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Cardo Will Literally Pay You To Get Rid Of Your Busted Old Motorcycle Comms

Yes, Cardo will apparently pay you for that dead Bluetooth brick.

Cardo Will Literally Pay You To Get Rid Of Your Crappy Old Motorcycle Comms
Enrico Punsalang Enrico Punsalang

Motorcycle gear has a way of accumulating. Old gloves get shoved into bins, scratched visors end up on shelves, and outdated comms systems slowly migrate toward the deepest, darkest corner of the gear closet. You know the ones I'm talking about. The battery barely lasts anymore, the speakers sound like they came out of a drive-thru intercom, and you keep telling yourself you’ll throw them away someday.

Luckily, however, Cardo would rather you mail them in.

The company has launched a new Trade-In program in the US that lets riders send in an eligible old motorcycle communication system and get up to $130 back toward a new Packtalk. Better still, Cardo doesn’t particularly care whose logo is on your old headset. Devices from competing brands are eligible too, and they can apparently be broken or no longer working.

So yes, that ancient communicator you’ve been allowing to gather dust for the past five years might finally have a purpose beyond taking up space and being a relic of a time gone by.

Cardo PackTalk Edge - On Bike

The process is pretty straightforward, although the discount doesn’t happen at checkout. Riders first choose a new Packtalk through Cardo’s online store and select the trade-in option. You’ll enter the brand and model of your existing communicator to get an estimated value, then purchase the new Packtalk at full price.

Cardo then sends you a prepaid FedEx shipping label. You’ve got 30 days to send the old unit in, after which Cardo verifies the device and refunds the eligible trade-in amount to your original payment method. Depending on what you’re trading, that can be worth as much as $130.

Cardo says the returned devices won’t simply head straight for the trash, either. Eligible units may be refurbished for continued use, while others will be recycled. That’s probably a better ending than spending another decade beside a tangled bundle of Mini USB cables and a pair of gloves you haven’t worn since 2019.

What do you think?

For now, the program is limited to the US, although Cardo says it hopes to expand it to more markets eventually.

So there you go, if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your comms anyway, or maybe tossing your old one in the trash, maybe think again. Apparently, some of the electronic junk hiding back there is still worth actual money.

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