Helmet Intercom Bike-to-Bike / Driver to Passenger

[tandar]

Anyone have any experince with helmet intercoms?

Any pro / cons?

I am contemplating getting a set for my trip, but not sure if the additional cost is worth.

It would be to use as a passenger / driver, then eventually on 2 seperate bikes riding together (as long as I get my license which is my current "work in progress" project)

Looking at Scala G4 or Midland BT2.

Any suggestions?

[Astir]

Unforgiven posted a detailed installation of the Blue Ant install. (http://www.twowheelfemales.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2155&highlight=intercom) maybe he will chime in and let us know how they are liking that system.

Mark installed the Scala for us to use. They work very well up to about a quarter mile line of sight. Last all day, blue tooth compatible with all our phones, and Marks GPS. Mark even wired it so I could use my iPod as well. Only complaint I have is the vox is hard to activate. Usually need to whistle or say BEEP really loud to get them to switch on. You can make them stay on if you are talking a lot, it just runs the batteries down quicker to do that.

I have to say, I wasn't thrilled about Mark installing these, but when we were riding in Slovenia, they were honestly a godsend. One of us would still be stuck in traffic if we didn't have the ability to say... is it clear for me to pass?

I have to admit, they are quite convenient and I am glad we have them now.

[TylerR]

Unforgiven posted a detailed installation of the Blue Ant install. (http://www.twowheelfemales.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2155&highlight=intercom) maybe he will chime in and let us know how they are liking that system.

I used the Blue Ant for the trip to Europe two years ago with my daughter (she rode pillion with me). It worked really well for driver to passenger communications and helped immensely in the enjoyment of the adventure for both of us! :thumbup:

[FJRider]

I have the starcom1 and I am very happy with it. I have not gotten around to wiring one of my two way radios to it yet but use it for my son and my ipod. I am a firm believer in using a push to talk switch for the radio. I just have not found a vox that I am happy with in ANY environment. I used two way radios in that past and they have been very helpful on some large group rides and when a SO came to town and we where ridding together for the very first time with her on a strange bike and in a strange town.

Denis

[Luna Tique]

I cpied this from Gearing up on a shoestring (http://www.twowheelfemales.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2058)



We have the following

Midland AVPH2 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CMGJ0G/ref=pd_cp_e_3?pf_rd_p=250314601&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000C9I14Q&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=02AXVVZY5C6N2VE1VK6Y) $28.72

http://www.antonline.com/images/240x240/avp-h2.jpg
with the Midland GXT850VP4 22 (http://www.amazon.com/Midland-GXT850VP4-22-Channel-26-Mile-2-Way/dp/B000P0RPY4/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1199930403&sr=8-2) for our 2 way radios $39.95




They are fantastic you have a choice of voice activation or push to talk ( our preferred method P 2 T ) Crystal clear no static. We separated about 1/2 mile or so making us well out of visual contact to test them out. They were still clear absolutely no noise or static in the background.



For the money ( I am very thrifty :redface1: ) These are simple (one wire to unhook ,reliable and the only time we had any interference was in short spurts around big cities. See the thread if you are going to hook this up to a GPS also you will have to use different connectors. ( which we did )
The prices are from 2008 so not sure what you can buy them for today. Heck since they are not blue tooth so they may be cheaper:lol:

[Gitana]

If you have boatloads of money, you can buy Nolan N103 helmets with the com system built in.

[gypsyangel]

Lots of good info here:

http://twowheelfemales.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3503&highlight=scala

[gypsyangel]

Also my hubby did a full review of our Scala's. It's a bit long:

Sarah and I have been on the hunt for communication devices for a while to use while we ride together. We finally got serious and picked up a set of Scala Q2's multi-set just before our honeymoon trip. I wanted to give our feedback and review on these and others I have tried. In my next post, I'll also review the pro's and con's of the Scala's vs other radio's we looked at. We picked up our Multi-Set (which is everything you need) for about $243 on ebay. You can find them all day long for just under $250 for the pair. I noticed today Amazon has them for $241 so you can find some deals out there on them.

If you aren't familiar with the Scala rider Q2's, they are advertised as bike to bike communicators over Blue Tooth (BT) with full duplex conversations supported at a range of 500m/1640ft. BT itself is becoming a lot more main stream these days, but still has a ways to go, especially communicating over longer distances. There are 3 classes of BT power output. Class 1 = 100mw, Class 2 = 2.5mw, and class 3 = 1mw. Scala also has had other rider devices over the past couple years that perform different functions, so don't get confused as not all the systems are the same. They started with the basic "Scala Rider" which was BT (class II) and a single speaker system for talking on the phone or hearing your GPS. Then they came out with the Scala Rider FM (class II) which had dual speakers to listen to an FM radio, but still talk over your GPS or phone via BT. Next came the Scala Rider "Teamset" which was 2 units packed together that support BT Intercom between the units for rider to passenger and cell phone/GPS. The driver's unit might be a Q2 now (although I don't think it originally was), but the passenger unit is definitely only a class II BT so only supports about a 10m range (rider and passenger). I think they include the MP3 audio input in the base now also. Finally they came out with the Q2's which were BT 2.0 and Class I power (500m/1640ft) range and allowed bike to bike communication. Cardo sells the multi-set which is two Q2's already paired at the factory and shipped together in the same box. These units include the MP3 Audio input on the base and support full duplex conversation. Both units also have the FM radio and support BT connectivity to a cell phone/GPS.

We got the Q2's in about 2 weeks before our trip. We charged them both up and got the bases attached to our helmets with the speakers situated and mic setup. It took a few tries to figure out where we each wanted our speakers as the closer you get them to your ears, the better sound you'll get. At first we both shimmed the speakers out a bit with foam, but later found out that on a long trip that just pressed too much on our ears. I found some foam/nylon covered head set pads that fit very nicely over the speakers and gave us both a much more comfortable feel and helped channel the sound better. These made a huge difference on comfort.

We of course at first had to play with them walking around the house in our helmets talking to each other. WOW, almost immediately I was blown away by the clarity and how clear we could hear each other, but of course we were in our nice quiet house, not going 80mph down the road. The next test was on the bikes as we went and rode out to eat just in town. It was great and we carried on a full conversation going down the road. We were both very impressed at this point and how nice it was to talk back and forth. We still hadn't got our speeds up that high, but so far so good. If Sarah had her visor up, I could hear the wind, but it wasn't terrible, but when she closed her visor, it went quiet. I even tested my phone by calling my parents and they were also amazed I was on a bike and how clear and good I sounded.

Over the next couple days, I left both units on continuously as I wanted to cycle the batteries and give a full discharge and then a nice full recharge before we started just using them and charging them on a daily basis. This may have turned out to be not a good idea though as you'll see. I drained my unit pretty quickly as I was using it everyday listening to music and playing with the BT through the GPS etc. Sarah's unit however took quite a few days to actually die just sitting there on standby not really using it, but when it finally did, I let charge over night and then just sit off (still plugged in) for probably the next week until it was time to go on our trip. (this might have been bad idea #2 although once they are fully charged, the light goes out and her light stayed out that entire time). The day of our reception we were getting ready to leave on the bikes and we couldn't get Sarah's unit to turn on. We thought maybe it hadn't charged when thought it had, so grabbed one of the cig chargers and let it charge in my parent's car while we were in our reception. Still no luck on the way home. Nothing would turn it on although it showed that it was charging. That night, we plugged both units into their wall chargers to give them a full charge overnight. We were leaving the next day (Sunday) and I was really getting a bit perturbed that we couldn't get her unit to turn on. I actually have a very low patience for electronic stuff that doesn't work like its supposed to. Sarah was getting me to relax though and said we'd just call Cardo Monday morning and get it fixed ASAP or buy another unit if we had to. I'm not sure if my letting it drain all the way caused an issue or maybe her unit got zapped when we left it plugged in for a week as we did have some storms come through, but either way I figure I won't try either one of those again.

Sunday afternoon we headed off on our honeymoon on the bikes, but still no power for Sarah's unit. Mine was working perfectly so I was listening to music and able to talk on the phone or listen to my GPS, but I couldn't do the one thing I had really bought these for and that was talk to my wife like we wanted. We brought everything along and I figured I'd call Cardo first thing Monday AM and see what they could do. Monday morning, I called Cardo and spoke to Garth. I explained the situation, and that we had bought these specifically for this trip, but unfortunately hers had stopped working. He was very apologetic about the entire thing and since we were on our trip, he said if I could get him an address to ship to, he would next day air me a new unit (Just the piece that wasn't working) so I wouldn't have to actually take entire base off. Just the little tear-dropped piece which is the actual unit. Since we weren't scheduled to stop at anyone's house, I had to figure out where to ship it to though. We knew we were going through Baton Rouge, LA the following day so I looked up a UPS Store there and got the address, talked to he MGR etc, and we would be due in the next day at 10:30am to pick up the package. It worked out perfectly and the package got there about 9:45am and we show up just after 10:30am. I sent Sarah's defective unit back right then and there and we got her new unit paired with mine and everything was working great. (Since our units had been factory paired, you have to go through a bit of sequence to clear mine so it wasn't any longer looking for Sarah's old unit and re-pair with the new unit, but Garth explained how to do this over the phone and it worked perfectly).

It was so nice to have both of us with working units again, however we weren't done with the issues yet. Sarah said I sounded a bit muffled when I talked and she was having to turn her volume up a bit. I had also been told this by my dad the day before when he called me on my cell phone and was chatting with me. I kind of just brushed it off until later that day after we stopped for gas. I had put my helmet back on and was trying to chat with Sarah and she said I sounded really weak and she could barely hear me. We did some investigating swapping control units, calling our cell phones and we determined that now my microphone (which is part of the base that attaches to your helmet) wasn't working correctly. Moving around the mic didn't seem to help. I got back on the phone with Cardo as it was almost time for them to close that day. I once again got Garth on the phone. I was getting a bit irritated this time with this being our 2nd issue, but he was professional and promised me we'd get through this trip with working units. He once again said he'd next day air me a new base unit and I could wait till I got home from the trip to send the old one back. I wasn't in front of a computer at this point so trying to find another UPS store on the fly in some town X miles away was going to be tough. I knew we'd be at a friends house in 2 days time in Fayetteville, AR, so I just gave him that address and that way it would be waiting for me. I could at least still hear Sarah fine and she could sort of tell what I was saying, just not very clear. Thankfully for some strange reason, my mic started working perfectly that evening. I'm not sure what happened and I actually kept that mic in the entire time for the rest of the trip and never had another issue with it. They did ship me a new one, but I waited till I got home to swap them out. I wasn't going to take a chance with that mic.

After using the Scala Q2's for a solid week on this trip plus for smaller trips around home, both Sarah and I are overall very pleased with them, and they do exactly what we need them too. First off, you can really have clear conversations going down the road at 70+ mph. The full duplex is just superb when it comes to talking and I've really grown fond of it. It really is so much nicer talking then a standard radio transmission of one person at a time. One of my initial concerns was the distance over BT 500m/1640ft which doesn't sound like much, but it really turns out to be close to line of sight and sometimes even further, and rarely are we ever that far apart so in the end its a non issue. If you do get separated farther then that, you'll hear static if you are connected or your connection will just drop. As soon as you come back in range though, they automatically pair back up again and you can talk. I was very hesitant about this distance before buying these, but its turned out to be something I don't even have to worry about. When Sarah and I ride, we are close enough to always talk and keep an eye on each other and we can continue to communicate that entire time. Obviously, the shortcoming of BT technology is they don't make good radios for large groups due to the limited range and the simple fact BT is more of two devices pairing and talking and not just putting out a radio transmission that anyone in range can pick up. I guess thats the sacrifice, but one we are glad to make with these radios and what they can do.

[gypsyangel]

More: (told you it was long)

We really found the Scala's very valuable for so many different things. As we got used to them, our general habit on our trip was once we got out on back roads and into our own little zones, we both would turn on our music and just ride, maybe talking now and then, but mostly just listening to our own music. Anytime we popped into a small town, I would usually manually activate a conversation which keeps the mics open until you close them again. That way we could talk about how we were doing energy wise, food, drinks, bathroom break, watching traffic, navigating the GPS, etc. It just made it so easy to make decisions on the fly and not got irritated because the other person didn't know what you wanted. Then as we would get back out on the open road, back to the music we would go. Sometimes either one of us would pipe up now and then if we saw something or wanted to pass a car, etc. They definitely came in handy for both of us when the other person lost something off their bike and we were able to quickly identify that it was something and turn around.

Another good use was that Sarah was using my old 376C GPS for the first time (really navigating by any GPS) and I was making her lead and navigate teaching her the ropes of that, so the Scala's really came in handy to see if she was understanding the directions correctly! I'm glad to say she really surprised me and became very proficient in a short amount of time of operating the GPS. In fact, she actually planned out 90% of the route and each night, she would tweak the route and we would go over our next days adventure. She even got good at uploading and replacing the old routes in the 3 GPS's we were carrying.

There is one feature I thought was going to be annoying was to wait for the 30 seconds for the mics to automatically shut off and your music to come back when a conversation is initiated by VOX, but its actually nice when you get into a conversation to be able to pause and think about what you are saying next or even just have a few moments of silence. Its very natural and just flows right. That way they aren't just shutting down on you when you are about to talk. We actually found that they work better at speed at recognizing that you are still talking. If you are stopped and everything is quiet around you, sometimes they don't recognize you are still talking and can shut off, probably because you aren't talking as loud. Sarah actually had to remind me a few times that I was talking too loud and that you just talk in a normal everyday voice to get the best connection and the other person to hear you fine. There is a button called MC that manually turns on the voice connection and keeps it on. It also shuts it off regardless of who opened the connection. The problem is this can almost be interpreted as the other person "hung up" on you if they are always closing the voice connection before the 30 seconds of silence is up. I have got in the habit of "manually" closing the voice connection if we were just chatting for a short bit and wanted to go back to my music. I usually just tell her I love her and close the connection so she doesn't feel offended that I "hung up" on her. :rofl: But I also found it more beneficial to manually "turn on a connection" that stayed on through small towns so we didn't have to worry about if we stayed quiet for more then 30 seconds. Then as we exited town, we both went back to our music and all was well.

A couple times on the trip, especially when we were playing in the Ozarks on curvy roads, we kept the mic open for hours at a time. I was riding lead and would warn Sarah about up coming hazards or sharper turns. I was kind of working with her too on some of her cornering techniques, so this also made it so easy to tell her when I was breaking, shifting, turning, etc to help her learn that also. We never had an issue with either one of us running out of battery juice and we made sure to charge them up every night. We rode for 12+ hrs a day and pumped in music through the MP3 port all day long. I was a bit worried about battery life and we even bought the cig plugs just to make sure, but actually never used them on the trip. We figured at the worst we could charge them at lunch if we found they didn't last the entire day or maybe even going down the road although I think that would be awkward depending on where your cig plug is. I think there was only one day where I started to get the battery beep and that was a day we spent hours manually connected to each other with the mics open. Even then, we made it through the day no problem.

There is one thing you can't hide no matter how hard you try, and that is a sneeze. So get used to blessing the other person. If its only 1 sneeze, the other person usually doesn't hear it since it takes a second to establish that voice connection, but it will pop the mic and then its "sorry I sneezed". By the way, who ever opens the connection with VOX does get a beep in their ear, so if the connection is suddenly open and you didn't hear the beep, you can blame it on your partner! I never had a problem with the wind turning my mic on accidentally, but Sarah would experience it once in a blue moon if we were on the interstate and she was going by a truck. (I think it was just her shorter windscreen design or something) For some reason, that seemed to trigger it. There is a feature though buried in the user manual that I missed the first time and I actually use it a lot now. You can disable the automatic vox by holding both volume buttons in simultaneously for about 3-5 seconds until it beeps. This means that you can only manually start a conversation by pressing the MC button. I actually liked this so I could sing at the top of my lungs in my helmet and not turn it on and drive Sarah nuts with my awful singing!

The BT on my Scala did pretty well connecting to either my Garmin 2820 GPS or my phone. I usually kept my phone paired with the GPS and the GPS paired with the Scala, that way you can use the GPS to control the phone and see who's calling. The scala does support voice dialing and commands if your phone has that. I had a few minor issues to work through like at first the 2820 GPS was sending keypad tones over the BT which has the 2nd highest priority after the phone so it would cut Sarah and I off any time I touched the GPS, but I figured out how to disable that which worked much better. I eventually even turned off the voice transmissions on the GPS because it takes precedence over our conversations also and I really didn't need that all the time. I left it where I could hit the speak key if I wanted to hear directions. I was also running a 478 hooked to a Garmin XM antenna and that is what I listened to music through using the included cable from the GPS to my helmet. I would have that GPS just "beep" at me for an upcoming turn and that worked pretty well to get my attention if need be. The music has a lower priority then voice, so it doesn't cut your conversations out. The FM has the lowest priority of all.

I've played with the FM back and forth to work now and then. Its complicated to get it setup and get the 6 stations pre-set programmed in, but I would guess once you do, it would probably work pretty well. It might also work for some GPS, XM device, or even a little modulator that transmits over FM frequencies. You could be wireless and hear this stuff. However, I have read that the FM part does wear down the battery a lot faster where as the cable MP3 input seems to be more of a pass through. Another setup I tried was wearing my ER-6i's hooked to the GPS and listening to my music, but the speakers were still there and what I would hear Sarah over. That actually wasn't bad and I could still carry on full conversations with Sarah and hear her fine through the speakers, even though I was wearing the ER6i's too. This also kept my music on in the background! :) For around town and short trips, the speakers work just fine and the quality isn't bad, but I do prefer the noise isolation and the higher sound quality you get from the ER-6i's on longer trips. I might modify my base to accept the ER-6i's, but I haven't tried that yet. Several people have and that seems like a viable solution.

I definitely still have to give Cardo Customer support a huge thumbs up. They bent over backwards to keep us talking on the trip. It sucks about having 2 failures, but maybe it was just a fluke. The 1st one may have been invoked by me, not sure and the 2nd one fixed its self although I still replaced the part. I'm home, relaxed, and after sitting back and looking at things, I think it was just one of those things. Overall they do what we want very well and we are both very pleased with the way they work. The full longevity of this product might be questionable, but we'll see how it goes.

If you ride with a significan other (either on the same bike or 2 seperate bikes), I think this setup rocks. Its amazing how nice it is to chat with them while going down the road.

What would I change in the next model or add to the lineup?

Make the BT support full stereo A2DP or AVRCP. This is one of the biggest complaints you'll read about when you read reviews on the Scala Q2's. This would eliminate the need to actually pump in music over a cable and would allow a totally wireless system with people still able listen to their ipods wirelessly or with the addition of a BT dongle.
Make the base support a standard 1/8" ear phone plug so you can use your own noise cancelling earphones or plug in helmet speakers if that is your choice. I do plan on modding a base to try this as I much prefer my ER-6i's over week long trips.
Give you greater volume control to actually totally mute the incoming sound or at least turn it down pretty low. Right now, the range of volume just doesn't go low enough sometimes and there is no way to quickly mute the audio without just turning it all the way off.
Offer a very compatible BT dongle that supports the correct profiles so if you have a GPS or something pumping out music that doesn't have BT, you can use the dongle as an accessory to the Scala Rider.
Offer a BT hub type device that will hook into an FRS radio with a PTT switch. This solves the issue of talking over greater distances or group talking. Sarah and I could still talk to each other over BT, but we would also each be paired up with an FRS/GMRS radio that be connected wirelessly to our headsets via BT. So if we wanted to talk to other riders using any other communication device (as long as it was on a FRS/GMRS radio, we could. This would greatly expand the versatility of the system and open up a much rider range of use.

[Gitana]

My favorite place for reviews is webbikeworld.com. They have a number of reviews for intercom systems.

[Luna Tique]

My favorite place for reviews is webbikeworld.com. They have a number of reviews for intercom systems.

Great site Gitana
I also rely on that site for reviews on everything moto related :thumbup:

[BlueLghtning]

I see Sarah posted my long review. :D:

If you don't care about the BT stereo, the Q2 multi-set can be had for under $250 online and is still a very good system. Sarah and I have had ours for a year now and we still really enjoy them and use them every time they ride. The new Scala G4 system and the Blue Ant Interphone F4 system are both getting pretty good reviews on other forums I read and on the WebBike World.

I went ahead and read both the manuals on both of these new systems (G4 & F4) because that is really the only way to see what exactly the limitations are and each had a few quirks, but overall good. My biggest complaint about the F4 is the fact they still leave the phone as its primary device its aimed at. For instance, you can't establish an intercom conversation using VOX, only make a phone call. Also there is a MFB (Multi-function button) that does a few things and to actually establish an intercom conversation, you have to hold it in for 3+ seconds. However, if you only momentarily press the button, it activates the voice dialing on your phone. This to me seems backwards. I like having the option of only using my voice to establish a conversation on the Scala in situations where I don't/can't take my hands off the bars and then add to the fact that when you do want to start one, you have to hold it down for 3+ seconds. That's a really long time when your left hand could be needed on the clutch or on the bars.

IIRC, my biggest complaint with the G4 was they reduced its water proofness from weather proof to water resistant. I don't want to have to worry about the unit getting wet and ruined while riding through a rain storm. Our Q2's have been drenched in some rain, and have never missed a beat.

[Gitana]

Thanks for posting your thoughts on the new G4. They are a lot more expensive than the Q2. I really don't understand why they are so focused on the phone being the primary device. The last thing I want is to be making or receiving phone calls while I'm riding.

[Luna Tique]

After all the dicussions we have had here about people driving and talking/texting on their cell phones .

I certainly hope I don't have to be concerned that every bike I isn't being distracted gabbing and not focusing 100% of their attention on the road.:shrug:

[msyzf2u]

My favorite place for reviews is webbikeworld.com. They have a number of reviews for intercom systems.


First I do a search to see if our own TWF site has anything to say about it, there are a bunch of experienced riders here ( :worthy::worthy::worthy: ) who've put a lot ( and I mean ALOT ) of miles and thought into sharing the pros and cons of a thing... then i check around at webbikeworld and some other places.


:thumbsup:


A quick question.... what have you all found about communicationing when at your cruise speed ?

I've found that under 50-60 the communicators work ok... over this and it is hit or miss.


:):

[FJRider]

Mine has some trouble above 65 Mph. In my case it is do to my windscreen dumping a ton of air just under our helmets. For the short term I am going to get a set of quietride. For the long term I hope to one of these days go up to Cee Bailey and get a custom screen that will keep us warmer and get ride of the noise

Denis

[Pinken]

We run a pair of Chatterbox bike to bike - one boom mike and one full face helmet. Love them, hate traveling without them. Can run music - ipod - and it will fade in and out when talking. I will not run a phone, but the old man has in the past. We are considering the blue tooth set, to upgrade and get rid of some cords and weight on the helmet. We can go a couple of miles and still be in touch. Voice activated mike can be a pain at times, but there is always push to talk. Not great for ongoing casual conversation, but then again, who wants all the company in their helmet? Not me!

[FJRider]

We run a pair of Chatterbox bike to bike - one boom mike and one full face helmet. Love them, hate traveling without them. Can run music - ipod - and it will fade in and out when talking. I will not run a phone, but the old man has in the past. We are considering the blue tooth set, to upgrade and get rid of some cords and weight on the helmet. We can go a couple of miles and still be in touch. Voice activated mike can be a pain at times, but there is always push to talk. Not great for ongoing casual conversation, but then again, who wants all the company in their helmet? Not me!
One note about the chatterbox in Ca. There is a code that says that nothing can be attached to a helmet that sticks out something like 3/8 a inch (I do not remember the exact measurement) In areas where they have been trying to step up enforcement they have been ticketing riders with chatterbox's. It is not used often and most LEOs do not even know that it is there but if you wander into one of those areas you can get tagged. I had a friend that wandered into one of them and that was how I found out about it. And yes the guys that know about it LOVE the mohawk's on the helmets. Several of my friends with chatterbox's have taken to caring them in there tank bags and also using the push to talk.

Denis

[bluekat]

Ron and I use chatterbox bike to bike. We also use push to talk, which works fine, but the cord is annoying. I wish the unit was smaller. Someday I may get it off the helmet and into my tank bag. We don't run phones, music or gps, and Ron knows I find a lot of conversation in traffic to be distracting, so we limit use to quiet roads. We sometimes pick up other signals around us, but that seems to only be a problem in town.

[BlueLghtning]

I haven't used the Chatterboxes, but I have used the Collett's and my understanding is they are pretty similar as far as how they work. Depending on the Chatterbox model, they use FRS or GMRS frequencies. The Collett's use their own propitiatory 900mhz frequency, but its still the same concept of basic walkie talkies or CB's where one person talks and the rest listen.

Now that we have the Scala Q2's, I gotta say having the full duplex of the Scala's is nice compared to the older one person talking at a time. Its basically like having a conversation like you are sitting next to the person in a car and its so easy to carry on a conversation for hours if you want. You can hear them laugh at something you might say and vice versa. You can both be quiet and just leave the connection open so that at any time either person can say something. Or you can close the connection and go to your music and wait for the other person to say something which will interrupt the music.

The downside to these new BT connection devices is its usually a one on one only conversation, although Scala has now made it possible for 4 riders to talk simultaneously with the new G4's. Basically, they accomplish this by 2 units acting as go betweens for the other units. The other downside to the BT setup is it doesn't reach as far as the FRS/GMRS setups, but it is pretty much line of sight which generally works fine for us when we are traveling. We are rarely out of each others site. If you can see the person, you can talk to them. There are instances where they can be out of site and you can still talk to them, but it really depends on the terrain.

I gotta say communicating over the BT type devices is very natural and I'm still amazed to this day how clear and easy it is to have a conversation. I don't feel like it inhibits our concentration any more then it would just carrying on a conversation with someone in a car.

[LiLiBug]

Love my Scala Q2 Multiset! Ride with my husband and son and we each have communicators in our helmets and they work fantastic!

[Xrayted]

Kit and I have the Scala. We really like them. She can call me while I'm riding to work and just chat. I plug my ipod in for music or listen to a local station if I'm around town. We used it yesterday on a ride with a large group. They went ahead to gas up while I stayed back to make sure one of the guys got his old Norton going. I just called Kit as she rode away, kept track of the group and then we caught up with them on the other side of Portland. It was good to talk the whole way, just little conversation or to warn of stones or potholes coming up. We stayed on the phone until we lost cell coverage in the mountains and it just took about 20 seconds for it to switch to bluetooth on it's own. In the meantime, my music came on. That's the other thing, I like having music low (the level is chosen from the ipod so you can have it low and your com sound higher) and then it cuts out when I want to talk. I don't have a problem getting the vox to work, with either full face or open.

We live in rainy Portland area and no problems with the rain shorting anything out. I just put my new phone next to it and they paired up in about a minute. Very nice and small. I like that I can see the light blinking in my mirror. It reminds me if I didn't turn it on before leaving. We use it on open and closed faced helmets. I can recommend highly. We shopped around online because, even with the 10% discount our Honda shop gives us, we saved over $100 online. That was enough to have us not buy locally.

We talked nonstop for 4 hrs to go camping last year, shut them off for 4 days and had more than enough power to talk the whole way home. You can also just use the ipod without turning it on to save the battery. It just plays through like a earbuds.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[tandar]

Ok, thanks for all of the info. Still haven't decided on the intercoms yet. I will keep you posted.

[Veda]

Here is my write up on the Blue Ant Interphone: http://erratic.ws/reviews/?p=19