Cheapo ($50) Stereo bluetooh headset and intercom review (deal extreme)

[Akshun]

I orderd a single one for music/phone sue for now. Shipping was 2 weeks from DX...
Tried it out today had to make sure the headset speakers was right over the ear.
Its tinny is true, but decent for riding. Worked on calls flawlessly switching between music and calls on iphone.
The people on other end of the line couldnt hear anything except my voice and clear at that. Good product!

Thanks for the excellent review.

 

[Vlad]

Mine came in last night (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SUZNGW). The shipping estimate between May 20 and June 1 was spot on. The box was a little squished on one side, but it's very sturdy and the contents are well packed in foam.

The installation on my Scorpion EXO 900 was very straight forward - there are indentations in the shell that are the perfect fit for the speakers and the mic boom. I used the screw-on mount without peeling off the sticky since it doesn't lean on my helmet when mounted like that. I'll try the stick on too, just to see how it will hold. The double sticky is 3M so it should hold well, but if it doesn't I'll replace it with something industrial strength. I don't like screws, besides I can use screw on mounts for extra helmets.

I just tested the performance briefly and it seems OK, although with a few initial glitches. One unit appears to be charging erratically and for too long (the red light doesn't go off, and then it does). The other looks like it has a flimsy audio connector that looses contact. Will investigate further.

The units pair nicely and connect quickly. I didn't need to read the manual to figure them out.

Volume control is in relatively big steps. It would be nice if it was more gradual, but it's not a deal breaker.

Audio quality seems to be in line with what others experienced - good enough for voice, a bit too tinny (no bass) for music. I plan to address that question later with higher quality headphone speakers, although using several earbuds/earphones (Panasonic, Sony, Blackberry) did not yield a big enough improvement in sound quality. Distortion is quite noticeable at higher volumes with any output device I tried.

That's the preliminary experience, more when I get a chance to try it out in the real, moving, buzzing, vibrating, buffeting, yelling... world

 

[ifiddles]

thanks to everyone for their reviews...the bf and i were looking at the scala but thought it was a bit overpriced...will definitely look at this...

 

[Varrus999]

Mine arrived yesterday from Hong Kong after the expected 4 or 5 weeks. I tested it in the house and so far it seems to work ok. I mounted it in the helmet and tested calling someone and it worked well. My helmet has little inserts for these types of units headphones so positioning wasn't a problem. Will try it out at speed tomorrow.

One thing though perhaps you guys who already have them for a while can help me with - it comes with a clip to mount it to the helmet, as well as a plastic tab. To me it looks like an option, use one or the other....so I just used the little black tab thing (minus the clip) to stick it to the outside of my helmet with the 3M gluestuff on it. It seems to work but this morning when I woke up the unit had fallen off from it's own wait - the little plastic thing came off and just left the glue residue in one big chunk on the helmet! Am I doing it wrong? Is the clip thing mandatory? I think it is cleaner without the clip, and either way you have to peel back the 3M stuff and it's going to stick to the helmet. I will probably just use some crazy glue to fix it the way I have it...just wondering about the clip thing...

Thanks

 

[Vlad]

I will probably just use some crazy glue to fix it the way I have it...just wondering about the clip thing...

Don't use crazy glue for this application.

You got me thinking about a much more elegant solution - velcro. Here's the idea:

- Remove the mounting "nipple" (for lack of a better word) from the unit. It's the hard plastic protrusion that plugs into the helmet tab. It's (poorly) glued to the rubber body and relatively easy to remove. I found that out by accidentally pulling the unit off the helmet when I forgot to take the power supply out. removal of this tab does not compromise the unit's integrity and leaves it's back flat for:

- Industrial strength hook and loop or similar with strong adhesive on both sides. Cut it to the size of the unit, stick one side to the helmet, the other to the unit and voila - a simpler, easier and more elegant mount. Your helmet should be relatively flat at the mounting spot, but a slight curve is not critical.

I'm not very happy with my pair so far. The sound quality is quite low and gets severely distorted at higher volume levels, regardless of the headset/earphones I use. I hope it will be OK for rider-passenger and telephone communications, but I'm afraid it will be useless for music . Further tests pending.

 

[Varrus999]

Velcro sounds like a pretty good idea and I have some left over from a project I did last week using the same concept - cheap iphone case velcro to my small tank bag...

I'll try that instead of crazy glue if it comes to it....at least it would be easier to remove the residue if it doesn't work.

Regarding these units, I thought I had read somewhere that they speak the incoming call number when someone phones you...I tested it and that didn't happen, though it does answer in 5 seconds as advertised. Not a big deal, my velcro cell phone project will ensure I can see whose calling with a quick safe glance to my tank bag..

I'll get around to reading the manual in more detail today, sorry for dumb questions!

Varrus

 

[Splash]

I'm not very happy with my pair so far. The sound quality is quite low and gets severely distorted at higher volume levels, regardless of the headset/earphones I use. I hope it will be OK for rider-passenger and telephone communications, but I'm afraid it will be useless for music . Further tests pending.

I found the same until I removed the bass from the music. On the iPhone go into Settings->iPod->EQ-> and select either "Bass reducer" or "Small speakers" or "Treble Booster" and then it will sound fine. The problem is that those little speakers can't handle any bass.

On the iPod touch, click Settings->Music->EQ

 

[Vlad]

I found the same until I removed the bass from the music.

I played with bass settings a little, but haven't tried to reduce bass below normal. I'll try that next, thanks for the idea. It's like removing noodles from the soup so I can drink it from an espresso cup though .

It's not just the speakers either - the sound output quality from these things is very low regardless of the speakers/headphones/earbuds used. I tried at least four very different pairs and although they all sound a bit better than original tinny speakers it's still far from acceptable quality for music. And my bar is set very low compared to a high quality sound enthusiast.

 

[Varrus999]

I played with bass settings a little, but haven't tried to reduce bass below normal. I'll try that next, thanks for the idea. It's like removing noodles from the soup so I can drink it from an espresso cup though .

It's not just the speakers either - the sound output quality from these things is very low regardless of the speakers/headphones/earbuds used. I tried at least four very different pairs and although they all sound a bit better than original tinny speakers it's still far from acceptable quality for music. And my bar is set very low compared to a high quality sound enthusiast.

Would they sound better with in ear headphones? Has anyone found a set of earbuds with a connected mic that work with this unit? If you connected similar headphones to your ipod directly and listen to music I imagine they wouldn't sound as good as earbuds, because of the background noise? I'm going to experiment tomorrow....but I am thrilled that I can now take calls while riding, and I don't even care about the quality...until now always wonder if I am missing an important phone call and constantly check my phone...with kids at home, riding on the weekend I am always worried about something happening, and since I commute on my bike and am sometimes contacted for urgent issues at work (I.T. + on call) its the same thing. Even if I have to pull over to speak and hear clearly, not misssing the call is a big deal for me. This alone is worth the $40 I paid for these things!

 

[Vlad]

Would they sound better with in ear headphones?

Not better enough. I've tried with several.

Has anyone found a set of earbuds with a connected mic that work with this unit?

Blackberry earbuds with mic work fine. Again, the improvement in performance/quality isn't nearly big enough to justify the hassle. I'm pretty sure any headset/earbuds with built in microphone and a 3.5mm jack will work.

Judging by what you plan to use them for I wouldn't bother with different speakers. It's not worth it at all for phone or voice.

If you connected similar headphones to your ipod directly and listen to music I imagine they wouldn't sound as good as earbuds, because of the background noise?

This would be a correct assumption, all else being equal.

 

[Varrus999]

Well I jumped on the bike and puttered around Ajax and tested the unit. I called my daughter as I was ready to start and she said I sounded fine (no speed). I could her her just fine. As I rode off she didnt' even notice I was moving, and I continued to hear her just fine. Reached speeds of 60 - 70 and it was perfectly fine on both ends. I was giggling like a school girl and my new found technology (yeah I'm simple minded!). I had her hang up and call me back to test the auto-answer feature and it worked, though there is no 'beep' telling you that you are connected...when it starts ringing you have to say "hello? hellloooooo?" and of course my duaghter was like 'wtf??'.. it works fine. Put the tunes on and rode around a bit at 60-70 and for me personally it souned fine. Poor quality with no bass, but no distortion. I know I have low standards, and the type of music I listen too isn't the booming base dance type (not meaning any offence with that comment)...I listen to classic rock (I'm 40) and this was just fine. Overall I am delighted with this gizmo for the cost. In fact, if the SCALA is really THAT much better than this for features and sound, I am looking forward to the day I get to upgrade.

I will test at highway speeds tomorrow - no point jumping on the 401 on a Friday rush hour now..

I tried the dial last number feature just now and it didn't work...though it did work this morning when I tried it. Having the ability to dial by voice would be nice, but it's not a show stopper. Just keep the cell phone handy and pull over to dial when necessary. This won't work with my iphone, but on my old HTC with windows 6.1, there was an app that let me put macros on the main screen to quick dial contacts...something like that with the phone mounted on a tank bag, if the gloves work with the touch screen would make it easy to dial (not in traffic but when cruising on a long trip or at a red light)..

I wonder, if you pull out your cell phone while on a bike to dial someone before the light turns green, would you get a ticket under the cell phone law?

Want to thank the OP of this thread and everyone who posted...I bought this device after reading all here and am very happy.

Varrus.

 

[Varrus999]

Oh forgot to mention, as a bonus, somehow the placement of the headphones in my helmet seem to have eliminated the 'whistling' I would get in my helmet, when I hit anything over 20. I already reduced it by using sound damping foam, but this seems to have shuffled things around enough to completely eliminate it..

 

[Vlad]

Tried my pair in the basement with standing right next to a very noisy vacuum cleaner. The voice sound level and quality between two helmets was much better than I expected. Telephone calls were just as good, again with vacuum cleaner background noise being no problem at all. Even music is relatively decent now that I killed the bass and turned off "audio boost" on my Blackberry.

This is all still limited testing, but more promising than what I initially thought. We'll see once we hit some roads, hopefully soon.

The only thing left that bothers me is one unit that's "permanently charging". The light never seems to go off...

BTW, the power supplies are easy to open and modify to fully and properly charge the Blackberry. In case you didn't know, some devices cleverly detect when they are connected to a computer USB port and won't charge or charge very slowly. The trick is to short the two data pins on the USB power supply, connector or cable. In this case power supply was an easy target:

The nominal output of these power supplies is only 200mA, but they should be able to charge a phone, GPS, Bluetooth (slower charge is better anyway, if you have time to wait). An alternative would be a more powerful USB power supply (say the 1.5A I had handy) connected to a small USB hub. That way you can charge both intercoms plus a phone and a GPS from a single socket. Either approach has it's advantages, but I think it's good to know both.

 

[Vlad]

I tested the Bluetooth communicators rider to passenger for a while today and they work pretty well up to about 90-100Km/h. Faster than that is hit and miss. I haven't tried bike to bike, but I doubt it will be much different. Bandit's engine generates quite a bit of static when it's running, but it does not interfere with voice to the point of overpowering it - it's just constantly there.

Voices are clear up to a certain (not too high) volume point, but then they get severely distorted very fast. This happens whether I just raise my voice or up the volume on the unit. No playing with volume controls or voice level could ensure clear communication above about 110Km/h.

I'm sure several shortcomings noticed so far can be corrected and all can be lived with considering the price. In all honesty though, I'd be ****** if I paid considerably more for these. They do everything they are supposed to do just well enough and nothing very well.

 

[ryanfok]

Seems like a really good deal

 

[Varrus999]

Mine was working great but now I lost stereo and voice...first, it would only play sound out of one earphone..it did the same with my iphone earbuds but if I jiggled them around it would work with both, so the problem was with the connector...no amount of jiggling would help with the headset that comes with it, and it has to be plugged in snugly or he mic won't work. speaking of the mic, this afternoon my friend phoned me while riding and we talked...this evening he phoned me twice and while i could hear him (out of one earpiece), he couldn't hear me . I reset it and recharged it...still have to fiddle with the second problem but want the stereo issue fixed. Has anyone else had this? Has anyone obtained any sort of warranty or customer service support for these issues? Haven't
Thanks.

 

[ZX600]

Been using it for over 2 months now, I couldn't be happier, Use it every day. It works while listening music, answering the phone, talking to my 2upper. It's awesome.

 

[Vlad]

I'm not very happy with mine. Very good for phone conversations, OK for rider to passenger, useless for music. On top of it all, almost totally unusable in any mode if you wear earplugs, and I need to wear them on long/fast rides. Speaking of long rides, the battery lasts about five hours if listening to music which isn't nearly long enough. Haven't tried bike to bike, but I think it should be somewhat useful in that mode (again, if you are either riding slowly or willing to damage your hearing). Overall sound quality is considerably worse than my already low expectations, with lots of noise and total lack of bass, plus horrible distortion at high volume. All in all, I'm not sure they are even worth what I paid for them.

I'm still working on finding a way to make these things work at an acceptable level, but it doesn't look promising at all. If I bought them locally they would be returned a while ago. About the only use I can see them in is for city commuters that need to answer their phone while on their way to-from work (not dial out - voice commands don't work). I have a Blackberry Bold, BTW.

I also had some problems with the connectors as Varrus, although not that severe. Speaking of warranty/customer support, I bought mine through Amazon and I'm planning to contact the seller. I'm not holding my breath though. I had very good experience with Dealextreme support, but your mileage may vary.

 

[ZX600]

I'm not very happy with mine. Very good for phone conversations, OK for rider to passenger, useless for music. On top of it all, almost totally unusable in any mode if you wear earplugs, and I need to wear them on long/fast rides. Speaking of long rides, the battery lasts about five hours if listening to music which isn't nearly long enough. Haven't tried bike to bike, but I think it should be somewhat useful in that mode (again, if you are either riding slowly or willing to damage your hearing). Overall sound quality is considerably worse than my already low expectations, with lots of noise and total lack of bass, plus horrible distortion at high volume. All in all, I'm not sure they are even worth what I paid for them.

I'm still working on finding a way to make these things work at an acceptable level, but it doesn't look promising at all. If I bought them locally they would be returned a while ago. About the only use I can see them in is for city commuters that need to answer their phone while on their way to-from work (not dial out - voice commands don't work). I have a Blackberry Bold, BTW.

I also had some problems with the connectors as Varrus, although not that severe. Speaking of warranty/customer support, I bought mine through Amazon and I'm planning to contact the seller. I'm not holding my breath though. I had very good experience with Dealextreme support, but your mileage may vary.

I guess each unit is different

I have used them to listen music for 10 hrs and ran out of ride before i ran out of battery
The low quality of speakers is a known fact, the OP reviews outlines it very well. I am ok with it, I like to listen to music at low volume so I can still be aware of my surroundings. Question of expectation

 

[Splash]

I'm not very happy with mine. Very good for phone conversations, OK for rider to passenger, useless for music. On top of it all, almost totally unusable in any mode if you wear earplugs, and I need to wear them on long/fast rides. Speaking of long rides, the battery lasts about five hours if listening to music which isn't nearly long enough. Haven't tried bike to bike, but I think it should be somewhat useful in that mode (again, if you are either riding slowly or willing to damage your hearing). Overall sound quality is considerably worse than my already low expectations, with lots of noise and total lack of bass, plus horrible distortion at high volume. All in all, I'm not sure they are even worth what I paid for them.

I'm still working on finding a way to make these things work at an acceptable level, but it doesn't look promising at all. If I bought them locally they would be returned a while ago. About the only use I can see them in is for city commuters that need to answer their phone while on their way to-from work (not dial out - voice commands don't work). I have a Blackberry Bold, BTW.

I also had some problems with the connectors as Varrus, although not that severe. Speaking of warranty/customer support, I bought mine through Amazon and I'm planning to contact the seller. I'm not holding my breath though. I had very good experience with Dealextreme support, but your mileage may vary.

I ride with ear plugs and I can hear the music just fine. You don't want the music so loud you can't hear anything around you.

I've never ran out of power. my ipod died before the headset did.

I'm very happy with my set.