Helmet Speakers or Earphones

[mrcandyman]

Originally Posted by cyclesinct

almost no company "makes" their entire product. I'm sure Suzuki didn't make all the parts for our bikes, and I know almost no electronics company makes their own pieces. Just about everything you buy was built with pieces from numerous companies. So, I don't see why it wouldn't be considered a blueant product.

Because They did not design or build the product. You're right in saying that a lot of companies sell a product manufactured by somebody else, but in order for it to be their product, they design it, then get 1 or more other company(ies) to make pieces of it or the whole thing. BlueAnt had no part in this product except after a while striking a deal to sell it under their name to gather more sales of it.

I'm in no way saying it's a bad product, I believe it is actually the best product of it's kind, just don't think that the BlueAnt one is any different from any of the others. If you see a cheaper price on one of the others, grab it, it's the same thing.

[Apertureguy]

Originally Posted by OldManOnBike

I started this thread. The plan was that I was going to purchase my first full-face helmet, and I thought it would be nice to be able to listen to music while I rode. I've just received the helmet, a beautiful AGV carbon fiber/kevlar Stealth model, and it's very comfortable to wear. However, I notice that it's near impossible to put on or take off for anyone with ears, so I guess this whole speaker issue is moot.

My wife bought me a few very thin cotton & nylon skull caps. I put one on first to help me get my big Dumbo ears into the helmet.

They work great...plus my hair looks good when I roll into the office after an hour of wearing the helmet.

[womper]

i've been thinking of getting a skullcap/durag... been sweating so much in the full face that my head is always itchy...
thank god for removable panels in the helmet

the only skullcaps i can find around here aren't very good... think polyester type material... meh.
gotta get some cotton ones... maybe i'll just rip up an old t-shirt

[JmalB]

I've got one I use... Don't remember what type. I'll check when I get home.

[RaYcE]

Fair warning, I got my Blueant Interphone installed on my helmet and pairing to my phone was easy however there are problems.

First off the music on my phone (I have a Verizon Voyager that has 4 GB of music on it) will not sync to the interphone, it still wants to play on the phone speakers. I have yet to find any options on how to change this.

Secondly, I don't have an iPod as I despise them but I do have a bluetooth mp3 player made by insignia and for some reason it can not find the interphone. I don't think the interphone is compatible with any other bluetooth audio devices other than iPods. F-in' Apple has screwed me again.

So my review, if you want this for phone it probably works well (haven't actually rode with it yet though - not why I bought it) but if you want to use for music I think it will only work with iPods so keep that in mind.

[womper]

might only work with newer or more common devices... dunno...
probably why i'll stay wired for now...

essentially i want an over the ear sport style earphones, with a detachable mike boom mic and bluetooth that works with my devices...

if i can get that, i'd be fully set

[mrcandyman]

Originally Posted by RaYcE

Fair warning, I got my Blueant Interphone installed on my helmet and pairing to my phone was easy however there are problems.

First off the music on my phone (I have a Verizon Voyager that has 4 GB of music on it) will not sync to the interphone, it still wants to play on the phone speakers. I have yet to find any options on how to change this.

Secondly, I don't have an iPod as I despise them but I do have a bluetooth mp3 player made by insignia and for some reason it can not find the interphone. I don't think the interphone is compatible with any other bluetooth audio devices other than iPods. F-in' Apple has screwed me again.

So my review, if you want this for phone it probably works well (haven't actually rode with it yet though - not why I bought it) but if you want to use for music I think it will only work with iPods so keep that in mind.

Apparently you did not read about it. It DOES NOT support music over bluetooth. This IS NOT a defect. A bit of an annoyance, yes, but it is not supposed to play music over bluetooth. No, it will not work for ipods either (none of which even HAVE bluetooth aside form the iphone, which isn't technically an ipod)

['08-M50 Rider]

Sux that it doesn't work for other people. Like I said before, hands on knowledge only, didn't ready much about it. I can hear anything my phone does including play music but maybe thats rarer.... dunno at all. I'll just STFU from now on...

[mrcandyman]

I didn't see you mention that it does. There are some phones that will bypass the standard system and play music through it anyways because they don't use a setup that detects what is playing on the phone, but you will get a much reduced sound quality, and I don't know where you would even find a list of phones that do that

[cyclesinct]

Well since it doesn't seem like anyone actually uses "helmet speakers" I should have a review soon. I ordered these UNiQ Cycle Sounds : Motorcycle Speakers & Motorcycle Audio Accessories earlier this week. I'm hoping to get them either today or monday. As soon as I've tried them out, I'll post a little review, so people interested in actual helmet speakers will at least get to read about one set.

[RaYcE]

Can't wait for the review ... still disappointed in my last purchase.

[cyclesinct]

As I said before I finally went ahead and ordered the iasus xsound-2 speakers from here UNiQ Cycle Sounds : Motorcycle Speakers & Motorcycle Audio Accessories I was also able to take a nice long ride with them in so I've had plenty of time with them. At the last minute I decided to take my bike on vacation, the trip was a 500 mile round-trip from CT to Lake Champlain in upstate NY (to the guy that lives in Keeseville I'm sorry I never contacted you, it was so last minute I was never near a computer to shoot you a message and I had no Internet where I was staying). So I have an HJC-CL15 full-face helmet. There are little recesses within the helmet near the ears for mounting speakers in the helmet. Not all helmets have these pockets so check before you buy and figure out how you'd mount them. The speakers come with some decent round velcro pieces. I stuck the velcro inside the helmet in front of the fabric that is in the ear pocket. I initially tried just sliding the speakers behind the fabric, but I found that muffled the sound too much, but putting them in front of the fabric helped a lot. Most of what I listened to was spoken word (podcasts) but in the interest of testing I listened to music too. Overall, I was satisfied with the speakers. They aren't the greatest quality when it comes to sound. I would say they are middle of the road when it comes to sound. Not too much bass, and it could get a little tinny (loud guitar parts and high pitched voices) at times. If your mp3 player or whatever you're listening to has a built in equilizer I'd adjust it before taking off. For spoken word they are ok. Some of the voices could be a little difficult to hear, but it depended on the quality of the podcast. I'd say 98% of the time I didn't have much trouble hearing what was being said. For music, for me, it worked fine I didn't even need it at full volume. For spoken word I needed it at full volume though. I used a video Ipod and I cranked up the sound on that and then just used the inline volume control. I spent a lot of my time going between 65-80 mph. Up around 80 it started to get difficult, but under 70 mph it was fine. Some people may find they want a booster to go along with these. There is one I've read about called boosteroo, but it has gotten mixed reviews but is fairly cheap. There is a booter that iasus makes that got good reviews but is about as expensive as the speakers (though the booster would work with anything that uses a normal headphone jack). I was able to hide the wiring behind the padding in the helmet so nothing is really exposed except for the jack. The line breaks apart at the helmet so you can take your helmet off, but still have your player hooked up in your coat. Once you put your helmet back on you just connect the two lines and you're good to go. Its also nice because you don't need to take the speakers out if you're not going to be using them. They don't bother your ears at all since they don't actually touch them. For around town, with the volumn down, I was able to still hear surrounding traffic. In the end I'd recommend them for purchase. I'd buy them first, try them out and then decide if you want/need a booster. For me, I won't be buying one, but if my hearing ever gets worse I'll probably need to pick one up. Also, if you don't use a full-face or you like to ride around with the shield up you will need the booster because they are not loud enough to overcome all of the wind noise. So if you're a big audiophile and sound is utmost important to you, you'd be better off looking at much more expensive systems. If you want something for the commute to work or to keep the voices in your head from telling you its ok to drive off the road on a long trip, then these will be fine. If you have questions I haven't answered please post them and if you'd like to see pics of how I have them setup in the helmet let me know and I'll take some and post them here.

[RaYcE]

Thanks for the review, I just ordered a set. I'll let you know how mine turn out.

[synthz]

I've been looking for a bluetooth stereo headset with phone abilities and came across this.

http://www.helmetshop.com/SPD/camos-...7628167425.jsp

Has anyone used these?

[cyclesinct]

I've never seen though or heard anyone talk about them unfortunately. I have heard people talk about a setup from blueant. They sell them on amazon (and other places). They are a little cheaper than what you are looking at but have good reviews on amazon, and I know there was at least one person around here saying they liked it. check it out BlueAnt Wireless North America - Bluetooth InterPhone motorbike helmet handsfree and intercom kit