I have Autocom Super Pro Avi intercom, Puxing PMR radio, modified Autocom PTT switch and the Bikers Oracle antenna. All works really well, took a while to get there with other radios and an Autocom Active Plus along the way but very happy with the result. Regularly ride with a mate who has a very similar set-up (but with Kenwood TK3201 PMR) and the comms are great. Real World situation 1-2 miles depending on terrain.
Last summer I went on tour in Europe, with another mate who had just bought an Interphone F4. Bought him a present of a Tribe and gave it to him as we departed. We'd talked about radio comms in the planning stages but it was a matter of priorities of cost for him. With 9 or so days on the road ahead I figured the Tribe would be a good investment and a nice gift for my best mate who I went to kindergarten with...
Well, it was something of a disappointment TBH. In part it highlighted the flawed design of the F4 and mainly drew attention to the fact that the Tribe is somewhat lacking in manual adjust-ability.
Firstly, your experience may differ depending on the way you intend to use the Tribe/F4 and other variables like your helmet, fairing and engine etc...
We made quite a few international calls to the supplier of the kit (we had thankfully bought both the F4 and Tribe from the same source) to try and get advice, they tried including quizing the importer on our behalf.
Failing #1 - Said mate was using the F4 for sat nav from his phone as well as MP3 from the same source on the two motorway days. Like Aux#1 on the Autocoms it appears that this input overrides all others. As a result this pushed radio comms out of the picture unless I attracted his attention and got him to manually switch to PMR. This involved him pressing the button on the F4 four times in succession ISTR. Not sure if other sat nav apps let the audio drop between instructions, not Nokia Ovimaps apparently... There didn't seem to be the option to switch the phone to another input with lower priority that we could find the instructions.
Failing #2 - VOX senstivity settings; there are three to choose from ISTR and none of these prevented engine noise from his, admittedly noisy, 996 Ducati transmitting this to me when he was giving it the berries. Even worse when passing rock faces etc... Not a real problem with our group of two but would become annoying with a bigger group as he could, potentially, be drowning out others. There is no PTT option. We experimented with mic position to no avail.
Failing #3 - Auto volume; supposedly the audio that he could hear would increase with ambient noise. This was sporadic working well occasionally, barely audible at times and it seemed utterly inaudible the majority of the time. This was the most frustrating aspect as the results varied without what appeared to be any reason whatsoever. High speed, low speed etc. I began to suspect that maybe my Tx was maybe at fault until we happened across some other PMR users and, according to my mate, these were the same. The fact that there is no manual override or means to adjust a base level is a glaring omission IMHO. The auto volume on the Super Pro works really well without fuss, why can't the Interphone
On our return the Tribe was returned for assessment by the seller who tried it against another. Both were the same and he admitted that there was an issue and refunded my card in full.
It's a shame as it's a great idea and as they're purportedly sold as products from the same manufacturer you'd expect them to work. When it was working OK range was pretty good and speech clear from my end.
Additionally the Tribe is dedicated to Bluetooth in so much as there's no speaker or mic built in. There is a headset that plugs in available according to the literature though.
Personally, if Bluetooth was a must, I would be looking to buy a Kenwood socket compatible radio and getting
one of these. Far more versatile by the looks of it though I have no direct experience of that product but I have with Wildtalk, the vendor, and it was excellent. If you do go for the Tribe then ensure you get an assurance that you can get your money back if it's not satisfactory. Me? I'm sticking with my old fangled wired set-up.
