Words and photos: Mike Blewitt
Keeping in touch with a small group of hikers can be straightforward, funny or scary. It depends on the crowd, how you ride and the routes and the way you are. From a professional point of view, we often joke about 'go or no' when shooting in the forest, as photographers or videographers are arranged. But in real-world riding situations where the tip to tail of a group of riders can stretch, keeping tabs on each end or the other can be difficult.
Riding most of Australia's routes to stay connected is easy. Our purpose-built routes are short, and no one ever gets too far. But move to a larger area, or a case where there are ride leaders and things start to change. The communication goes from joking with each other to important communication about the team, slow motion, equipment, potential accidents or even injuries that need to be attended to.
Our phones are generally great communication tools, especially when paired with a set of Bluetooth headphones and using a voice assistant to send a text message or similar. I often send a message while riding, thanks to Siri, knowing it will show up on a ride buddy's Wahoo. This depends on the coverage and also depends on the minimum wind noise and two devices per passenger.
The Milo Action Communicator solves a few of those problems, as a 77g device that can be paired in groups. The hands-free device receives your voice, and sends your message to your group. There is no need for any phone signal, and there is no interference from radio waves as when you pair the devices they create their own network. Each device retails for $399, and comes with a mount, tethers and charging cable.
A closer look
The Milo Action Communicator is smaller than it looks, slightly larger than the open-sized Kingston. It has a button on the back to turn it on and off, a larger button at 1 o'clock, and two smaller ones at 10 and 11 o'clock. The center is also a large button itself, with lights around its edge to act as a visual volume indicator. There is a USB-C port for charging, and an app for software updates.
Pairing is very easy, holding them next to each other and pressing the appropriate button will make them pair, with an audible acknowledgement. They come with an 'Action Mount' which is a magnetic mount with 3 rubber O-rings to fit objects of various sizes. The medium fits the handle, and the large would work well for your top tube.
The microphone on Milo's device doesn't use a lot of noise cancellation software, so it cuts through the wind noise. You can adjust the speaker volume, and there is even a boost mode!
Obviously, you need more than one of these to do anything, and you can connect up to 6 for a network. I used the two riding with my wife in a few different situations to see what the best use of mountain bikes is.
On the road
At first, Milo Communicator felt clever, and we used it for comic relief. You can press the center button as if you were making calls on the radio, but the devices work on voice recognition – so you don't have to. On fast descents where you are spreading this really helps, especially after the Queensland storm season, being able to call out fallen trees, and a message to the rider behind. As long as they don't hear. We found that at high speeds, unless you had the sound on the boosted setting, it was difficult to hear clearly what was being said.
We also found that a few other sounds were captured and connected. Sometimes a few powerful gears come into the system, or even a noise under heavy braking. It's not bad, but it leaves you wondering if you missed hearing something that was said. You can turn up the volume, and I found that all the buttons are easy to use even with gloves on.
On our first trip out both of the rubber o-ring mounts broke – although these were easily removed with Garmin bands left at home. You can get arm straps too, but I don't see them being suitable for mountain biking, with the chance of them getting pulled by a branch or high foliage. This will depend entirely on the routes you ride. In the end, the Milo devices worked very well in a bib pocket – certainly not worse than on the bars, and without shaking at high altitudes.
The width is said to be over 600m. We used to test it at about 100m without release, and that feels like a lot if you're meant to be riding together.
What is interesting is how the messages are sent. Basically, what you say is recorded, then sent. If you are close to the person, the other device will hear you again and nothing is sent. But if you're a little hard of hearing, you might hear someone say something – and it comes out. So there is a little delay. This will prevent people from talking to each other (we've all been in that Teams meeting…) but it will add latency, and I can imagine that could be frustrating if you add a third, fourth, fifth or sixth device to the mix.
So whose is it?
For my daily riding use, the Milo Action Communicator was a novelty, and one that I didn't really need. If I ride with a friend or two, we ride close together. When I ride with my wife, most of the time we go wheel to wheel – we compete like that. However, with a background in physical education and a keen awareness of how mountain biking is growing, I can see how useful a set of these would be in any guidance or group leadership setting. That could be leading a club ride with established ride leaders, in skills sessions with a coach and assistant coach, or just larger groups of friends with well-mixed skills. Anyone leading a group will be more distributed, however you need to communicate from top to bottom you will find this type of device very beneficial. Although you can only have up to six devices in use at the same time, I see this as a leader and tail end Charlie type of setup – maybe one device depending on the size of the group.
And yes, you can use a phone for this, or a CB radio. But that depends on phone reception and taking your hands off the barrels. The Milo Action Communicator is hands-free, enabling instant communication. I even think that parents who take their kids to the trails can benefit, especially if one parent rides with a junior shredder while the other rides with a toddler – so both younger groups can ride on their own.
As far as riding buddies staying connected and sharing stock – I think trying to get along out loud at speed and the usual trail and wind noise that goes with mountain biking makes that difficult. Although the devices do better in noise cancellation than any other device I've used, at certain speeds on the smooth floor, it becomes difficult and worse – disturbing.
The decision
This is a cool technology, and probably a very useful gadget for certain use cases. It could be a fun gadget for a group of friends, however at $399 each I think you might have a hard time getting your friends to see the benefits. Turn that into a situation where you have a task to take care of a team, or you are in a work situation, and the Milo Action Communicator really comes into its own, as it does not need to receive a phone and offers near instant hands-free. communication for those who need to contact each other in a dynamic group.
RRP: $399 per unit
From: aqipa.com
Priority:
- Easy to pair and easy to use
- It can be installed, but it works well in the pocket
- Simple and compact
- Hands-free communication without phone service
You miss:
- Mount is not suitable for cycling
- Too many users will cause slow communication
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