Helmet communicators

[1woody1]

I was looking for a communication set up that would allow me to answer my cell phone and speak with a my passenger. I found one system that was rather ellaborate on both the amount of hardware and cost . Is anyone familiar with this type of communicator and if so what do you recommed. :hmm2:

[rstarr4]

I was looking for a communication set up that would allow me to answer my cell phone and speak with a my passenger. I found one system that was rather ellaborate on both the amount of hardware and cost . Is anyone familiar with this type of communicator and if so what do you recommed. :hmm2:

I have the one called Chatterbox that's made by HJC helmets. It works pretty well for communicating with my passenger. My only complaint with it is that above 65 mph I wish it had a little more volume. It has the hookup for audio input from a Discman or iPod and also has a port for connecting to your cell phone. I never tried the cell phone so I don't know how well that works. One of the things I like about it is that the unit is very small and fits easily in my shirt pocket. Anyway, you can check it out at HJC's website.

[Mer]

I used the Chatterbox for a couple of years and it worked fairly well. Rstarr4 is right though, it is difficult to hear over 65 mph. We used it bike to bike and the range definitely wasn't what it said it was suppsose to be (2 miles...sheesh...more like 1/2 mile). I did use it with my Ipod and that worked great although I did get tired of dealing with all the cords and wires.

Now I use my Ipod with some good "in ear" speakers for longer trips and I have a Scala Rider (bluetooth) for my cell phone. (attaches to my helmet) I can use my phone like an intercom now especially since we have free Cingular to Cingular calling. I can hear TON's better than with the Chatterbox because the volume will increase with the increased wind noise. People can't believe I'm actually on a bike either because it sounds so good. GREAT product!

[1woody1]

thanks for the advice. I will check into both of them....

[Buda_jim]

I'm glad you guys are finding solutions for the cell phone but I can't resist the urge to point out that the last thing I want while riding is to enable someone to call me! Riding is a form of therapy for me. I can pull over for a break any time, and check for missed calls then. Riding here in the Arizona desert means that I stop for bottled water about every 100 miles anyway, so it's not like I will miss any calls for very long.

Now the tunes are a different story! I had about given up using my MP3 player until I read here about some of you successfully using inside-the-ear speakers. I normally wear a 1/2 helmet so wind noise is more of a problem than it might be with a 3/4 or full-face helmet. Still, I think my long range plan will include the Quadzilla Fairing with XM. For a few extra bucks you can have it made with a mini audio jack for high-speed riding.

Signed: Out of touch on purpose!
Buda_Jim

:coffee:

[Shutterbug]

Buda Jim, I'm in your corner. The last thing I want to do is answer a cell phone going 75 mph with both hands ad feet occupied! I just bought an MP3 player to cruise to the music. So nice on a long trip.

[psuedohippy]

Im with you guys on the cell phone thing, but I was really glad to see this thread. I ride with my girl all the time and commute to work and back by myself everyday. So I want one that will work in both our full face helmets when we are together and connect to my mp3 player when Im going to work and back. If there are any other suggestions for systems please keep em coming.

[Mer]

Buda Jim, I'm in your corner. The last thing I want to do is answer a cell phone going 75 mph with both hands ad feet occupied! I just bought an MP3 player to cruise to the music. So nice on a long trip.
My phone is set to answer with my voice only. (I also have voice dialing) I don't take anything away from the controls. I understand your need to ride without a cell phone ,but first of all we have teenage kids and they do need to be in contact with us (my H and myself) at times. I've also found it invaluable when I'm riding to meet other people and we are trying to meet up. Like I said in my first post, the Scala rider would be a nice "cheap" alternative to an intercom system. Sounds a TON better too and NO wires.

[1woody1]

I agree with you that talking on the phone is the last thing I want to do while riding. I am mostly looking into using this for communication between my wife and I while riding together. Its impossible to communicate when were riding on together. The Scala seems to be the best way to do this in the safest manner.

[psuedohippy]

Well I just checked out the scala rider. It seems like the way to go. They problem for me is niether of us have bluetooth cell phones. We dont care much about expensive phones and use the money elswhere. Do you use your cell minutes too or is there any direct intercom or walkie talkie like features, and if so how do they work. It is possible that we both go out and invest in new phones. She is Cingular and my contract with Sprint is over so I was thinking of switching anyhow.

[Mer]

Well I just checked out the scala rider. It seems like the way to go. They problem for me is niether of us have bluetooth cell phones. We dont care much about expensive phones and use the money elswhere. Do you use your cell minutes too or is there any direct intercom or walkie talkie like features, and if so how do they work. It is possible that we both go out and invest in new phones. She is Cingular and my contract with Sprint is over so I was thinking of switching anyhow.I don't use my cell minutes because we have free mobile to mobile (Cingular to Cingular). It's the ONLY way to go. We have so many rollover minutes it's not even funny. (my family and alot of my friends have Cingular too!)

[Buda_jim]

Pseudohippy: If you are looking to use cell phones as rider-passenger intercoms, and looking for a Blue Tooth, wireless solution ...

1) As long as you both have the same cellular phone provider it's normally free to call each other ... but you'd have to check to verify that. I think it's Alltel that now lets you include users of other cellular plans within your "calling circle", meaning the calls are free.

2) If you like the phones you have, consider Blue Tooth adapters instead of two new blue tooth enabled phones. The ones I looked at plug directly into your vehicle's 12 volt power source (cigarette lighter adapter) and then into your phone's earphone jack. The adpater then lets you use a regular Blue Tooth earpiece for wireless communication. It's all of the Blue Tooth technology that would be built in to your phone, if it was a Blue Tooth phone to begin with. It generally costs a lot less than buying a new Blue Tooth phone. However, if your contract with Sprint is expired you can buy a new Blue Tooth phone for less than $100 when you sign a new contract with most companies. Don't know if Singular would offer you that savings though, since adding you to your wife's plan probably would not constitute a new contract. I know Scala sells the Blue Tooth adapters, so they ought to be compatible with the Scala Rider.

Hope some of that was helpful.
Buda_Jim

[Shutterbug]

Woody,
Check out this website:
http://www.sierra-mc.com/default.asp

[1woody1]

Shutterbug,

Thanks for the information. This site has alot of good products.

[Bob Payne]

so will the scala talk to another scala without cellphones?
as in passenger to driver?

[woof359]

http://www.rocketquality.com/headsets.html

[AV8R]

I bought the Scala Q2 unit along with a few friends. The bluetooth support is great and using it with a cell phone requires no hands. VOX answer and disconnect and as crazy as it sounds, I've used the cell feature quite a few times already. Saturday was a group ride with our local CMA chapter. 40 miles into the ride I get a call from work saying some of our edge security equipment at work was acting up. I was able to talk the operator through a 2 minute procedure to bring the equipment back up and online. All while riding 65 MPH with 40 of my closest friends. No different than a bike to bike conversation. The Scala unit works very well, BTW and I've had these from Collett, Chatterbox, IMC and others. This one is my fave.

[Bob Payne]

yea i also work as an I.T. Director so i had to have something and the Q2 is perfect been using it since last monday i like listening to the radio and when a call comes in the radio blanks out and i just say hello and im talking to who ever is calling.

only thing i dont like is my blackberry 8830 has about 750 megs of mp3's that i cant listen too with the q2 since the q2 does not support a2dp which is required to listen to mp3's

and sometimes the fm rx on the q2 is not the greatest out in the boonys

[AV8R]

yea i also work as an I.T. Director so i had to have something and the Q2 is perfect been using it since last monday i like listening to the radio and when a call comes in the radio blanks out and i just say hello and im talking to who ever is calling.

only thing i dont like is my blackberry 8830 has about 750 megs of mp3's that i cant listen too with the q2 since the q2 does not support a2dp which is required to listen to mp3's

and sometimes the fm rx on the q2 is not the greatest out in the boonys

Actually...I have been able to use the Q2 as a BT headset piping my MP3s from my Macbook Pro. It's not great quality, but it does work. One thing that aggrevates me is that I'll have the FM running on low volume and a call comes in...I have to reach up and raise the volume to take the call..then I end the call and the FM is like rock concert level....ugh..they need to have 3 volume profiles...one for the FM, one for phone/BT and one for bike to bike. Aside from that...I'm very pleased.

[Bob Payne]

Actually...I have been able to use the Q2 as a BT headset piping my MP3s from my Macbook Pro. It's not great quality, but it does work. One thing that aggrevates me is that I'll have the FM running on low volume and a call comes in...I have to reach up and raise the volume to take the call..then I end the call and the FM is like rock concert level....ugh..they need to have 3 volume profiles...one for the FM, one for phone/BT and one for bike to bike. Aside from that...I'm very pleased.

Macbook Pro that must take a hell of a ram mount - yea i agree on the volume profiles also.

[AV8R]

Macbook Pro that must take a hell of a ram mount - yea i agree on the volume profiles also.

Heehehe..funny....

[Toolman]

I've been using the Q2 for about 4 weeks now. My wife rides too and it works communicating with her. I have it linked to my Zumo 550 gps also and it works great. I can't use my phone with the Zumo, but that is a software issue with the Zumo. Garmin is working on updating their software so that it will work with my phone. But in the mean time the phone works great directly with the headset.

[X-man]

Hey guys,
Check out the Baehr units.
They're probably a bit heavy on the dollars but they do a great job.
I was planning on going bluetooth until I found out that there is no single "protocol" for bluetooth, so while one b/t unit might work just fine another may not work at all. I could never even get my phone headset to talk to my phone for more than a couple of minutes.
That's the price of being an early adopter (few years ago)...you take the chances that it's actually going to work!!! Nowadays things may be different, but even the manufacturers are saying that bluetooth is not a particularly good option because of its limited range and inconsistent behaviour. The damn things aren't even plug and play like most other technologies!! Pairing and discoverable, please...go figure!!!
The small Baehr Active unit hard wires into the bike and comes with 2 sets of speakers and mikes.
I am going to hard wire my GPS unit to it via the headphone output and will set up three permanent sockets, probably on the toolkit stowage cover (VTX1300S).
That way I can just plug in my mini mp3 player and the one or two helmet headphones and off we go. When the GPS wants to tell me where to go (literally) it fades out the mp3 and then reactivates the mp3 when it's finished. Forget the phone...I don't need it...nothing is that important...for me !!!
cheers
thommo

[AV8R]

Hey guys,
Check out the Baehr units.
They're probably a bit heavy on the dollars but they do a great job.
I was planning on going bluetooth until I found out that there is no single "protocol" for bluetooth, so while one b/t unit might work just fine another may not work at all.
thommo
Not really accurate. Since ver 1.1, BT it has been a ratified IEEE standard and all subsequent versions are backward compatible. The only versions that had interoperablilty issues were 1.0 and 1.0B and that was long ago.

The only thing I can think of that you may have "heard of" is the new A2DT protocol which is for stereo BT which isn't an issue for communicators.

Bluetooth works and IMO is much better than cables and cords! As far as the other functions you mentioned, they're pretty standard on most devices these days.

[FuzzFace]

I tried the Scala Teamset, and the only real problem was my wife couldn't remember how to switch on the intercom modes from hers. It worked great for bluetooth phone use. Now I need to get rid of it and try something with the controls on MY unit, like the J&M intercom or similar.

If you know someone who wants to try one of these, tell them I'll take $100 for the set, plus shipping (should be real cheap to ship...it weighs almost nothing).

If I need to move this to the For sale page, let me know, OK?

Thanks,
FuzzFace
:hmm2:

[AV8R]

I tried the Scala Teamset, and the only real problem was my wife couldn't remember how to switch on the intercom modes from hers. It worked great for bluetooth phone use. Now I need to get rid of it and try something with the controls on MY unit, like the J&M intercom or similar.

If you know someone who wants to try one of these, tell them I'll take $100 for the set, plus shipping (should be real cheap to ship...it weighs almost nothing).

If I need to move this to the For sale page, let me know, OK?

Thanks,
FuzzFace
:hmm2:

So you have to touch a button to use the intercom with the Teamset? The Q2 just works using VOX so when you speak it opens the connection automatically.

[woof359]

Had The Chance To Talk To This Guy In My Club This Week End Cause He Has A Goldwing And On Board Comm System, He Told Me His Last Bike They Just Used The Helmet To Helmet System With A Wire That Connected From One Bucket To The Other And Said The Wind Made It Cut Out All The Time, Interesting......

[FuzzFace]

AV8R, you can set Teamset up to either be on all the time (getting some background noise) or VOX. The mode change is initiated on the passenger unit. Any cellphone action is initiated on the Rider unit, but once the connection is made, the passenger can participate in the conversation.

Since the units are rechargable, the battery life suffers if you leave the intercom on all the time (VOx off). Other problem I had was that my bike is apparently too quiet! I tried checking out the system between helmets in my living room, and the sound was very quiet. I sent Scala an email, and they said the volume is automatic based on background noise. I run stock pipes and a full helmet, and the volume was too low for me. When my wifey had problems with the 2-button controls, I said "guess I'll try something else!"

Moving on.........

Fuzzface:(

[Beartooth]

I just got the BlueAnt (interphone motorcycle kit) bluetooth system. I've used it a couple of time and it works great. My wife and I used it this last week and was able to talk up to 80 mph without any problems (we both have open face helmets with face shields). There is a "high" volume setting you can use if you need it. It was pretty loud when I set it that way and I had to turn it down. There is a up volume button and a down button. You pair it to you phone and can voice answer and voice dial if your phone will is able to do it. It was pretty easy to set up. A friend and I used it bike to bike. It advertises a range of 499 feet (?). It seemed to work every bit of that. We rode all day and had no problems (I think it has a 10 hour talk time). It is a line of sight thing though (we would lose contact when going around sharp curves and couldn't see each other). We did get seperated by cars a few times and had no problems.
The only problem I've had (which isn't really a problem with me) is voice dialing. I don't plan on using it but I did try it to see if it would work. It worked good a few times but other times I couldn't get it to dial. The voice answer works great and I have had no problems.
The other thing that I wish it had was a plug for MP3 player. It doesn't support it. If you had a GPS or something that does do MP3 or sat. radio you might be able to get music that way.
The two units were around $200 dollar total. I've been real pleased with them so far. Check out their site....Hope this helps.

http://www.myblueant.com/interphone-motorbike-helmet-kit.htm

[Dapper]

Doesn't Scala rider ship with the Tom Tom GPS unit? Can anyone post which Scala unit is shipped with the Tom Tom?

[WantaVTX2]

Guys, what do you recommend for a group that rides together (up to 12 guys) that want to communicate with each other? We are going on a 5 day long distance trip and want to be able to communicate. Really appreciate you sharing your findings.

[AV8R]

Guys, what do you recommend for a group that rides together (up to 12 guys) that want to communicate with each other? We are going on a 5 day long distance trip and want to be able to communicate. Really appreciate you sharing your findings.

You're going to need something like FRS radios or CB with that many people. Some of the stuff from Collett or Chatterbox will support multiple units while units like the Scala will only allow a max of 3 units talking to each other.

[WantaVTX2]

Thanks av8r. Do you know if the frs support headsets? Seem like a cheap way to go if you can actually hear them while riding.

[AV8R]

Thanks av8r. Do you know if the frs support headsets? Seem like a cheap way to go if you can actually hear them while riding.

Ya...there are tons of options:

http://www.planetheadset.com/frs-accessories.php

http://www.clearercom.com/motorsports.htm

look around and you'll find a lot more.