Hey all! Longtime lurker here, very occasional commenter. Not sure if I've ever made a post of my own before (If I have it was probably years ago) BUT, I used a new piece of gear last week that was a total game changer and had to come talk about it.
My boyfriend and I love to ski, and while we have both been at a high-intermediate level in the past (rated level 6-7 by ski instructors in Colorado) we both feel like we've regressed a bit from that point over the past several years. For me that's just due to not skiing as much, for him he also had an injury and subsequent back surgery several years ago that left him with limited movement and no feeling from his left knee down, which understandably affected his confidence on the slopes a bit.
All that to say, we love skiing the big resorts, but we're always a little afraid of accidentally ending up at the top of something beyond our comfort / ability level. We usually go on one trip a year, somewhere in the US or Canadian Rockies, and ski 3 or 4 days during that week. And we tend to spend a lot of our ski time stopping and waiting for each other so we can shout to each other which way we should go next, or waving our arms at each other and getting frustrated at each other's lack of ability to mind-read. I've also had to always lead the way, since he's not big on looking at maps or trail signs
We've tried using helmet speakers that connect to your phone and allow you to listen to music and make / receive phone calls, but half the time the voice commands don't work and the other half one or the other of us can't get a phone call to connect.
Enter the Cardo Packtalk Outdoor.
I bought these for him as a Christmas gift, thinking they would at least be worth a try. For anyone not familiar with them, Cardo has apparently been making helmet communication systems for motorcycle riders for a long time, and more recently came out with this version aimed at skiers, snowboarders and I guess mountain bikers etc. as well. A set consists of a pair of JBL speakers that go inside your helmet, (either in the speaker pockets or just Velcro'd to the liner if you have a helmet without speaker pockets) a receiver that either clips to the strap where it goes over the earpiece or attaches to the helmet itself with double-sided tape, and a little microphone that attaches to your chin strap. The game changer is that while the receiver connects to your phone and allows you to listen to music, talk on the phone, etc. like the versions we used to use, they also connect to each other and act as an always-on walkie talkie system, without needing a phone or an internet connection or cell service.
I was a little skeptical about how they'd work, never having used anything like them before, but they were extremely user friendly. Once the units are paired, they connect to each other automatically when they're both powered on, and the range is about half a mile according to the manufacturer. I don't think we ever got that far apart, but even skiing through some twisty turny paths where we were out of each others' sight the entire time, we could talk like we were right next to each other. Skiing down bigger, more open runs, he could be several hundred feet ahead of me and I could calmly tell him to go left or right and not worry that he would choose the wrong path and not realize until he was too far downhill to course correct. He could let me know if he hit a patch of ice or anything else I should look out for. One day I had to stay in the car to tend to a work emergency when we got to the ski area, and when I finally got to head to the crowded lodge I just turned the unit on and said "hey where are you?" rather than having to call or text him and hope he'd happen to look at his phone.
When playing music, the walkie-talkie is volume is just a little louder than the music, so you can always hear the other person, and it doesn't do that annoying thing where it turns the music down temporarily like a GPS does when it announces the next turn. If the other person gets a phone call, the unit automatically mutes the walkie-talkie. There's an app that's dead simple, but most functions can be controlled with the large buttons and wheel on the helmet unit, and the commands (hit this button once or twice, spin the wheel) are pretty easy to remember. Battery life was more than enough for an entire day on the slopes. According to the manufacturer, you can connect up to 15 units together. We didn't have anyone else to connect to, but I've skied with groups of 5-6 in the past and can see how having something like this would be a total game changer for staying together (or not) and just coordinating around the mountain.
I have no affiliation with Cardo and had actually never heard of them before starting to research options in November, this product just improved my skiing experience so dramatically I had to share. 10/10 highly recommend them.
My boyfriend and I love to ski, and while we have both been at a high-intermediate level in the past (rated level 6-7 by ski instructors in Colorado) we both feel like we've regressed a bit from that point over the past several years. For me that's just due to not skiing as much, for him he also had an injury and subsequent back surgery several years ago that left him with limited movement and no feeling from his left knee down, which understandably affected his confidence on the slopes a bit.
All that to say, we love skiing the big resorts, but we're always a little afraid of accidentally ending up at the top of something beyond our comfort / ability level. We usually go on one trip a year, somewhere in the US or Canadian Rockies, and ski 3 or 4 days during that week. And we tend to spend a lot of our ski time stopping and waiting for each other so we can shout to each other which way we should go next, or waving our arms at each other and getting frustrated at each other's lack of ability to mind-read. I've also had to always lead the way, since he's not big on looking at maps or trail signs
We've tried using helmet speakers that connect to your phone and allow you to listen to music and make / receive phone calls, but half the time the voice commands don't work and the other half one or the other of us can't get a phone call to connect.Enter the Cardo Packtalk Outdoor.
I bought these for him as a Christmas gift, thinking they would at least be worth a try. For anyone not familiar with them, Cardo has apparently been making helmet communication systems for motorcycle riders for a long time, and more recently came out with this version aimed at skiers, snowboarders and I guess mountain bikers etc. as well. A set consists of a pair of JBL speakers that go inside your helmet, (either in the speaker pockets or just Velcro'd to the liner if you have a helmet without speaker pockets) a receiver that either clips to the strap where it goes over the earpiece or attaches to the helmet itself with double-sided tape, and a little microphone that attaches to your chin strap. The game changer is that while the receiver connects to your phone and allows you to listen to music, talk on the phone, etc. like the versions we used to use, they also connect to each other and act as an always-on walkie talkie system, without needing a phone or an internet connection or cell service.
I was a little skeptical about how they'd work, never having used anything like them before, but they were extremely user friendly. Once the units are paired, they connect to each other automatically when they're both powered on, and the range is about half a mile according to the manufacturer. I don't think we ever got that far apart, but even skiing through some twisty turny paths where we were out of each others' sight the entire time, we could talk like we were right next to each other. Skiing down bigger, more open runs, he could be several hundred feet ahead of me and I could calmly tell him to go left or right and not worry that he would choose the wrong path and not realize until he was too far downhill to course correct. He could let me know if he hit a patch of ice or anything else I should look out for. One day I had to stay in the car to tend to a work emergency when we got to the ski area, and when I finally got to head to the crowded lodge I just turned the unit on and said "hey where are you?" rather than having to call or text him and hope he'd happen to look at his phone.
When playing music, the walkie-talkie is volume is just a little louder than the music, so you can always hear the other person, and it doesn't do that annoying thing where it turns the music down temporarily like a GPS does when it announces the next turn. If the other person gets a phone call, the unit automatically mutes the walkie-talkie. There's an app that's dead simple, but most functions can be controlled with the large buttons and wheel on the helmet unit, and the commands (hit this button once or twice, spin the wheel) are pretty easy to remember. Battery life was more than enough for an entire day on the slopes. According to the manufacturer, you can connect up to 15 units together. We didn't have anyone else to connect to, but I've skied with groups of 5-6 in the past and can see how having something like this would be a total game changer for staying together (or not) and just coordinating around the mountain.
I have no affiliation with Cardo and had actually never heard of them before starting to research options in November, this product just improved my skiing experience so dramatically I had to share. 10/10 highly recommend them.
