How are they different?

1 COMPATIBILITY

This will sound obvious but the universal-fit 20S Evo will work in any helmet whereas the SRL2 is designed specifically for three Shoei helmets. What that means is with the 20S Evo, you will have a control unit mounted to the outside of the helmet on a bracket which is connected to the speakers and the microphone inside the lid. The SRL2 unit replaces the two plastic side panels on the Shoei GT-AIR II we’re using here — one with the three-button control and the other side with the antenna — and the main battery/brain sits in an aperture at the back. The 20S Evo will fit virtually any helmet; the SRL2 the three Shoei lids it’s designed for

2 CONNECTION

Both the 20S Evo and the SRL2 work on Bluetooth V4.1 to connect to compatible smartphones or sat navs, as well as other Bluetooth intercoms — either Sena or other manufacturers — as long as they all support the same standard. Range for the SRL2 is quoted at 1.6km/1.2 miles while the 20S Evo is greater, at 2km/1.6 miles, thanks to the redesigned external antenna. Connection is over Bluetooth and each allows for a maximum of eight connected intercoms

3 OPERATION

Both the 20S Evo and the SRL2 support voice operation while physically, the 20S Evo is controlled by its ‘Jog dial’, a control wheel that also acts as a giant activation button, making control simple. There is also a separate button for phone operation and another for ‘Ambient Mode’ as well as an input for an MP3 player. The SRL2 is controlled by three small buttons on the left-hand panel, two flush either side of a raised central one, which replicate the same functions as a combination of button pushes and holds

4 VISIBILITY

An advantage of the SRL2 is that, unless you know what you’re looking for, you’d barely know it was there — a tiny flashing blue LED is all that gives it away other than the tiny + and – on the volume buttons. The 20S Evo, on the other hand, is mounted on the outside of the helmet and can only be described as a fairly substantial addition to the helmet

5 NOISE GENERATION

Another potential disadvantage of a universal-fit intercom such as the 20S Evo is that its presence outside the helmet can generate additional noise, affecting comfort inside the lid. An integrated intercom, such as the SRL2, will not generate noise due to its presence

6 FITTING

A universal-fit intercom is designed to work in almost all helmets and so the 20S Evo comes with a huge variety of mounting accessories. The helmet will generally need some disassembly to fit, including removing the cheekpads and the liner to locate the speakers, for example and run the wiring tidily and out of the way. An integrated intercom will fit much more neatly inside as well as out, though the process is similar; the SRL2 speakers and microphone clip directly into purpose-designed apertures and wiring is hidden in custom-made channels

7 CHARGING

When it comes to charging, the 20S Evo unit is removed from the helmet and plugged in to a USB power source using the supplied lead. The SRL2 means that the whole helmet needs to be plugged in though, which can be cumbersome and potentially inconvenient

8 SOUND QUALITY

From an audio perspective, any differences in audio quality will be down to the speakers, assuming the two intercoms use the same fundamental hardware, as the 20S Evo and the SRL2 do