Electronics
The network, or the figures?
One of these is built for a group that keeps splitting up. The other tells you when it will be ready to ride.
| Compared on | 30K | B4FM |
|---|---|---|
| Riders supported | Up to 24 in a private group mesh; Open Mesh stated as near-unlimited | Up to 10 |
| Stated range | 8 km on mesh with at least six connected; 2.0 km on Bluetooth intercom | 2000 m |
| Battery capacity | Not published | 800 mAh |
| Talk time | Not published | 15 hours, with 350 hours standby |
| Charge time | Not published | 3 hours to full |
| Protection rating | Not published | IP67 |
A tick means one listing published something the other did not, or published a better figure. It does not mean the product is better, and the column is not a score out of anything: a maker who says less loses lines here without losing a comparison. The two verdicts below are where the page is settled.
The one for a group. Mesh re-routes around a rider who stops for fuel, where a paired chain simply breaks — and on six riders that is the entire point.
The one that publishes its numbers. Seven figures including the charge time, which is what decides whether the unit is ready on a Saturday morning, and which nothing else here gives.
It is a different radio arrangement: instead of a chain of paired links it forms a network that re-routes. On two riders it buys nothing. On a group it is the reason the category exists.
The maker attaches the condition — at least six people connected — which says the figure describes a chain of units relaying rather than one unit reaching that far. A published condition is part of a published figure.
Mesh intercom · up to 24 in a group mesh · 8 km with six riders · 2.0 km Bluetooth
A mesh intercom publishing two mesh modes, a private group of up to 24, a range extendable to 8 km when at least six people are connected, and 2.0 km over Bluetooth intercom.
Best for: Riding in a group large enough that a paired chain of two-way links stops working.
≈ $315 / £184 / €199
Up to 10 riders · 2000 m · DSP and CVC noise reduction · 800 mAh, 15 h talk · IP67
An intercom published for up to 10 riders at 2000 m, using DSP and CVC noise reduction the maker states cuts wind and engine noise by over 90%, with an 800 mAh battery giving 15 hours.
Best for: A group of riders who want published numbers rather than published adjectives.
≈ £64 / €74
Nothing written into the text below is a current price. Where an amount appears in a sentence, it is the reading taken on the day that sentence was written; what a shop is asking at this moment loads beside the product itself, and that is the figure to go by.
