| Author | Message | ||
     Daveinm |
Has anyone had any luck with rider to rider communications with a full-face helmet? Four of us just bought the Motocomm MC-552 headsets that plug into our Motorola Talkabouts, but they're horrible. We can't hear a thing unless we're doing 10 mph or less. The speakers that came with the setup suck. We've been talking about cutting the speakers off and splicing in the Sony ear buds (the ones that have the rubber pieces that go in your ear). I use those with my iPod and they work great. It just seems like a hassle to have to do that. Plus it tacks on another $40-$50 to the total cost of the setup, and who knows if it will even work. We're really not sure if it's the speakers, the mic, or the wind in the helmet that make it so difficult to understand what the other person is saying. I've heard that the Chatterbox is good, but it's kind of expensive just to be able to talk to each other. Anyone have any luck with the Chatterbox? Is it worth the money? Are there any other options? | ||
| Captainplanet  |
These are the best as far as I'm concerned. I have the older 900 model wireless. It works perfectly. You get what you pay for with this stuff. http://www.collett.mb.ca/home_main.htm | ||
| Aztec12r |
I've had the chatterbox in the past... LOVED IT.. WAAAAAY loud. I could never keep the volume up all the way even at freeway speeds. If you are listening to music, it will mute it when you talk or someone talks to you. | ||
| Josh_  |
Got any way to use normal headphones with a Chatterbox? The wind noise makes all the difference. I was on a S3T with a good helmet and aftermarket windshield while the wife was on a Blast with a cheap helmet. She could hear me when I was up to about 70MPH. I heard nothing but wind noise if she was over 50MPH. | ||
| Fullpower  |
i use the following signals regularly: 1) point to fuel tank= need fuel 2) rub tummy= need food 3) point at myself, then point straight ahead, and briskly pass other rider= Follow me 4) point vaguely toward rear half of motorcycle,and reduce speed= possible mechanical issue, requiring inspection at earliest convenience. 5) pointing up, and moving finger in a tight circle=warning; police presence any others wish to add to my list please feel free. | ||
| Captainplanet |
We have our Collett headphones permanantly mounted in our helmets. The cord to plug into the main unit just gets shoved between the helmet and the liner when not in use. You can't even tell they are in there. We have loud pipes on both my xb and my wife's blast, and can always hear each other very clearly. We have also tested that 2 mile away claim on the collett, and I have to say that it really does have that kind of range. That comes in real handy when we hit the curves as I generally get pretty far ahead of my wife. I was a little concerned about the collett not having a push to talk feature to override the voice activated feature, but that is not a problem either. | ||
| Reepicheep  |
I have a Collett cell phone adapter (that I don't use), that works so well it's creepy. People on the other end of the conversation have no idea I am on a motorcycle. | ||
| Tank_bueller  |
Any one tried one of these? http://www.clearercom.com/motorcycle_headset.htm seems pretty cool, if it works like it's supposed to. tank | ||
| Fullpower |
you guys are able to hear the electronics while wearing ear plugs? | ||
| Firebolt020283  |
full u were ear plugs while u ride ur bike? i thought that hearing my bike while riding it was one of the great things about it. | ||
| Fullpower |
i wear earplugs while riding anybodies bike, not just my own i already have 40 years worth of hearing loss, wish to minimize further damage. i dont put them in to run across town, but for longer than a 10 minute ride, i prefer to wear the little foam ear plugs. i dont think it is the motorcycle noise that bother me, but the shriek of wind across a full face helmet makes my ears ring after a ride. | ||
| Captainplanet |
Fullpower, I use a shoei helmet that has very little wind noise. I could not believe how much less noisy it is than any other helmet I've owned. It also muffles the sound of my exhaust quite a bit too. | ||
| Fullpower |
hey cap'n. yeah, i wear an RF-1000. before that i had a couple RF700, an RF800, and wife has an RF900 that i have worn a little. they are pretty good lids. | ||
| Jeremyh  |
i am only 27 and i wear earplugs while riding, people don't realize just how noise it really is no matter what helmet you are wearing until 2 decades later they wonder whats up with their hearing. | ||
| Signguyxb12  |
http://www.twacomm.com/Catalog/Dept_ID_548.htm?SID=FNN346QDRVJF9G2UKQKG2908B3496 WW3 my buddy swears by these christmas present for me | ||
| Tsmith4378  |
A buddy of mine an myself have Chatterboxes. LOVE THEM. I can listen to MP3's he can listen to his cd player and we can still talk, and the distance is good at about 2miles. Then I put the race kit on my bike. And the MIC is too sensitive for the noise (music) of the exhuast. Under normal driving conditions though they still work great. | ||
| Josh_ |
cleaercom will have adapters for Chatterboxes out shortly. I'll order two sets and let you know how they work... tho that may need to wait for spring. | ||
| Henrik  |
Earplugs; please keep in mind that hearing damage is cumulative. In other words, whatever runs through your ears throughout the day (and night I guess) all adds to the wear and tear of your hearing. That ringing in your ears in a quiet moment ... that's hearing damage right there. So less noise for longer periods of time is as bad for your hearing as louder noise for short bursts. Motorcycle Consumer News ran a great article awhile ago about just that. The conclusion: if you like hearing (I know I do  ) and would prefer to be able to hear for a long time (I know I do ) Wear Earplugs!!! whenever you ride, long rides, short rides, noisy helmet or not. Some of you may say; Well I've been doing just fine up until now, nothing wrong with my hearing. Yeah, well, the body in general has a great excess capacity for most functions. So in your daily life you will not notice any changes ... Until! said capacity gets "worn down" to the point where you're barely scraping by. Not until *then* do you notice ... and by then it's too late. It's so easy to prevent, and using ear plugs will make you a lot less tired on longer rides as well. A win-win situation as I see it. Henrik (my dad lost some hearing recently due to other illness - please trust me; it sucks, and he struggles, despite newfangled digital hearing aids etc.) | ||
| Bomber  |
my ears ring constantly (no jokes, now), and my high frequency response in my right ear is about half that in the left (the audiologist correctly guess an activity in my wonder years from the data, which had me really jumping out of my shoes -- I wasn't expecting a fortune teller experience) motorcycling has contributed to this loss a fair amount, and this has caused me to wear plug almost all the time (should be all the time, I know) me, I want to be able to appreciate all the sounds around me for as long as I can gear up! including plugs | ||
| Road_thing  |
Bomber: Yup. Me, too. Doc called it "Tinnitus" and did a similar "fortune teller" thing: Dr. (Looking at my audiogram):Hmm, do you do a lot of shooting? Me (Hunter and motorcyclist since early teens, first loader on 3" .50 mount in my Navy days,. and 20 years as a competitive skeet/trap shooter): Um, yeah, how can you tell?" Dr: 'Cause you can't hear ••••! Ear plugs: Good Tinnitus: Bad rt | ||
| Bomber |
SPEAK UP THING -- MY EAR TRUMPET IS AT THE CLEANERS! | ||
| Blublak  |
Years ago, I read an article where they quoted Ted Nugent on the damage he's done to his hearing, he's something like 85% deaf in one ear and the other is almost 50%. He accredited it to loud music, loud engines and guns. I took his advice and despite the ribbing from other musicians, always wore plugs at rehearsals and gigs. For some reason, I've never felt that my bikes were 'that' loud. But I've been thinking, I may need to get another nice set of plugs for riding, since I haven't played with people in years, I don't have the little stock pile of plugs I used to have. Hmmmmmmm... Later, | ||
| Odie  |
In my line of work hearing protection is always being pressed upon everyone and is actually mandatory. It is not the high freq noises that kill your hearing it's the low freq stuff that gets ya. Kinda like guns, helicopters, drag pipes, loud pipes in general, etc. Makes me mad when I see someone (actually hear them first) driving down the road with their monster stereo thumpin' and then you see a few little heads popping around in the back seat. Those kids are going to be so deaf when they get older it makes me sick......Odie (Message edited by odie on December 10, 2004) | ||
| Bomber |
Pete Townsend has been wearing hearing aids for quite some time -- goodness know if Keith Moon would be able to hear a thing, if he'd survived! | ||
| Raraf |
Wusses! I have been to a million metal concerts and if I could run the pipes to my ears I would! I am married. That way I don't have to hear the BnC EVER. Besides I can't wait to get to the age where my kids talk about me like I wasn't in the room and I am right there. "What are we gonna do with pops?" | ||
| Buelliedan  |
My wife and I both have the Collet 900s in our helmets and we absolutely love them! We each have a helmet devoted just to riding with these so we never have to disconnect the system. If riding alone I use a helmet without it. | ||
| Fullpower |
i inquire again: are you guys using your electronic communication equipment WITH earplugs? Are they loud enough to hear with earplugs in? thank you for the info, dean | ||
| Henrik |
I haven't tried any systems *with* earplugs, but I bought an Autocom system, and that is how they recommend using their helmet speakers. They do recommend using plugs with no more than 15 db attenuation. I think you could experiment, trying out different plugs, and find a happy medium. I have a set of molded earplug/speakers. They get uncomfortable after awhile though. Also, the few times I've tried wearing them while riding, the wind pressure on my helmet shifts the helmet enough to change the shape of my ear canal (the outer 1/3 or so), which in turn lets wind and exhaust noise leak through. Not so good. Henrik | ||
| Odie |
I'm NOT selling anything here but the equipment we use in aviation is called C.E.P (Communication Ear Protection) and what it does is incorporate the earplug into the headphone (mostly military applications). Works great and don't know how I operated without them for so long. They will do a little modification for people as far as plug wires go to run the earplugs on different pieces of equipment so you can run it on whatever piece of equipment you want. If anyone is interested I could hook you up with a phone number if desired. Again, I'm NOT selling anything here, I could just connect you with the guys if interested. They are local, friends of mine, and have alot of military contracts so the quality is great....Odie | ||
| Bomber |
I got some custom plug made up at the IMS a few years ago -- and did NOT bring my helmet -- dumb move -- the fit is great topless, but the helmet also changes the shape of the ear canal to the point of discomfort after about 60 mikes -- course, I got ears that should qualify me for the British Royal Family, which may have something to do with it I've had great luck with earbud type speakers -- the attenuate the wind roar, and let me here the signals |
