Intercom Systems...

[chevok]

Has anyone had any experience (good and/or bad) with intercom & bike-to-bike systems? I've been tempted with the Chatterbox but the price has been keeping me from jumping in... Thanks!!!!

[sr71cbx]

chevok,

My turbo '79 makes it hard to hear anything but the unearthly shriek from the turbine dump tube............ ........an intercom system would be out of the question for me.......... :)

--Check with some aftermarket companies such as Dennis kirk or others for a good intercom system,they may be able to help you choose a good system.

[Mike Barone #123]

i have had experience with two of the light weight rider to passenger chatterbox units and it was not good. could not hear anything above 60 mph and both failed



moved on up to autocom euro modular unit (rider to passenger base with bike to bike add on option). better than econo chatterbox but it was expensive and with no volume control we still were not getting the results that come stock on gold wings on rider to passenger talk. did not install the bike to bike module



the autocom has the additional disadvantage of having to be wired into the bikes wiring so you cant use it on another bike you own or if you trade bikes for weekend.



>>>>



i have friends that have had the chatterbox bike to bike units over years and there have been alot of reliability and performance problems, but the newer units do seem to be getting improved/good reports at the rallies



if you spring for a chatterbox i would recommend buying your unit(s) direct from chatterbox ...paying a bit more....but this way you wont have a problem returning it if you are not happy or it breaks (they took back both of our units after the warranty expired) and issued prompt credits vs if you buy from discount accessory shops returns can be a problem. check out the warranty also. this was 3 years ago



finalllllly, if you want to call or e a few people that have the new chatterbox bike to bike units email me and i will send you their phone and email addresses



hope this helps





mike

e = team222@paonline.com

[Peter Hoyles]

My friend Craig and I thought it would be cool to talk on our trips, so we got the Chatterbox Multi-Sport units each. Out of the boxes, one unit failed to work at all, so it was sent back, and since it was only a week before the ride we were short of time. Chatterbox came through and shipped a unit right away on a credit card number, then to get refunded when they received our defective one.

The new one worked better than the one we had not exchanged, the sound quality was distinctly better. We wished we had sent them both back, but were out of time so we went with what we had. The headsets were quite good and fitted into our full-face helmets with a little fiddling with wires.

On the road we had lots of trouble finding a 'right' setting on the auto VOX control, it was always not sensitive enough in traffic and we'd have to shout and then coming on all the time when the wind gets onto our helmets. We tried the manual vox switches, but I found mine hard to reach when in traffic (clutching) and could not find a good place to position it, so I went back to auto, Craig stayed in manual. I got into the habit of adjusting the control up when going fast and down when in traffic, not very convenient!

The covenience of the sets really came out well when I was ahead and took a wrong turn. I told Craig of my error and there was still time for him to make the correct turn, and we stayed in contact until I finished my diversion and we met up again at a chosen junction down the road. Neither one of us had to stop and wait, or turn around to find the other. This was really a great feature to enable two or more riders to stay together.

We also liked the way we could comment on other drivers, good and bad, and also point out good things to look at on the way, and of course to discuss which turns to take ahead.

The BAD part occurred when we met rain! both our units failed quickly. We turned our units off for the rest of the ride, but left them on our helmets to dry out. Checking them in the hotel room, opening them up we found they are just plain plastic clamshell cases with no sealing and printed-circuit boards with NO weatherproofing whatsoever. They still had water in them even after our drying miles. We laid them open and dried them out in front of the A/C unit over night and they worked again the next day, but how stupid to have a "Multi-Sport" unit that has absolutely no rain proofing or weather protection.

Another point was we got a lot of interference when in town, from other radios crashing in on our earpieces shockingly loudly, seemed like those cell phones with the walkie-talkie feature were the ones busting in, so channel separation is not good with our units.

We will use the units again, they are better than nothing, and since we are now stuck with them, but I hope prospective buyers can read this and know what they are getting into. I have not tried any others, so I cannot recommend any better.

[cb1100f]

My wife and I use the Chatterbox rider to passanger system. We've had great results, and wouldn't ride without it. The only thing I found needed work, was adding a little better windscreen around the mic. That pretty much eliminated any wind noise with the visor down. This unit also allows for portable mp3 or cell phones. Here's my setup. HJ-50 is the unit.