Autocom
Well sorry to say this IS what happened bought 2 x kit 200's with the Kenwood TK-3101 connection lead (yes I know these will not bike power radios) Was told by the person who sold it to us that the radio can not be bike powered for the reason I put above, the only option was to solder the wires (should have said the guy did say it was not advisable but the only option to bike power) IF we had known that the radios could be bike powered we would more than likely have bought the next model up and gone down the bike powered route. If this, as you say is incorrect information, then the guy needs a kick in the bum, not only did it mean that we did not buy the "bigger" system but did consider not buying them at all. This is not what I would consider good service/ information, maybe he just wanted to sell us a pair of 3201's which he kept saying were so much better than the 3101's !?
Dont know the guys name but he demonstrated the system on the Autocom stand and told us about the options we even had a bit of an argument about the range of the 3101's which he found hard to believe until another gentleman also on the stand came over and said that he also got very good range off his 3101 but he had it mounted under the seat with a small hole drilled in the bike to allow the arial to poke out for better reception.
So in the end: -
We were given the wrong information, not just not given the option but told it can not be done.
Ended up buying a kit which did not do what we wanted it to do.
Feel quite annoyed that we go direct to the Autocom stand as dealing with the makers own staff you should get the best advice rather than buying from a third party.
Trawling though the internet making loads of phone calls to such as Maplins, kenwood to find a "mains" powered option.
Buying an item (very good and does what it should do) from ebay after a lot of searching.
Autocom very good bit of kit, the guy on the stand at the NEC bike show Very poor service and information.