Blueant Interphone in a Shoei Hornet - Review

[cooneyr]

One of the key reasons why I changed the DR650 for the XTZ750 was to be able to carry wifey on the back. Have done so a few times and it was decided that to be able to talk to each other occasionally would be a good thing. I did a bit of investigating and it looked like the Blueant Interphones were a good option. They had some good write ups on ADVrider and on KB. Picked a couple up from Orb Communications about two weeks ago now. I though I'd start a thread about how they work in an adv helmet and on a adv bike which I get the impression (never ridden a sprots bike) are generally nosier than road bikes and helmets.

First thing we tried was pairing the interphones with our cell phones (Sony Erricson's) which went of without a hitch. Then we paired the two interphones, again without any hitches. The instructions are clear and easy to follow though reading them first is a good idea. Next thing we did was turn on the voice answering mode, again easy to do. Lastly I set up the voice dialing on my phone (no settings required on the interphone) which was a little interesting and took some thought re choosing the voice command. Seems that the longer the voice command, the is better, and don't put too much inflection into the name cause you'll never get it right again.

Next big task is fitting it to the helmet. The Shoei Hornet has removable cheek pads and ear pockets in the soft foam, so the boom and speaker went in very easily behind the cheek pads. Take the time to figure out where to put the speaker though cause sitting it on the ear itself is damn uncomfortable and you don't get as good performance (cant hear it so well). Wifey has a Grex RD1 and it is a bit of a pain to fit as the ear pocket is stepped (two levels of the hard liner) and also the cheek pad doesnt come out separately from the chin bar lining. At this stage the boom (speaker and mic on either end) is simply Velcroed to the cheek pad but it moves around a lot so not sure how well this will work. Taking the hornet on and off requires no extra effort than without the interphone, It is nice and stable behind the cheek pad. Seems that the Grex RD1 is the same though it is not "field" tested yet.

So is it any good? Around town at 50-60kph with no ear plugs it is works perfectly. I connect the cell phone and interphone before I leave (simply turn on the interphone and turn the bluetooth on on the cell phone) and your off. If the cell phone rings simply say hello loudly (ish) and it answers (dont forget to say hello again straight afterward as the first hello is only a trigger). Hanging up consists of not bothering (other person hangs up for you) or pushing the big button (easy to find with gloves on) on the interphone. Making a call is a matter of stopping and dialing the cell phone or alternatively pushing the big button till you hear one beep, waiting for the phone to beep back at you, say the voice command, phone repeats back at you and then it rings. Voice dialing is much more simple than it reads.

How does it work on the open road then? Bloody awesome. Talking on the phone wifey has commented that it sounds like I'm on the normal cell phone outside on a breezy day. Wind noise is minimal and she can hear me very clearly. There is a high and low volume ranges, with a few volume steps in each setting. I was expecting to have to put the interphone into the high volume range when at 100kph with ear plugs in - wrong. The highest or second to highest setting in the low volume range seems to be ample when traveling at 100kph, with ear plugs on the XTZ. The XTZ has a reasonable screen, though I do get some buffeting, and the helmet type and fit will also influence things. Still the with plugs in, the Shoei Hornet and on the XTZ I would rate as about the same volume as the Grex RD1 on the DR650 for noise.

We haven't had the opportunity to try out the intercom feature of the interphone on the bike yet but I dont expect there will be any issues as it is so easy to hear and be heard when on the bike at 100kph. I'll post about this later when we have had ago.

So are there any issues? Well yes just one. I cant get the voice activated dialing to work when above about 60kph. It would seem the wind noise is too much. This is probably a combined issue of the cell phone being to fussy with its voice recognition software and the interphone not cutting all the wind noise (would be very hard to do). I suspect that using the voice commands with the cell phone outside on a windy day would have similar issues.

Battery life is reported to be 7 hours in intercom mode according to other reviews on KB (5 hours on the Blueant site). This should be stacks for a day or twos riding as it is unlikely that we will be in intercom mode all the time. In phone mode (the default mode) there is apparently 700 hours of standby time and the talk time is suppose to be around 10 hours. It seems the cell phone battery will be more of an issue than the interphone battery when in cell phone mode. I found a power save option on the cell phone which has helped increase battery life significantly with no detrimental effects on the system operation. Lastly the interphone chargers are the smallest chargers I've ever seen so packing a couple for multi day trips wont be an issue.

All in all the interphones work bloody well in an Adv Helmet even with their generally higher noise levels. Would I recommend them, definitely.

Pics of the interphone in the Shoei Hornet below.

Cheers R

[ducatijim]

Sounds good........( pun intended!)

I have just set up a PHS intercom/bike-bike CB unit.....phew. You don't want to no!( ps....no issues with PHS at all........just ME)

[WasPhantom]

Ah good to hear. I've been using the Blueant in my HJC for some time now, and just got a new Shoei XR-1000, so was going to get around to fitting it this week sometime.

[CookMySock]

Thanks for the review. I had heard about these units, and your comments answer some questions I had.

I have just set up a PHS intercom/bike-bike CB unit.....

I would be keen to hear about your radio installation. Maybe start another thread on it ?

cheers,
Steve

[vifferman]

Ah good to hear. I've been using the Blueant in my HJC for some time now, and just got a new Shoei XR-1000, so was going to get around to fitting it this week sometime.

There are quite a few XR1000 wearers (including me) who no doubt would be interested in how it goes.
We used to have a (PHS?) bike-pillion intercom setup, but stopped using it, as there was a problem with severe crackling above 90km/h, AND the speakers were too damned uncomfortable for more than an hour's use (this was in an AGV X-Vent and a Shoei Raid).
I'd like to try again sometime, but it may be difficult after our last intercom-equipped ride, when we both felt like taking off our helmets and throwing them across the road! I'm sure the vifferbabe would veto even thinking about trying another setup.
Our current cellphones both have bluetooth (and voice-dial), so I've been keeping the option of an intercom in the back of my mind...

[cooneyr]

Couple of points to note. As the interphones use bluetooth technology they can only pair i.e. connect with one other gizmo at the same time. The PRS/CB radios however send their signal to whomever is listening. Also the interphones are limited to a specified 150m between bikes (apparently they will do 500m line of sight) where as the PRS/CB radios can do up to approx 5kms (2watt versions) line of sight. There are obvious advantages re having a private conversation (slow down ya bastage) vs telling everybody that your stopping for a bit.

The other difference is the ability to connect to a phone which the PRS/CB's cant do unless you get one of the fancy systems with multiple ports i.e. Baehr. I didn't think I'd use the phone link much but it has been really useful for letting people know changes of route/mind/we are on our way home etc without having to stop, take the helmet of and dig out the cell phone.

Cheers R

[OV Lander]

Looked at these Blueant units briefly the other week, but was wondering about wind noise. Not wind noise as in microphone pick up, more about 'Does the block of electronics hanging on the outside of your helmet add to the noise and vibration inside the helmet?'


IN terms of PRS setups, I jerry rigged one up for Arai TX. In Voice Control (VOX) modes I found that once the channel had been opened up using the voice the PRS would continue to 'hear' the engine noise and keep the channel open, effectively broadcasting everything as a one way communication tool. This was fine for me, but since my wife was in the car further down the road she could every rev on the other handset... ...for 4 hours! (yes she, could have switched it off, but since I was telling her where I'd gone/turned etc she thought better leave it on!)

[rwh]

Interesting read. Looks like the mike might not fit very well in my HJC CL-14 (road helmet), which has a less pointy chin bar - I can easily push the chin bar if I stretch my jaw out.

Richard

[cooneyr]

Looked at these Blueant units briefly the other week, but was wondering about wind noise. Not wind noise as in microphone pick up, more about 'Does the block of electronics hanging on the outside of your helmet add to the noise and vibration inside the helmet?'...

I've not noticed any noise or vibration as a result of the unit on the side of the helmet. When riding with ear plugs in and the unit of the noise is no different from normal.

Interesting read. Looks like the mike might not fit very well in my HJC CL-14 (road helmet), which has a less pointy chin bar - I can easily push the chin bar if I stretch my jaw out.

Richard

What about putting this round to the side of your chin so it is next to the cheek pad with the mike pointing vertically?

Cheers R

[rwh]

What about putting this round to the side of your chin so it is next to the cheek pad with the mike pointing vertically?

Perhaps - I take it it's quite bendy then?

Not that I've got the spare dosh anyway.

Richard

[cooneyr]

Perhaps - I take it it's quite bendy then?

Not that I've got the spare dosh anyway.

Richard

The mike boom is pretty flexible. Could be coiled into approximately a 30-40mm diameter circle.

Cheers R

[cooneyr]

Follow up re the intercom function. Took SWMBO for a ride couple of weekends ago. The Intercom mode seems to work well except we found that the position of the mike was critical. If it is directly in front of your mouth the air you breath when talking made too much noise. Position the mike just below, to the side or above the mouth works heaps better.

At 100kph we found we had to be quite deliberate and clear in our annunciation. It all became a bit run together when if we spoke to fast. It might have been a function of the lack of ear plugs (to cut the background wind noise) and the Grex RD1 helmet that wifey was wearing as I found it harder to hear than what wifey did year when on the cell phone I can hear fine. Will have to try with ear plugs in next time and see if it is clearer. I suspect it will make a big difference.

Cheers R

[WasPhantom]

So I've finally had time/desire to install the Blueant into my helmet. It was met with a significant amount of trial and error with regards to the speaker positioning, and a great deal of pain during the error part.

I always wear custom ear plugs, so any pressure around that area gets transferred throughout my ear. However, once I found the right position for me, it worked perfectly.

I would say that it doesn't sit flush at all on the Shoei, but I couldn't bring myself to using the sticker mount.

Didn't seem to cause too many issues with the aerodynamics at all either, so that's a plus!

[cooneyr]

So I've finally had time/desire to install the Blueant into my helmet. It was met with a significant amount of trial and error with regards to the speaker positioning, and a great deal of pain during the error part.

I always wear custom ear plugs, so any pressure around that area gets transferred throughout my ear. However, once I found the right position for me, it worked perfectly.

I would say that it doesn't sit flush at all on the Shoei, but I couldn't bring myself to using the sticker mount.

Didn't seem to cause too many issues with the aerodynamics at all either, so that's a plus!

I wear reusable "spark plug" type ear plugs and had it positioned in about 20 mins of adjusting - lucky me.

I assume that you mean the electronic unit itself doesnt sit flush? I've got mine so the clip (sticky out bit with the screw) is in line with the strap and it sits very nicely on the side of the helmet.

Cheers R

[NordieBoy]

At 100kph we found we had to be quite deliberate and clear in our annunciation. It all became a bit run together when if we spoke to fast.

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