Interbike communication systems

Most excellent post LJH :thumbsup: That Felix guy sure does make us do a lot of work with those little questions of his.

As euphonius mentioned, they must be coming from the same factory as the Cardo, the only difference I can see is that my Cardo units don't have the little antennae, and my charger has two plugs to charge both units at the same time. Unfortunately they don't work with any kind of USB charger, so you need to cary the wall charger. On the plus side, my wife and I were getting 2-3 days of solid use during our America tour this summer and we were riding 10 hours a day and one of us was talking most of the time. Just to answer another question that Felix will probably ask... the battery can not be accessed an can not be replaced, this is a common problem with all bluetooth headsets and I doubt any of them will last more than 3-5 years as rechargeable batteries tend to go bad over time.

Thanks for all the details...¥438 is a great price.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Thanks a million for that lao jia huo (and chinav), this is extremely helpful. If only the companies who make these things were as helpful as the fine people on this forum! I'll find an interesting piece of gear to review for you guys soon.

Mounting onto the helmet seems handy enough. I was wondering if it's annoying to have the microphone still in front of your chin when you lift up the chin guard on a flip up helmet. I guess there's not much you can do about it, unless you mount the bracket onto the chin guard itself so that it lifts up with it. That might be a bit unsightly however.

The charger thing is slightly annoying if traveling two-up. Assuming you're traveling with a laptop, a couple of phones, at least one camera and then these two things, that's a lot more stuff to plug in than any hotel room i've seen provides for. Might try to find that Cardo double charger that ChinaV is talking about.

Still, i'm basically convinced, it seems like it would be a great addition to my riding gear and not an extravagant amount of money for what it is.

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Originally Posted by felix

I'll find an interesting piece of gear to review for you guys soon.

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We know where you work (or did, if you've moved on) ... an interesting piece of gear from your work would, undoubtedly, be the MOST interesting review MCM, or any other bike forum, has ever seen! Pics mandatory.

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Originally Posted by felix

I was wondering if it's annoying to have the microphone still in front of your chin when you lift up the chin guard on a flip up helmet.

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The mic is at the end of a semi-rigid, flexible "boom" that is easily moved/twisted around. On my HJC full-face helmet, there is a small cloth apron at the bottom of the chin guard (wind reduction?) - I find it best (and most comfortable) to position the mic slightly to the left of my mouth, clearing the apron, tucked just inside the chin guard. Hence, even a quick lift (e.g., toll booth) means the mic is not directly in front of one's mouth.

I'd love to review one of those for you but unfortunately i don't have the anatomical requirements for it. Plus if i did i might get mistaken for a porn bot and banned from the forum.

I have a nokia charger at home and it has the same output rating as yours there, 5V 500mA. Unfortunately it is the small head type. The older, bigger nokia charger connection does look remarkably similar to what you have. If you PM your address, i can buy one of these and have it shipped straight to you to try out. What would you say?

http://img03.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/...!!61391802.jpg

Incidentally, the charger that comes with Lelo sex toys can also be used to charge a nokia phone.

Dear LJH,

Awesome R&D you're doing on this unit -- really appreciated.

I've had minor problems with the non-permanent (non-glued) mounting method, which basically uses friction to keep the unit in place by jamming that flange up between the helmet shell and the padding, (EDIT:) then tightening two little locknuts. Your unit attaches to the mount in the same fashion as the Cardo, i.e., by sliding the unit down on tongue-and-groove slots until reaching the locking position. The problem is that if you are wearing the helmet and slide the unit into place, there's a risk of putting pressure on the mount to come out of the space where it's wedged. So you just have to remember to hold the unit and the mount between your fingers and thumb and squeeze them together, which avoids putting any torque on the mount.

As for the mike, on the Cardo, with my full-face helmet, I find there is enough space for the mike with its windproofing foam -- but just enough. I route the mike up through a hole in the chin mesh, which helps hold it in place, but always when I put the helmet on I have to fuss a bit with the mike to position it so it's not hitting my lips. I'm looking forward to trying the cardo in my HJC flip-face to see how it works in that roomier space inside the chin bar.

The Cardo earpieces also mount nicely via Velcro hooks into ear spaces of my helmet, but they sometimes come loose. It's easy to just press them back in and problem solved.

It's great to have an electrical engineer for a sweety (and in this regard I hesitate to pursue the repartee about the Lelo units and their charging...), and I do have a question that you might put to her during your bluetooth-related pillow talk: Any chance, given the putative shared DNA between this unit and the Cardo, that you can pair this Cardo-like unit with an actual Cardo unit? I guess the only way would be to try, or is there some kind of hack? (I've read any number of reviews of the various bluetooth units and have been disappointed that the industry has NOT moved toward cross-brand interoperability.)

If these units work anywhere near as well as the Cardos, you'll love having this full-duplex communication with your sweetie -- whether she's pillion or on her own steed. When ryanjpyle and I ride, it's great being able to discuss road conditions, navigation, hazards, dodgy drivers, lunch plans, daydreams, observations about the scenery, politics, future rides, women, etc, not necessarily in that order. And you can switch it off if you want some privacy.

If you've got your gps and mobile phone all synced up, you can hear your turn-by-turn directions, listen to music, and take (or better yet reject) calls at your leisure. Unless you are a lone wolf kind of rider, these add a lot to a long ride -- especially if you are highly compatible with your riding companion. (Congratulations on that score, ChinaV!)

cheers!

Felix, here's a couple of pics comparing the BT Communicator charger plug with a genuine Nokia charger plug. The Nokia is much smaller and does not fit. I tried some generic Chinese chargers we have laying around, and they all seem to fit but do not indicate the output voltage.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2iaze6s.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/jja4bn.jpg

Euphonius, hope your India trip was worthwhile? I'm jealous re the fantastic Indian food you must have enjoyed.

I asked sweety about BT handshakes, and she thought that unless the Cardo was quite proprietary in its band it should work fine. One sure way to find out is to head back to Beijing and bring your helmet!

I concur about your mounting comments. As I was placing it onto the SHOEI, I couldn't help wondering how easy it would be to knock the whole thing off. It feels pretty tight, but perhaps a hard knock would send it flying - it is, after all, just a plastic clamshell gripping on a smooth plastic surface. The permanent gluing on my HJC feels more secure. When I get around to buying an HJC IS-Max (they're more expensive in Beijing for some reason), I'll just buy another BT communicator & keep the HJC CL-Max as a back-up, or visitor's helmet.

Man, how did we ever live without these things before? They are so great!

I agree with the permanent glue pad being very robust, but I use the flange type mounting on my Shoei Multitec and it's very well mounted. It's never moved even slightly and you would have to bang the helmet pretty hard to get it dislodge. Euphonius, strange that yours can't be tightened as mine can :confused1:

Cheers!
ChinaV

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

Euphonius, strange that yours can't be tightened as mine can :confused1:

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ChinaV, I take it all back: Upon inspection, I see I do indeed have two securing bolts on my mounting flange. I'll edit my post.

thanks

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Originally Posted by felix

The charger thing is slightly annoying if traveling two-up.

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Felix - I was browsing around taobao and bumped into this. Problem solved.

It appears that the charger cable has a USB-style connection to the wall charger body. Otherwise, it is identical.

Cheers
Richard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou

Felix - I was browsing around taobao and bumped into this. Problem solved.

It appears that the charger cable has a USB-style connection to the wall charger body. Otherwise, it is identical.

Cheers
Richard

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That charger has a different plug than the one on your unit and the Cardo. Which brings up another question...is the MP3 input jack and headphones in stereo? You would need to test this by finding some trippy music with left and right audio channel effects and trying it out. My Cardo unit is not, which I don't care about as I never listen to music while riding.

Cheers!
ChinaV