| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
I was looking at the Autocom. I see some folks have reported some problems and it appears there is a "next generation" in the works. Has anyone tried the Baehr units? | ||
| Rwven |
I'm quite satisfied with my StarCom Advance. And it's priced lower than AutoCom or Baehr. | ||
| Court |
The reports I've seen about the StarCom all seem good. | ||
| Muppet |
Starcom linked to my Zumo 550 works great. Better than the Autocom unit I had before. Definitely the way to go. | ||
| Seanp |
I have an Autocom and have had absolutely no problems with it. It's been great for a couple thousand two-up miles, as well as ten or twelve thousand single miles. I listen to music through my Zumo 550 every day when I ride to school. I have also heard rumors that there is a new generation Autocom coming, but I haven't seen anything official. The US dealer was great to work with, and when I called to find out what parts I'd need to order the tech I talked to was really helpful. | ||
| Wbrisett |
I looked at the Baehr units. They are sweet, but the cost scared me away. I ended up buying a starcom and haven't looked back. Wayne | ||
| Buellhusker |
Court I have an Autocom perminately mounted on my K1200LT and I have another unit mounted in a tank bag that I move between my S1WL, CR and Uly. I have both of the Autocom units set up for radio/MP3 input cell phone input, GPS input bike to bike GMRS input and of course rider to passenger communications. I have never had any problems with either unit & I have 98,000 miles on the K1200LT and I have been moving the other unit between bikes for three years with no problem. The only thing I have to move other than the tank bag is the push to talk button from bike to bike but I just leave the wire ties in place on each bike and push the switch housing under the wire ties with a small screwdriver. I also have the GPS mounted to the front of the tank bag so when I park the bike it all goes either in the trunk or in the house with me. | ||
| Seanp |
Buellhusker - I also have an Autocom hardwired, but on my Uly. Is the one that you have that's transferable from one bike to another just as good as the hardwired one? I'm thinking of getting a new bike, but the wife wants to know that we can talk on that one like we can on the Uly, so I was thinking about getting just the battery-powered box so we can use it on the new bike with the speakers and stuff already in our helmets. And then if we take a bike tour somewhere on a rented bike, we can use the Autocom there too. I'm just worried that we'll be spoiled after using the hardwired unit, (I forgot which one I got, but I think it was the top of the line a year ago). Thanks. | ||
| Wbrisett |
Seanp - Have you thought about making some quick disconnects? If you did that, you could make it so even with a hardwired box, you could move it from bike to bike. I was doing that when I had to send one of my Starcom units back for repair (one of the sockets broke). I have also done the same thing for the Bluetooth module. That way regardless of which bike I'm on, I can move the BT unit to that Starcom unit. When you make quick disconnects, you should use disconnects that can withstand the abuse. Something like this: http://www.altex.com/2-Position-Flat-Automotive-Ha rness-65-1602-P145652.aspx Wayne | ||
| Seanp |
Wayne, The unit I bought is only bike-powered and not battery-powered, so if we ended up taking it with us on a tour with a rental bike, I doubt they'd want me fiddling with trying to hook my intercom to their bike's battery. Autocom sells the battery-powered base unit for $159 so it's not that much just to get the mux/demux box. | ||
| Hootis29 |
I really like my J&M CB set-up. I have CB (dont use much) XM, radar det. & phone. | ||
| Armymedic |
I just bought an Autocom system off eBay in the UK for over $100 cheaper than here in the states. Looks like they are selling out the older units for the next gen coming out. I have mine hardwired in and so far so good. I don't use the phone with it, instead I have my GPS and Ipod running through it. Sound between passenger and rider is excellent. The only thing I don't like is the cost for the cord if I want to hook it up to a radio for bike to bike. My system is the Active Rider Plus Duo. | ||
| Pso |
I have autocom, with radar detector, xm radio, gps, cb and bike to passenger. No problems. I am trying to get the folks I ride with to change to fm radios instead of cb's for range and clarity, but no problem with autocom, other than the push to talk button is not easy to take off. | ||
| Rwven |
Pso, +1 on ditching th CB's, I have the same issue with the folks I ride with. | ||
| Buellhusker |
Seanp, I have the portable AutoCom stuffed in the little Buell bag that goes on the handle bars of the Uly so it is a little cleaner in the excess wire department and when I use it on the S1 or the CR I just put that handle bar bag in the tank bag. I have a long power cord so I can plug in the power on any of my bikes, I use the same power outlet as I use for the battery tender. And YES the portable one works just as good as the perminantly mounted one, the only thing you have to pay attention to is to the adjustment of the VOX setting for passenger to pilot communcations as not all bikes have the same wind protection for the riders and the wind noise may trigger the VOX. I like to listen to audio books when I travel and I have usually have from 5 to 10 books loaded on my 8 GIG Sony MP3 player that I can choose from along with 600 or so songs (50's & 60's music). When I ride the S1WL or the CR which have no windshiels to speak of at all I use a BOOSTEROO to increase the output of the Sony MPS player so I can hear it over the wind noise and I usually have ear pluggs in also. The passenger to pilot and telephone and GPS audio level is no problem just the Sony MP3 player I have. I also have a little portable AM-FM radio that I use in place of the MP3 player at times, and the Sony MP3 player has a FM radio built in also. I have the GPS & radio/MP3 player plugged in the same port on the AutoCom so I built a small 1:1 isolation transformer into the audio cord of the GPS so to eliminate any potential problems with a ground loop between the GPS & the AutoCom since thay are both using the bikes 12 volt as a power source, I also use this audio cord isolation setup on the perminent mounted AutoCom. | ||
| Armymedic |
I have the GPS & radio/MP3 player plugged in the same port on the AutoCom so I built a small 1:1 isolation transformer into the audio cord of the GPS so to eliminate any potential problems with a ground loop between the GPS & the AutoCom since thay are both using the bikes 12 volt as a power source, I also use this audio cord isolation setup on the perminent mounted AutoCom. Ah ha! that's why since I added the Autocom to the powerpanel I no longer have GPS sound. Can you explain or maybe post a pic of this 'isolation transformer' please. Til then I've gone back to 9V power. | ||
| Seanp |
Buellhusker - thanks for the info about the portable Autocom. |
