Hey, I'm JR, training manager here at Crutchfield, and today's video is about the Kenwood KCA-HX5M
and the Kenwood KCA-HX7C. This is a motorcycle Bluetooth communication system.
I grabbed one of our video producers, his name is Phillip, we put them on our helmets, we took
them out into the real world, we did some riding. We want to show you exactly how they perform. So
I have the KCA-HX5M mounted to my helmet, it pairs to my phone, and I can use it to stream music, I can
make phone calls, I can do voice texting with Siri, it's a pretty cool little system. I'm riding
today with Phillip, and as you can see his does all of that and adds a camera. Hey JR, so I have the
KCA-HX7C mounted on my helmet, that's the model with the 4K camera built in. It's also a Bluetooth
intercom system, which allows you to do exactly what we're doing right now,
talk to your friends while you're riding. And the intercom system can actually pair
up to four total devices, so you plus three friends. And the unit that JR has, the KCA-HX5M,
also has some cool mesh group functionality where you can pair with up to 24 friends. Yeah, I think I
think first I want to hit on just how good this sounds, right? Like, I have my visor up and you
can hear me pretty crystal-clear, correct? Correct, and I think I'm pretty clear, too. Yeah, that's the
noise cancelling, it does a fantastic job of eliminating the wind and capturing your voice,
and it comes with a couple different microphones. I have a boom mic on the side of my helmet,
it also comes with a little tiny mic that you can simply stick right on the inside
of the helmet, so you are sure to get good mic placement no matter what. The system also has
a pair of speakers that go inside the helmet, so that's how we're able to hear each other right now,
but that's also how we're able to stream music. Yeah, just having the music in my helmet so I
can jam while I'm riding, and that is one of my favorite features of this system. The way
you control these intercom systems is actually really, really easy, even with gloves on riding
a motorcycle. You have a jog wheel and two buttons, and that does really everything you need it to, but
then if you want to dive in and adjust settings Kenwood also has a few apps available for these.
So let's talk battery; on this 5M, the one I have on my helmet, the battery on this thing will last
about 13 hours and it takes about an hour and a half to recharge it from zero to a hundred percent,
and I can't tell you the last time I rode 13 hours on my bike, so that seems like plenty of time.
And the HX7C that I'm using is actually rated for 20 hours of talk time, but keep in mind it has the
4K camera built in, and so obviously that's going to use a bit more battery life, but in our testing
it really was in line with what I would expect out of a dedicated action camera.
And you can fully recharge the battery on this one in about two and a half hours.
Yeah, and you don't want to mount this and an action camera on your motorcycle,
nice to have one unit that can take care of all of those things. Some other cool features of the
camera, so I mentioned it does 4K video, that's 4K at up to 30 frames per second. It'll also do 1080p
at up to 60 frames a second, and the camera also records a lower-resolution preview file of each
video, which is great for being able to play back your previews over the Kenwood app
on your phone. Yeah, so you don't have to wait until you're at home to know if you got the shot.
Exactly. Some other really cool features are with the lens on this camera, so it's a 125-degree
field of view, which is pretty wide, what you'd expect from a POV action cam, but it's also an
f/2.4 aperture lens. That means it's going to do a great job in low light. The most unique feature I
found about the camera is the lens can actually rotate up to 30 degrees to adjust your horizon and
get it level. Yeah, so you don't have to try to find that perfect spot on your helmet, right? You can
mount it where you want it and then adjust it from there. So we noticed some cool stuff in our
testing with the camera where it actually records the system's audio to the video,
which is how we're doing this video, right? So while you're talking you can capture your
conversation. It actually also records your music, but you can record your conversation,
which is very, very cool. Right on. I feel like we've gotten through pretty much everything.
Yeah, that was pretty great. I can't believe I could actually think about that while doing this. So this
is the Kenwood motorcycle Bluetooth communication system. You can get it with just communications or
with the camera. We enjoyed testing these, we are looking forward to our motorcycle rides that will
now be very different than they were previously because we'll have music, we'll have communications,
and we'll have video. It's pretty awesome. If you have any questions about this system, please get
in touch with us here at Crutchfield. Go to crutchfield.com/contact to talk live with
one of our advisors over the phone or chat with them online. You can also post your questions here
in the comment section of this video right here on YouTube, we do look at those comments and we
will respond accordingly. Also like, subscribe, and turn notifications on. Thanks for watching.