As someone whos voice is easily blown away on the wind, the Sena Expand Mesh headset is a small revelation of easy communication onboard a larger boat. I tested one out for a few weeks and really quite enjoyed the freedom it brought
Sena Expand Mesh review – boating like a pro in this marine intercom headset
Sena Expand Mesh Marine Intercom
Specifications
Bluetooth/Mesh: Mesh
Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.2
How many can be connected: up to 24
Type of Control: Button Control
Battery Life: 10 Hour Talk Time
Intercom Distance: Up to 400 m (0.25 miles)
Speaker Type 6.2mm Standard Speakers
Microphone Type: Boom
The Sena headset fits snuggly over the ears, just attaching over the tops of the ears to hold it in place.
The headband actually goes to the back of the neck and simply acts as a spring to keep light pressure of the speakers on to the ears. The stay in place by clipping onto the tops of your ears. This is pretty good if your ears are a decent size, but my ears a bit lady like and the headset never feels totally secure.
The sound clarity though is excellent and the simplicity of being able to talk with a normal, in fact, a quieter voice than you’d need for on deck normally is a really great thing.
The microphone can be positioned close to the mouth or further away and the foam mic cover does a decent enough job of blocking wind noise, but it wont block it all.
Protecting the mic from high wind is fairly easy to do but it can deafen the other person on the receiving end if you let it blast away directly.
The open mic ability to just talk and be heard and have a normal conversation is so much easier than using a PTT system.
The headsets have volume controls too on the side so if you need to control that while wearing the headset it’s easy to located and adjust.
I found the button presses for switching on and off a little confusing. rather than having an on off button, there’s a multiple button hold and press and then hold and press other combination of buttons for connection. Though they seem to just autoconnect once we were up and running with them.
The Mesh comms system allows duplex voice and multiple connections, up to 24 devices.
It would be nice if they offered this mesh system with a top headband option for people like me with delicate ears. But I managed ok with them as they are, and somehow never had them fall off or go for a swim while handling lines and jumping around onboard.
I recommend them for anyone who struggles to be heard on deck or if you have a wheelhouse or flybridge vessel where you lose sight of one another onboard.