BMW Motorrad communication system

[Dick'o]

Any feedback yet?? Seems a bit quite on here, or is everybody saving up for it first!

Just picked up a System 6 yesterday and I am seriously considering swapping my autocom set up for the bluetooth kit.

 

[karlp]

Any feedback yet?? Seems a bit quite on here, or is everybody saving up for it first!

Just picked up a System 6 yesterday and I am seriously considering swapping my autocom set up for the bluetooth kit.

I have this in my helmet.

good battery life - approx 10hrs.
connects to satnav for music and vav commands.
will connect to another helmet.

I have soldered in leads for ultimate ears as well as in in helmet speakers.

I usually ride solo 99.9% of time so do not connect to passenger that often.

Drawbacks

no bike to bike radio.

helmet can only connect to another helmet or music not both at the same time

 

[Dick'o]

More Questions than answers!!

I have soldered in leads for ultimate ears as well as in in helmet speakers.

As a user of ultimate ears myself, this interests me. Did you just simply break into the helmet speaker cabling and solder the connections in parallel doing away with the 3.5mm jack? I wear moulded earplugs when riding as I could never get the autocom loud enough with earplugs in, hence why I stumped up for the monitors, ouch!

Personally I find that the system 6 is a lot quieter than my old tour x2 and so I am surprised and a little disappointed that you felt it necessary to have to use the ultimate ears, I was hoping that the helmet would be good enough on its own to just allow you to slot the new speakers in and work adequately even at speed.

no bike to bike radio.

Presume that if a mate had the same set up, then you could link the pair ok? with the obvious distance limitations that bluetooth has.

helmet can only connect to another helmet or music not both at the same time

Do you mean that the system will switch off music whilst talking between rider/pillion and then return to music when quiet? I thought that the system could pair with up to 4 devices.

My biggest question though is "does it actually work in the real world?" And would you buy it again given the choice having now used it in anger.

Thanks for your reply..

Dick'o

 

[karlp]

I located the wires from the unit to the speakers. red , white and a common black for the shield. i just cut the wires and then solders 3 together.(the two from 'cut' and one from the ultimate ears. The shield conly needs to be connected to one of the black wires.

The wind seems to hit me at the helmet so it may be just my problem.

If mate has same system then yes could use bike to bike with distance limitation.

The helmet can be put in music mode or 'passenger' mode. It is my understanding that if in passenger mode then you can talk with the pillion but not hear the music - if in music mode then cannot listen to pillion. (I have not actually tried this but the dealer has described it to me in this fashion),


For me it works very well and yes I would buy it again.

 

[Mick_rw]

Had mine for 3 Months now....

and quite like it, was a bit apprehensive initially as I had BMW's first attemp at Bluetooth with the System 5, which was a total disater.

Volume from the GPS is good but I find the music volume seems to be quieter. Not sure if that is caused by the conversion of CD's to MP3 causing a volume problem....

Not sure about attaching my Ultimate ears as it will affect the Bluetooth warranty if it fails....

 

[modelman]

For comparison - I fitted Interphone F4 to a new Arai Tour X3 this week and to an old Caberg J1 pillion helmet.
One concern was affect this externally mounted device might on quietness - none detected. Intercom sound quality is excellent, bluetooth seems to work really well.
Previously used hard wired Autocom with I-Phone and Zumo 550.

 

[Dick'o]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

Will dig a little deeper and maybe speak to my local dealer first.

Dick'o

 

[Dick'o]

For comparison - I fitted Interphone F4 to a new Arai Tour X3 this week and to an old Caberg J1 pillion helmet.
One concern was affect this externally mounted device might on quietness - none detected. Intercom sound quality is excellent, bluetooth seems to work really well.
Previously used hard wired Autocom with I-Phone and Zumo 550.

Interestingly enough, I was reading about the Interphone on Web Bike world, good review. Multi-function - connection - loudness etc. Only downside to the BMW is the System 6 is custom made for the module and so will sit discreetly in the helmet which is a major plus.

Interphone and some others though prove that the technology can now work if its done properly.

 

[Wassted]

How much?

So what are they aksing for these, I'm picking up a pair of system 6 lids and may order the coms to go with them if the price is not silly.

 

[Dick'o]

So what are they aksing for these, I'm picking up a pair of system 6 lids and may order the coms to go with them if the price is not silly.

£270 - £300 fitted.

 

[Mick_rw]

I located the wires from the unit to the speakers. red , white and a common black for the shield. i just cut the wires and then solders 3 together.(the two from 'cut' and one from the ultimate ears. The shield conly needs to be connected to one of the black wires.
.

Have carried out this operation on my helmet and it works ok except for there being a constant hissing noise when I plug in my Ultimate Ears. Did you have this problem or has anybody else who has done this mod....

TIA....

 

[karlp]

Have carried out this operation on my helmet and it works ok except for there being a constant hissing noise when I plug in my Ultimate Ears. Did you have this problem or has anybody else who has done this mod....

TIA....

The hiss is caused by the difference in impedance between the speakers and the ultimate ears.

You need to add a 100 ohm resistor in each of the positive leads going to the ultimate ears.

Can get these from maplins for about 17p each.