How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want a helmet-mounted intercom that lets two riders talk to each other over distance while you listen to music and take calls on the bike, choose Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle; if you need an all-day single-ear earpiece for phone calls, driving and desk work, choose New Bee Headset V5.1. These two products share the word "Bluetooth headset," and that's about where the overlap ends — one is a rider-to-rider communication system, the other is a business-call earpiece. Read the specs carefully before you pick, because buying the wrong one is an easy mistake to make.
• Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle — biggest strength: Bluetooth 5.4 with 2-way intercom up to 1000m, CVC/DSP noise cancellation, IP67 waterproofing, and two mic types for full-face or open-face helmets. It's built for the road.
• Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle — biggest trade-off: It's a helmet system, so it needs to be mounted inside a helmet and paired with a second unit or another intercom brand to get the most out of the intercom feature.
• New Bee Headset V5.1 — biggest strength: Up to 72 hours of total talk time with a 500mAh charging case, dual microphones, dual-device pairing, and a 270° rotating boom mic that fits either ear.
• New Bee Headset V5.1 — biggest trade-off: It's a single-ear earpiece with a 15m Bluetooth range and no rider-to-rider intercom — it's for calls, not for talking to a riding partner.
• Who each is for: Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle for motorcyclists who ride with a passenger or a group and want music, GPS and calls in their helmet. New Bee Headset V5.1 for drivers, truckers, warehouse workers and remote workers who live on phone calls.
The FX-S is, first and foremost, a helmet communication system. The headline spec is the 2-way intercom: two riders can talk to each other at a range of up to 1000m, which is the feature that separates it from a plain Bluetooth earpiece. Under the hood it uses a Qualcomm Bluetooth 5.4 chip, which is the newest Bluetooth generation in this comparison and is aimed at a more stable signal with low latency — latency is listed at 20 milliseconds, which matters if you're watching video or listening to GPS prompts. The 40mm dynamic drivers cover 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, so the audio hardware is sized for listening to music on a ride rather than just taking calls.
Durability is where it flexes for motorcycle use. The IP67 rating means it should shrug off rain, wind and dust, and the enclosure uses ABS, polycarbonate and TPE — a mix that suggests a hard shell with some flex rather than brittle plastic. Battery life is listed at 20 hours with a 2-hour charge time via Type-C, and it supports use-while-charging, which is genuinely useful on a long tour where you can top it up from a power bank at a fuel stop.
The practical details are aimed at riders, too. It weighs 0.08 pounds (1.28 ounces as a package), so it shouldn't drag on your helmet. It ships with two mic types — a button mic for full-face helmets and a boom mic for open-face helmets — so you can match it to the helmet you actually own. The oversized buttons are designed to be glove-friendly, which is the difference between changing a track at a stoplight and fumbling with your phone. It also supports two phones connected at once, so you can run a work phone and a personal phone without re-pairing. And it plays nice with other intercom systems, so a riding buddy on a different brand isn't automatically locked out.
Who should buy it: riders who want music, GPS directions, hands-free calls and — most importantly — rider-to-rider conversation inside their helmet. A back-seat passenger or a regular riding partner is the ideal use case.
Who should skip it: anyone who just wants a discreet earpiece for phone calls at a desk or in a truck. You'd be paying for intercom hardware and IP67 sealing you'll never use, and you'd be giving up the long talk-time advantage of the New Bee.
The New Bee V5.1 is a completely different animal. This is a single-ear Bluetooth earpiece built around one job: keeping you on calls for as long as possible. The battery numbers tell the story — up to 72 hours of total talk time with the included 500mAh charging case, and a full Type-C charge in about 1.5 hours. The 72-hour figure is total talk time using the case, not a single charge, so think of the case as the thing that gets you through a multi-day trip without hunting for a wall outlet. There's also an LED power display so you can see the level instead of guessing.
Call quality is handled by dual microphones that work together to reduce surrounding noise, plus a lengthened main mic that's designed to focus on your voice. That's a sensible design for driving, where road noise is constant. Interestingly, it also lists active noise cancellation as a control feature alongside the button controls. Pairing runs on a Qualcomm QCC3020 Bluetooth 5.1 chip with a 15m range, and it can hold two devices at once — a phone and a laptop, for example — so you can switch between a work call and a personal call without re-pairing. Compatibility covers iOS, Android, computers, PCs and laptops.
The fit is the other half of the story. A 270° rotating mic boom and a 180° swiveling ear hook let you wear it on either ear, and S/M/L ear tips let you size it to your ear canal. At 15g it's light enough to forget about during a shift. One thing to note: the driver here is a 6mm balanced armature with a 20 Hz frequency response and 98 dB sensitivity. Balanced armature drivers are common in voice-focused headsets, but a 6mm driver is not going to deliver the same music experience as the 40mm dynamic drivers in the Fodsports. That's a deliberate trade-off, not a flaw — this is a call tool.
Who should buy it: drivers, truckers, delivery and warehouse workers, remote workers and anyone whose day is a string of phone calls. The charging case, dual-device pairing and either-ear fit are exactly what that life needs.
Who should skip it: motorcyclists who want to talk to a passenger, listen to music in a helmet, or ride in heavy rain. There's no intercom, no helmet mount, and no waterproof rating listed.
• Best for rider-to-rider communication → Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle. The 2-way intercom at up to 1000m is the feature the New Bee simply doesn't have.
• Best for battery life on calls → New Bee Headset V5.1. Up to 72 hours of total talk time with the charging case versus 20 hours on the Fodsports.
• Best for music quality → Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle. 40mm dynamic drivers with a 20 Hz–20,000 Hz range beat a 6mm balanced armature built for voice.
• Best for wet-weather riding → Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle. IP67 means rain and dust aren't a concern; the New Bee has no listed water rating.
• Best for all-day desk or truck work → New Bee Headset V5.1. 15g, either-ear fit, dual mics and a case you can charge the earpiece in.
• Best for helmet fit → Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle. Two mic types (button for full-face, boom for open-face) and a 0.08 lb body designed to mount in a helmet.
• Best for switching between two devices → a tie, with a caveat. Both support two connections, but the Fodsports is aimed at two phones while the New Bee is aimed at a phone plus a laptop.
• Best for low latency → Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle. 20ms latency and Bluetooth 5.4 versus Bluetooth 5.1 on the New Bee.
In my opinion, the right pick comes down to one question: are you on a motorcycle? If yes, I'd buy the Fodsports FX-S Motorcycle. The intercom, IP67 sealing, glove-friendly buttons, helmet-specific mics and 40mm drivers are all built for that environment, and nothing on the New Bee replaces any of it. If you're not on a bike and your day is calls, I'd buy the New Bee Headset V5.1 — the 72-hour case, dual mics and either-ear fit are the better tool for that job. Buy the one that matches how you actually spend your hours, and check the current price on Amazon before you decide.
FAQ
It isn't designed for that. It's a single-ear earpiece with a rotating boom mic and ear hook, and no helmet mount or water-resistance rating is listed. For helmet use, the Fodsports FX-S is the appropriate choice.
Both play audio, but they're built differently. The Fodsports uses 40mm dynamic drivers with a 20 Hz–20,000 Hz range, which is a music-first setup. The New Bee uses a 6mm balanced armature driver, which is tuned toward voice rather than music.
The Fodsports FX-S is listed at 20 hours of average battery life with a 2-hour Type-C charge. The New Bee V5.1 is listed at up to 72 hours of total talk time when you use the 500mAh charging case, with a 1.5-hour charge.
Confirm the fit and the job. If you ride and want intercom plus helmet audio, go Fodsports. If you need long call time and an either-ear earpiece, go New Bee. Then check the current price on Amazon, since prices change and this page doesn't list them.
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