Need help with Motorcycle Headsets

[Lt247]

Hey guys,

me and a buddy are new to the art of motorcycle riding.
we are taking our safety course through Fleet Safety. and so far its been great ( minus the weather >.< stupid delays)

Me and a buddy are purchasing a couple sport bikes, and we were looking for a couple things.. which so far from calling around the city i have been unable to get sufficient information on.

we are looking at trying to buy a headset for our helmets, headphones/ microphone style. we have closed face shoei helmets.

The purpose being
1) talk to each other, bike to bike, maybe push to talk?
not just short range like 5 meters,, but maybe like 100 meters type thing. similar to a CB.
2) some of the bluetooth ones allow cellphone communication.
3) something that would be compatible with lets say a Ipod. down the road when we have more experience.

we were preferably trying to find something with those helmet headphones, rather then earbuds.

I saw the J&M bluetooth headset however it had no bike to bike communications which was our main goal.


any help would be great!

thanks guy

[SportTwin]

There are lots of options out there. The one I'm currently using is the Chatterbox FRS X2 Communicator (http://www.epinions.com/reviews/Chatterbox_Chatterbox_FRS_X2_Communicator_2_mi_Range) .

Pros:
2 inputs Aux and Audio for cel phone and iPod
1 passenger a second headset for a passenger
PTT switch and Vox control - your choice.
Clips right onto your helmet (less wires to run)

Cons:
Custom rechargable battery - if it dies you have to by another specialty battery unless you want to fabricate one.
Pass through on iPod audio isn't great - introduces background hiss - not bad if you're using the stock headset since you'll still have engine noise and hardly tell.
uses PS2 (like a keyboard or mouse) connectors for audio which are non-standard (but easy to find) if you want to build a wiring harness
Headphones offer ZERO sound isolation to outside sounds (ie: engine noise) so you'll be relying on your helmet to offer the noise reduction.

I've never used this in the city, only on the highway. I haven't tried the PTT switch on the road or the cel phone option - who wants to talk on a cel when you're riding? I resolved most of the headphone sound isolation issues by building a wiring harness with a headphone connector for my Etymodic ER6i headphones which works great. The only complaint I have besides that is that now I can hear the background hiss introduced by the communicator while I listen to my iPod.

It works fine with other FRS radios - I use two off the shelf Motorola FRS radios and they work great. I've tested them up to about 1km apart and they still seemed to work fine, but nothing past that (I was in the mountains at the time so 1km was pretty good for the situation).

I suppose I'd give it a 7 out of 10 overall. Functional, but not perfect. If I could find one that provided a higher quality sound and bluetooth (and get a bluetooth audio transmitter that fit my iPod nicely) I probably would.

On a side note:
If you are using an iPod, one of the major problems is controlling it to skip songs, adjust the volume, etc.
I have an Airclick (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/airclick) that works great but they have been discontinued so good luck finding one. :dunno: YMMV

I've also got a cheap replacement from Princess Auto: a Maxel P-21 RF Remote (http://www.amazon.com/Maxell-P-21-Portable-Remote-Control/dp/B000FCP51W) with a velcro strap for $15.connect it to your 30pin iPod connector and you can leave your iPod inside your jacket and still have full control of your music. :thumbsup: