Cheapo ($50) Stereo bluetooh headset and intercom review (deal extreme)
What: Bluetooth headsets. Stereo music + rider to rider intercom system for pillion or another bike.
Range 500m (so they say)
Price: $50 each or $100 (after shipping) for 2 units.
Source: dealextreme. (url listed in reply incase it’s against forum rules)
I 100% recommend buying these if you’ve been looking for a headset but you thought the scala or similar units were overpriced.
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Preface: before investing in a headset I was torn. The Scala q2 is budget friendly at $120 but lacks stereo for music. The g4 at $250 has that feature but as I wanted a pair (myself and GF) that would have been $450-500. Also, reviews by members mention the G4’s having random issues where they start buzzing and need to be reset. If I’m spending $250 I don’t want something buzzing in my ear half way down the highway.
I was told by members here not to be cheap and that the $50 units simply wouldn’t compare. Well, that appears to not be the case. These cheapo units are great.
First impressions:
The packaging wasn’t half bad. The unit was padded in foam nicely and the box even used magnets as a clasp mechanism. The manual, while ‘engrish’ also wasn’t bad and the faq/troubleshooting seemed to cover a lot, rather than pretend it’s flawless. It also mentioned to charge once a month. Any computer nerd versed in Lithium Ion batteries knows this is an issue with them. They WANT to be full, by letting them drain it shortens the life. I rarely see this written so to see it in a product manual made me node approvingly.
Headset unit
The headset unit is black with a rubbery coating on it so I’m not at all afraid of a little rain on it.. infact, it’s already seen rain at 4 degrees and worked fine. I’m pretty sure I could submerge the unit and it would be water tight, though it states it’s only water resistant on the packaging. The buttons also have a nice click, though the volume buttons are very small. Fine if you’re stopped, but impossible to use while in motion .
Charging:
Is done via usb cable, either on a computer or the included adaptor. The port has a strong rubber lip over it.
The charge is stated for 8 hours and I’ve had no issues with it running out. It also charges very fast. 2-3 hours for a full charge., top ups since have been maybe 30 minutes.
Physical Installation on helmet:
Easy. However, both my helmet and my girlfriends helmet have removable liners which made the process 5 minutes per helmet. We actually bought 4 units total as my riding buddy also wanted a pair and installing in his helmet (shoei with no removable liner) was trickier but worked fine. We used a screwdriver to tuck in the cables, the cheek pads came out though so we could slip the headphones behind.
The main clip that holds it in is NOT as nice as the unit on the scala. While on the scala there is a dock with little connectors this unit fits into the holder and then the headset cable must be plugged in. The clip feels secure though and to me that’s what matters.
Pairing:
The headsets can be paired with each other as well as a Bluetooth phone/mp3/gps etc. I have an iphone 3G and pairing was easy as would be expected. Music played through the iphone to the headset and using the button on the headset I could play and pause or switch to intercom mode.
Headphone quality
Very tinny! These are not headphones you want to use in your living room. They sound like dollar store headphones. At first this bothered me and I considered resoldering other headphones to it but then I went for a test ride. After engine noise and ambient noise you can’t tell. The only time it mattered to me was when the bike was off. The unit does use a standard 2.5mm jack though so you’re free to buy a different mic/headphones and plug them in but I don’t think it matters.
Volume
Volume is great. On the highway with EARPLUGS and the headphones under my cheek pads the music comes through perfectly clear. As do rider communications.
Intercom
Pairing between headsets takes 2 seconds. Hold down the intercom button on both. Boom. Paired. However, unlike the scala this only pairs with 1 other headset. Well, 2 sort of.
You can pair this with 2 others but unfortunetly you can’t have a 3 way chat. You must click the button and choose who to talk to. If that is an important feature than perhaps the extra $400 for the set is worth it. I can live without 3 way chats.
Intercom quality on occasion had a ‘slight’ buzz depending on distance. We both commented that we tuned it out very quickly and stopped noticing. With pillion rides as the headsets are so close there was no buzz.
Range
Range is quoted at 500m. riding at 130km/h and splitting off on the highway it seemed easily 500 or maybe a 1000. We stayed in touch for a bit after my friend turned away. Many times we were out of the line of sight of eachother but continued talking just fine. I felt like a child with his first walki talkie.
Phone
If the headset is paired with a phone you can take calls handsfree. If the phone starts to ring and you press nothing, the headset will answer the call after 4-5 seconds. If you want to accept or reject sooner, you simply push the red or green button. As I have an iphone 3g I cannot voice dial so I cannot test that feature. (grumble).
Random thoughts.
One of the nicest things is simply having headphones inside my helmet sans wires. It was a massive pain slipping on a helmet over earbuds that half the time fell out, or were sort of in, almost falling out, or canceling ambient noise. These just work. That alone was worth it as I enjoy music. At first I thought it could be a hassle having to charge your helmet but unless you’re riding 8 hours a day, one charge per week will probably suffice for commuting.
These also don’t cancel out ambient noise the way ear buds do so you can still hear traffic (and as mentioned for highway they are still loud enough to play over ear plugs).
Had I known earlier I could have saved myself from buying $26 ear buds and just got these and $1 ear plugs.
Cons
While I’m very happy with the unit, I do have some gripes.
1. in order to turn the unit off you have to hold down the intercom button for about 7 seconds. That just seems a tad too long. 4-5 sure. But 7? Between all the beeps it makes half the time I don’t shut it off the first try. There is a reset button that instantly turns it off but I’m not sure if that has any negative effect on pairing.
2. The volume up and down can be operated with gloves at a red light, but if I was on the highway I don’t think I’d have any chance of hitting it correctly. They are too small and should be bigger. Also the volume up is the bottom button not the top button, this seems counter intuitive on the first try.
3. My buddy had a strange problem with his. The inside seems to have expanded, perhaps a bad battery (it happens) and the buttons couldn’t be clicked in. I fixed this by kneading it and pushing firmly and slowly, also flexing the unit a tad and the internals compressed again and it worked fine. Out of the 4 units we have that was the only one that had displayed that issue. While I fixed it and no biggie, it’s important to understand these are made in china, they are what they are.
4. It should be noted because I know someone will ask, these intercoms are not compatible with scala. If you have 50 buddies with scalas and you want to talk to them, grab a scala.
Conclusion
If you’ve been wanting a headset but the scala price seemed to darn high, this is your ticket. You get almost all the same features but in a more budget friendly package. Stop reading, and go buy one or two. Listen to music, talk on the phone, talk to another rider or passenger, save money for other cool toys.
close up
sitting on the shelf/roomdivider I ran some long usb cables from a powered hub. we can charge the helmets right where we display them.
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Originally Posted by DVS
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