tough to activate, but certainly not enough to keep me from purchasing this headset.
What I liked:
· The rubberized control unit, helmet locking clips and general look-and-feel of the product.
· The instructions were clear and concise, once you figure out the use of the ‘Control’ button, it’s very simple.
· It has a built in FM radio!
· Bluetooth connectivity to my Apple iPhone 3G, excellent feature and very handy.
· The two headset units in the package come already paired to be able to talk to one another, one less thing to think about.
What I didn’t like:
· Volume up/down buttons were hard to push at times.
· No digital or analog readout for the FM radio. Having a FM radio is great, but in a place like LA, you could spend 10 minutes pushing the ‘Up’ button trying to get to 98.7FM.
If you’re a street or dirt rider in the market for an in-helmet communications system, I’d give these guys a look. As a guy who has ridden for over 25 years, chewed up a lot of dirt, pounded a lot of pavement and done my fair share of playing hide-and-seek with BLM Rangers, this is a welcome and much needed addition to any rider’s gear bag.
Scala Rider Q2 Multiset with Bluetooth on Smarter.com >>
