Cheap Full duplex headsets

[kevingrahambutler]

I no you can't beat the named brands for helmet coms but sometime its a pain to swap them around to other lids, if you are like me I do road and off road, got a few lids so I've tried one or two of the cheap blue tooth coms, don't get me wrong here, they do what it says on the tin but it's the conversation you have with your partner on the back or your ride buddy you have too push buttons one can speak other shuts up then push a button to goes back to navigation or what ever blar blar blar,,,,,,,

I found these on eBay v4 they are full duplex so I bought two units but went direct to the company and payed £95 including delivery, but I got collard with import vat £16 buggar, still cheaper than buying on eBay

The distance is around 1200 metres great to tell the misses sitting on the bike when I go to pay for fuel that I've forgot my money, it has a radio built in, with it been duplex you can talk the same time, batteries last about 8 hours continue 3 days or so stand buy, waterproof.

I have just install them so when I've had a chance to field test the units I'll report back,

 

[Popell]

you've done it now, but another option would have been to buy a sena smh10 and then a couple of alternative base plates, one for each helmet. That way you move the module to the helmet of choice for that day. No problem with having lots of different bt pairings etc.
I would be interested in a performance review of the units that you have purchased though - may be useful for others.

I bought the aforementioned Sena SMH 10 and have just been told that the latest firmware allows bt connection to other makes of intercom - that's a step in the right direction then!

 

[mpgscott]

Be good to know if these will work with a phone to make and receive calls, also be keen to hear how decent they are?

 

[kevingrahambutler]

Finally got to try these out the weekend, I like them very much, I wanted to put some air in the tyres so I sent the misses in to the shop too get a token, when I went over to the pump I realised I needed twenty pence, I was able to tell her before she came back, also told her when she was at the counter she had a nice arse in the bike gear, she burst out laughing, the guy was a bit taken back. Lasted two days on one charge, they worked well upto about 55 mph at about 70 we can here if we spoke clear, then I realised she had it to close to her mouth, it paired with my iPhone no problem I didn't take any calls so can't comment on the quality of that, we were speaking all day on the bike and that worked well, I used the built in radio it was ok lost the signal a few time push the button and it tuned in to another station so that was fine, the next day I tried it with my garmin 2610 now this is not Bluetooth so what I did was I plugged a small Bluetooth transmitter into the audio lead out then this transmitted Bluetooth to my unit, this worked very well, they was a few to choose from on eBay but I went for the one that lasts upto 10 hours and it lasted all day also bought it from British seller just in case of any problems cost £19 model layen bst Bluetooth audio transmitter, it's about halve the size of a credit card not waterproof so I put it into a zipper bag in case of rain, it's very light

 

[Shunt]

Nice to know cheers. Tempted to get a pair for our little trip to Scotland next month

 

[Bumpkin]

Wondering if you have to press buttons to swap between GPS, pillion comms, Bike-to-Bike etc. This, and the proprietary Bike-to-Bike comms, is the killer for me. Will also be interested in the Rosetta stone that is the 'Sena talks to other systems' claim.

Will stick with Autocom and PMR for the time being, works and works well despite the wires.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

I've used autocom for years, leads are now becoming a thing of the past, looking at simple options rather than wiring in a autocom on four bikes, not sure if this is the best option, it works for me at the moment and it's not breaking the bank

 

[kevingrahambutler]

I thought I would take the GSA over to the lakes with my friend hutchy, I plugged in a Bluetooth transmitter in to my garmin 2610 then paired it with the v4, it worked perfectly. My only complaint was it was to loud so I had to turn it down
I'm planing a ride with hutchy next weekend then we plan to pair them on individual bikes to see how these work before our Ireland trip in two weeks, the system has a range of 1200 mtrs.

Upto now I'm impressed with these little units it's looking like a £100 we'll spent for the two,

I've only charge once and I've used them now for almost three days

 

[Outsider]

I've only charge once and I've used them now for almost three days

I'm assume that's 3 days of intermittent intercom/Nav use, not streaming music the whole time? Just curious.
Keep the updates coming sup:


- Outsider
Via Tapatalk on iPhone.

 

[Gazzabart]

that looks good

 

[Bumpkin]

Still left wondering about how these handle switching between devices and bike-to-bike? For example a connection to your sat nav giving directions is active, your riding buddy tries to speak to you. Does your headset mute, or semi mute, the directions and automatically bring the other riders voice into your ears. Conversation over, does the connection to your sat nav then continue?

My indirect experience with an Interphone f4 combined with their Tribe radio was very disappointing. One of the biggest gripes was that I had to get the attention of the other rider and signal that I wanted to communicate with him. There were other crippling inadequacies but this was the killer. The advertising for the Tribe had it pitched as the ultimate solution for bike-to-bike, Chainspeed, to their credit, took it back after a European tour with a full refund. We did spend some time calling them from Germany trying get them to find a fix, there wasn't one...

My Autocom handles everything without user interaction*, logically switching between devices; sat nav, phone and PMR. *Admittedly the PMR does need PTT to work well though VOX is an option but PTT is better.

Autocom or Starcom systems are admittedly an investment. However, buying used and the price becomes comparable with a high end BT headset. Added advantages are; that being modular any failures are relatively cheap & easy to repair, upgrade any components and you can sell the old ones, the reliability & robustness of my 6 year old Autocom has been exemplary. IMHO the wired Headset connection issue is offset by everything being bike powered.

All that having been said, if a pair of these reasonably priced BT systems does seamlessly switch between sat nav and bike-to-bike I can see me and the friend I'm off to the Pyrenees with in June buying a set.

Hopefully the range estimates aren't as ambitious as consumer PMR radios where achieving the sorts of ranges they quote isn't possible in the real world.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[kevingrahambutler]

I'll be testing this on my Ireland trip with hutchy in two weeks, so be testing bike to bike.

I typed a full report few days ago then when I went to post it,,,,,it timed out so ill do it when I can work out how this mini ipad works,

 

[Bumpkin]

I'll be testing this on my Ireland trip with hutchy in two weeks, so be testing bike to bike.

I typed a full report few days ago then when I went to post it,,,,,it timed out so ill do it when I can work out how this mini ipad works,

Cool, thanks. Will wait and read your report when you post it.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

Back from Ireland,,,,, I will be posting my finding on the duplex bluetooth units, I'll try get it done in the next two day

 

[Bumpkin]

Great, thanks, will look forward to that

 

[kevingrahambutler]

The day before the trip to Ireland we both charged the units this only takes about two to three hours, it lets you know when they are fully charged as the lights go out I think is a nice little fetcher, to start we paired the units three days before hand so when we meet up on route the units pair soon as we switched them on,
On route I spoke to G all day from Middleton on tees to Stranraer then switched them off on the ferry, as we got off we switch them back on but I paired it with the navigation to take us to our accommodation, on our way there my sat nav decided to act up so I was blaming the Bluetooth unit started pressing buttons but it was the navigation unit,

The next day I think I must have did something to the unit and reset it, pressing all the bottoms when I should have left it alone, as I couldn't pair the units and we were trying to leave for our day ride, so all day when we stopped I was trying to pair the units, unsuccessfully....the Bluetooth and radio worked fine it was pairing the two units.
That night I got the instructions out, got the two units and paired them strait away I was doing it wrong, so not a good day for me with the units,
The third day we had the units paired up on the way back home they worked perfectly, buy this time we both new how the units worked we were very happy with them very much so the Russell has decided to got a unit as we can pair four units together.

Distance wise if we had each other in sight it worked great about 1200 to 1500 metres, if G was about 1000 metres he went over a hill it would come distorted, if G pulled away and we got held up we lost a signal, soon as we came back into range the unit bleeped we were paired again,

The unit can only do one thing at a time,,,, it will give direction from the sat nav if you need to speak to another person you will need to push the button once, then you are in communication at once, speak for as long as you wish then push a button again back to navigation, same with the radio this worked fine but needed tuning in as you traveled this was quite easy as you push one button to retune,
It came though in stereo, at speed it work nice and clear at 50 it was a little worse at 60 still clear, we had a conversation at 70, I could still understand him at 80 sometimes asking to repeat as the wind was a factor at that speed,
The volume was very good, we had too turn this down
Didn't try it any faster,,,,lol,,,,

My unit lasted two and a halve days with a full charge

With summer gloves the buttons are easy to find as you use the unit you get too know where the buttons are, I found the buttons easy to locate,

I road back with my winter gloves this was a little more difficult,

If you push the wrong button the worst you can do is switch the unit off, switch it back on it auto pairs with every thing so there's no panic.

The cables look and feel good not thin, I was riding all day in showers the unit worked well

For the two units I payed £110 ish on eBay for a single unit they are about £65
They do set of four for £250
This is the link
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycl...84?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item2ec7381048

I'm very happy with the units, I know you need to bush buttons to take you to different things the unit dose but for the cost this is very good value for little money,
Would I buy this item again,,,,,,,yes I would,,,,, I've spoken to the guys in the local Trf they have decided to buy these.

I hope I've covered all the questions I've been getting regarding the v4

 

[Bumpkin]

Thank you for your comprehensive report

The unit can only do one thing at a time,,,, it will give direction from the sat nav if you need to speak to another person you will need to push the button once, then you are in communication at once, speak for as long as you wish then push a button again back to navigation, same with the radio

Sorry, but that's a deal breaker for me. That's unless the reception of an incoming bike-to-bike communication automatically switches the recipient/s headsets from whatever they are currently connected to to bike-to-bike receive mode. Say for example your riding buddy is listening to music or his sat nav. You press the button for bike-to-bike and start talking, his headset then recognises the incoming connection and either audibly alerts your buddy, so he can manually switch to bike-to-bike mode, or automatically switches over so he can hear you. If it does do this then that brings it back into contention.

The idea of having to wave, beep horns or whatever to attract attention, point to the side of your helmet or similar so you can communicate totally defeats the object IMHO. This is what we were stuck with when trying to use the Interphone f4 + Tribe and my Autocom + PMR set-up, I could always hear him over any input I had going on, to get him to switch to PMR so we could communicate though was very frustrating. Prior to bike-to-bike comms we managed fairly well using hand signals with gestures to signify "I need a wee", "I need to fill up in x miles" (x being multiples of 10 up to 50), "I'm hungry" etc. All worked well but relied on line of sight and relatively close proximity.

This looks like the same thing, only cheaper, this one cheaper still Range claims vary between 1200 and 1000m. Also, reading the somewhat vague instructions it seems that you can only talk one rider to another rather than as a group... you need to switch between riders and speak to each individually...

Thanks gain for taking the time to write up your experiences.

 

[kevingrahambutler]

Ok plan English if you push the button to connect to other rider or riders up to 4 then what ever the other riders is listening to sat nav, music, your unit will cut in,,,,
Any one of the riders can do the samething,,,,,

Hope this is the awnser you are looking for

 

[kevingrahambutler]

This looks like the same thing, only cheaper, this one cheaper still Range claims vary between 1200 and 1000m. Also, reading the somewhat vague instructions it seems that you can only talk one rider to another rather than as a group... you need to switch between riders and speak to each individually...

Thanks gain for taking the time to write up your experiences.[/QUOTE]


I was looking at the cheaper units but 7 hours battery life was a bit concerning so I went for the other units, as I've used them and I know for sure the battery will last for at least 2 days, I've had 2.5 days may last longer, I'm very happy with what I got,

But they are all ways a cheaper options especially from the Chinese,,,little buggers,,,,,
Next week they will be £20 ones if you hang on

 

[Bumpkin]

Ok plan English if you push the button to connect to other rider or riders up to 4 then what ever the other riders is listening to sat nav, music, your unit will cut in,,,,
Any one of the riders can do the samething,,,,,

Hope this is the awnser you are looking for

OK, that's good news. Yes the answer I was looking for.

I was looking at the cheaper units but 7 hours battery life was a bit concerning so I went for the other units, as I've used them and I know for sure the battery will last for at least 2 days, I've had 2.5 days may last longer, I'm very happy with what I got,

But they are all ways a cheaper options especially from the Chinese,,,little buggers,,,,,
Next week they will be £20 ones if you hang on

That's just it, I don't know if the eBay ones are from the same manufacturer (i.e. factory) as yours, looks like it but quite frankly who knows. Virtually everything like this will be made in the far east these days anyway. How were the instructions on yours? Written as if English was the authors mother tongue or a poor translation?

The version I linked to lacks FM, no great hardship as this is mainly for use abroad and I have MP3 on the sat nav anyway. Yours does seem capable of communicating between a group of 4 riders at the same time, the 6Riders version seems to infer that it will only do one at a time but a total of 6 in the group... Just found a listing from your supplier, he sells both models amongst the bewildering array of others. Yours says this as part of the description > "The importantest feature is that this V4 can make 4 riders talk and hear at the same time, don't need switch, besides, it has the FM raido." and it's more expensive, so that does seem to be the one for bigger groups. Having said that we're touring as a pair, the other guys normally I ride with that have comms kit run Autocom and PMR as I already do. Decisions, decisions...

The claims from vendors over things like range, battery capacity etc. are always somewhat open to interpretation.

I have a few Puxing radios and the quality is certainly up to the job, they were shipped from China and certainly made there.

I'll have a chat with my touring buddy and see if he wants to take the plunge and replace his Interphone f4. I think I might already know the answer to that though...